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ACADEMY

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HISTORY

NORTH CAROLINA

SAMUEL A’COURT ASHE, LL.D.

IN TWO VOLUMES

VOLUME II

FROM 1783 TO 1925

The necessitie of a Historie is, as of a Sworne Witness,
to say the truth (in just discretion) and nothing but
the truth! — Samuel Purchas, in “ Purchas His
Pilgrimes,’ ’ 1625.

Presses of

Edwards & Broughton Printing Company
RALEIGH
1925

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17 5. G

CLjQl 5S

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DEDICATION

I dedicate this volume to the memory of my departed friends,
Henry Groves Connor and James Sprunt, both deservedly esteemed
as being preeminent among the first citizens of the State, and both,
besides their remarkable success in their chosen life work, also dis¬
tinguished as authors. To them, in one way or another, the possi¬
bility of the preparation of this volume is due, and if the work shall
be deemed of value to the State, to them thanks should be given.

I inscribe their names here in grateful remembrance of their un¬
failing friendship and constant interest in the accomplishment of my
undertaking.

S. A. Ashe.

» • ' ::r; s

PROGRESS OF EVENTS

VOLUME I

FIRST EPOCH
Explorations and Colonies
A.D. 1584 — 1591. Pages 1 — 49

SECOND EPOCH
Permanent Settlement
A.D. 1629 — 1663. Pages 50 — 87

THIRD EPOCH

Proprietary Government
A.D. 1663 — 1729. Pages 88 — 223

FOURTH EPOCH

North Carolina as a Royal Province
A.D. 1729 — 1765. Pages 224 — 309

FIFTH EPOCH

Controversies With the Mother Country
A.D. 1765 — 1775. Pages 310 — 512

SIXTH EPOCH

The War for Independence and the Treaty of Peace
A.D. 1775— 1783. Pages 513—724

Vlll

PROGRESS OF EVENTS

VOLUME II

SEVENTH EPOCH

The Developed State

Social conditions in 1783. — Importation of slaves taxed and in some
cases forbidden. — The State of Franklin. — The proposed union of states. —
The separate state.

A.D. 1783 — 1789. Chapters 1 — 7. Pages 1 — 118

EIGHTH EPOCH

In the Union

North Carolina joins the Union. — Conveys Tennessee to the Union. — The
university chartered. — Permanent capital established. — Friction with France.
— Great land frauds. — The Court of Conference. — The new century. — Re¬
ligious excitement. — Emigration. — The cotton gin.

A.D. 1789 — 1812. Chapters 8 — 14. Pages 119 — 223

NINTH EPOCH

Efforts for Improvement

War with Great Britain. — The first cotton mill. — Operations at sea. — Peace.
— Transportation drawbacks. — Steamboats. — Efforts to improve navigation.
— Colonization societies. — Supreme Court. — The statue of Washington. —
Fulton’s work. — The Western Convention. — Sunday schools. — Geological
Survey.

A.D. 1813 — 1824. Chapters 15 — 18. Pages 222 — 292

TENTH EPOCH

Introduction of Railroads — Constitutional Changes

The Carlton Letters for schools and railroads. — Internal Improvement
Convention. — Capitol burned. — Conflicting interests. — Negro insurrection.
— Railroads introduced. — Agitation by the West for constitutional reform.
— The State Convention. — The West successful and gains power. — The Gov¬
ernor elected by the people. — Biennial sessions. — Negro suffrage abolished.

A.D. 1825 — 1836. Chapters 19 — 23. Pages 293 — 378

PROGRESS OF EVENTS

ELEVENTH EPOCH

Improved Conditions

The public land fund distributed. — Public schools established. — Manufac¬
turing begins. — Colleges chartered — Railroads begin. — The Indians removed.
— The great campaign. — Internal improvements. — Public schools. — War with
Mexico. — The Raleigh and Gaston Railroad bought by the State.

A.D. 1836 — 1848. Chapters 24 — 28. Pages 379 — 461

TWELFTH EPOCH

General Development

A turning point. — The North Carolina Railroad chartered. — The C,on-
servative Democracy weakens. — State aid policy. — Plank roads. — The
Western North Carolina Railroad and the Atlantic and North Carolina Rail¬
road chartered. — Free suffrage. — Slavery question acute. — “Bleeding Kansas.”
— State development. — Railroad construction.

A.D. 1848 — 1858. Chapters 29 — 32. Pages 462 — 519

THIRTEENTH EPOCH

Agitation Against Slavery

John Brown’s raid. — The State disturbed. — Industrial and educational
progress. — The Golden Era. — Northern Democrats and Southern Democrats
split. — The Republicans elect the President. — The cotton states secede. —
North Carolina and the border states adhere to the Union.

A.D. 1858 — 1860. Chapters 33 — 34. Pages 318 — 546

FOURTEENTH EPOCH

The Southern Confederacy

The Peace Conference. — Congress proposes a constitutional amendment.
— President Lincoln inaugurated. — Inaugurates war. — North Carolina sides
with the South. — The great and prolonged contest. — The North victorious.

A.D. i860 — 1865. Chapters 35 — 59. Pages 547 — 1012

PROGRESS OF EVENTS

FIFTEENTH EPOCH
Reconstruction

The President’s plan. — Holden Provisional Governor.— Convention meets.
— The State returns to the Union. — Worth Governor. — Congress dissents:
declares the Southern States conquered; that statehood did not exist; the
territory part of a military district. — Under military government. — Negro
suffrage imposed. — A convention called. — New constitution adopted. — Holden
Governor. — The State admitted to the Union.

A.D. 1865 — 1868. Chapters 60 — 63. Pages 1013 — 1091

SIXTEENTH EPOCH
Republican Administration

Financial disaster. — Social disturbances. — Barn burning. — The Ku Klux.
— The Kirk war. — Judge Brooks upholds the constitution. — Holden im¬
peached. — Resuscitation.

A.D. 1868 — 1873. Chapters 64 — 69. Pages 1092 — 1161

SEVENTEENTH EPOCH
Conservative Administration

Progress. — County government reformed. — Local option begins. — 6,000
schoolhouses and 6,500 church buildings. — The University reopened. — The
College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts started. — The Normal and In¬
dustrial College for Women. — The Farmers Alliance. — It fuses with Repub¬
licans. — Fusion in control. — The Wilmington revolution. — Campaign for
educational qualification for suffrage. — Great advance in all industries and
in social conditions.

A.D. 1874 — 1900. Chapters 69 — 72. Pages 1162 — 1223

EIGHTEENTH EPOCH
Democratic Administration

Quietude and harmony restored. — Prohibition. — Increased population. —
Strenuous efforts made for education. — The functions of government ex¬
panded. — Industries springing up. — Electricity introduced. — Property values,
earnings and incomes largely increased. — Weakness giving place to strength.

War with Germany. — Great efforts of Governor Bickett and the entire
State. — All vie in patriotic action. — North Carolinians in the war on land
and at sea. — Their glorious record. — The era of automobiles. — Good roads.
— The new life. — Great expenditures for schools, buildings and State insti¬
tutions and tremendous expansion of industries. — Department of Revenue.
— Executive Budget. — Improved conditions. — Duke University.

The North manifests appreciation of the patriotism of the South. — The
prosperous State and happy people.

A. D. 1901 — 1925. Chapters 73 — 78. Pages 1224 — 1353

MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

Facing

The Academy -at Salem (1803) . 162

The Albemarle, ironclad . 884

The Old Capitol, 1793, Canova’s statue of Washington . 144

The New Capitol, 1840 . 360

Cotton Mill, Schenck-Hoke at Lincolnton, the first at the South, 1813.... 230

Cotton Mill, Fries at Salem, 1837 . 230

Loom and spinning jenny . 230

Map of Battle of Bentonville . 980

Eastern Carolina . 664

Fall of Fort Fisher . 940

Territory Richmond to Fredericksburg . 728

Maryland Campaign . 742

PORTRAITS

Vance, Zebulon B., Unionist till call for troops; War Governor;

U. S. Senator . Frontispiece

Andrews, Alexander Boyd, Vice President Southern Railway . 1090

Ashe, Thomas S., Unionist till call for troops; Representative in Con¬
federate States and United States Congress; jurist . 1034

Ashe, Wjlliam S., author North Carolina Railroad Bill; President of
W. and W. Railroad; major in charge of Confederate transportation.... 476
Avery, Isaac E’rwin, Colonel, in death illustrates spirit of Southland— .1012
Aycock, Charles B., Governor; urgent promoter of education . 1224

Badger, George E., Senator; Unionist till call for troops; offered ordi¬

nance of secession . 590

Barringer, Rufus, urgent for N. C. Railroad; great cavalry general . 476

Battle, Kemp P., Unionist. Revives University; then first President . 1224

Berry, Hattie Morehead, created atmosphere for good roads . 1314

Bickett, Thomas W., efficient World War Governor . 1256

Bickett, Mrs. T. W. (Fannie Yarborough), leader in progress, social

service and many patriotic activities . 1256

Biggs, Asa, Senator; Judge United States and Confederate States Courts. .1202
Bragg, Thomas, Governor; Senator; opposed to secession; Confederate

States Attorney General . 634

Branch, Lawrence O’B., General . 820

Bridgers, Robert R., President Wilmington and Weldon Railroad . 1090

Brooks, George W., Unionist; United States judge; maintains civil law... .1116

Caldwell, Joseph P., editor of Charlotte Observer . 1202

Carr, Julian S., early manufacturer . 1256

Clark, Henry T., acting War Governor . . . 634

Clark, Walter, Chief Justice, author . 1202

Xll

MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

Facing

Connor, Henry Groves, eminent jurist; admired citizen; author . 1328

Cotten, Sallie Southall, early woman organizer; author . 1192

Cowan, Robert H., President Wilmington and Charlotte Railroad; influen¬
tial in public action . 1034

Cox, William R., General; fired last volley at Appomattox . 820

Craven, Braxton, President and founder of Trinity College.. . 408

Daniels, Josephus, editor; Secretary of the Navy in the World War;

author . 1280

Davis, George, Peace Conference; Confederate States Senator; Con¬
federate States Attorney General . 634

Dobbin, James C., Secretary of the Navy; orator; eminent citizen . 504

Dudley, Edward B., first railroad president; Governor; progressive . 306

Duke, James Buchanan, manufacturer; developed electricity; established

Duke University and other foundations . 1332

Duke, Washington, early manufacturer . 1188

Ellis, John W., jurist; Governor when State sided with the South . 634

Erwin, William A., cotton manufacturer whose mill villages are ideal.... 1188

Fisher, Charles F., railroad president; colonel; killed at Manassas . 686

Fries, Miss Adelaide L., author; translator of Moravian Records; Pres¬
ident Historical Association . 1814

Gaston, William, eminent jurist and revered citizen . 306

Gilmer, John A., influential leader; devoted Unionist; would go down

on his knees to Lincoln not to begin war . 1 . 590

Graham, William A., Governor; favored North Carolina Railroad; Sec¬
retary of the Navy; devoted Unionist until call for troops; Confederate

States Senator . - . . - . 476

Graves, Calvin, Speaker of the Senate; gave casting vote for North

Carolina Railroad . 416

Grimes, Bryan, Major General; brilliant career; Cox’s brigade of Grimes’s

Division fired last volley at Appomattox . 820

Hawkins, William J., President Raleigh and Gaston Railroad . 1090

Hill, Daniel H., Lieutenant General . 686

Hobbs, Mrs. Mary Mendenhall, educator; urgent for education of women. .1314
Holden, William W., influential editor; Governor in troublous times;

impeached . .1116

Holt, Edwin M., first large manufacturer of cotton goods in State . 1188

Hoke, Robert F., Major General; highly esteemed by Lee; victor at

Plymouth; distinguished at Bentonville . 686

Jarvis, Thomas J., Governor; leader in progress . 1034

Jerman, Mrs. Palmer, President State Federation of Women’s Clubs;
President of Legislative Council; delegate to National Democratic

Convention . 1314

Johnson, Mrs. Kate Burr, first Commissioner of Board of Charities and
Public Welfare . 1314

MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

Facing

Joyner, Janies Y., Superintendent of Public Instruction; leader in educa¬
tional movement . - . 1224

Kingsbury, Theodore B., prominent in literature; editor of the Wil¬
mington Star . 1202

Kitchin, Claude, Democratic leader of House of Representatives during

the World War . - . 1280

Mclver, Charles D., promoter of education; founder and President of

State College for Women . 1224

McKimmon, Mrs. Charles, a great benefactor of the State in Home

Demonstration . 1314

McLean, Angus W., Governor; introduced reforms; allowed unusual

powers . 1332

MacRae, Hugh, successful promoter of valuable enterprises . 1256

Mangum, Willie P., jurist; United States Senator . 504

Martin, James G., Adjutant General; organized and prepared the North

Carolina troops in 1861-62 . 634

Meredith, Thomas, editor of Baptist Interpreter (afterwards Biblical
Recorder) ; author of first Constitution of Baptist State Convention.... 504
Merrimon, Augustus S., Unionist until call for troops; United States

Senator; Chief Justice . 590

Mitchell, Elisha, first State Geologist; distinguished educator . 306

Moore, Bartholomew F., Unionist; great lawyer . . . 590

Morehead, John M., Governor; builder of railroads . 476

Moore, Mrs. Marinda Branson, author of school books during the war. ...1192
Morrison, Cameron, Governor; brought to the State the era of hard

surfaced highways and many improvements . 1332

Morrison, Robert Hall, the first president of Davidson; his daughters
married Stonewall Jackson, Generals Hill and Barringer, and Judge

Avery . 408

Murphey, Archibald D., jurist; preceptor of many distinguished public

men; the most progressive statesman of his generation . 306

Overman, Lee S., Senator of great usefulness, especially in World War. ...1280
Page, Frank, successful builder of 5,000 miles of hard-surfaced roads

of untold value to the State . 1332

Pender, William D., Major General; highly esteemed by Lee . 686

Pettigrew, J. Johnston, Major General; highly esteemed by Lee; led in

the charge at Gettysburg . 686

Pearson, Richmond M., Chief Justice of great learning . 1116

Poe, Clarence, editor of the Progressive Farmer; bringing great im¬
provement to the State . 1314

Pritchard, Jeter C., United States Senator; Judge of United States
Circuit Court; very highly esteemed . 1202

XIV

MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

Facing

Ransom, Matthew W., orator; General; United States Senator; Minister

to Mexico . 820

Reid, David S., author of “Free Suffrage”; Governor; U. S. Senator . 504

Reilley, Mrs. J. Eugene, a leader in the social elevation of women . 1286

Reynolds, Richard J., successful manufacturer . . . 1286

Robertson, Mrs. Lucy H., President of Greensboro College for Women. ...1314
Ruffin, Thomas, great Chief Justice; Unionist; opposed to secession until

call for troops . 504

Saunders, William L., publicist of ability; Editor Raleigh Observer;

collector and editor of Colonial Records . 1034

Scales, Alfred M., General; Governor, particularly venerated . 820

Settle, Thomas, Unionist until call for troops; orator; jurist of fine

capacity and influence . 590

Shotwell, Randolph A., a martyr of Ku Klux times; editor . 1116

Simmons, Furnifold M., successful leader against Fushion; successful
in establishing educational test for suffrage; Democratic leader in

United States Senate during the World War . 1280

Spencer, Cornelia, eminent author and of wide influence . 1192

Sprunt, James, creator of great commerce; author; eminent citizen . 1328

Stedman, Charles M., esteemed citizen; the last Confederate in Congress. .1280
Swain, David L., Governor; instrumental in reforming the constitution

in 1835; President of the University . 908

Tiernan, Mrs. F. C. (Miss Fisher; Christian Reid), author . 1192

Tompkins, David A., manufacturer and promoter of manufacturing . 1188

Turner, Josiah, Jr., Union man until the call for troops; editor; violent

in opposition to Reconstruction regime . . . 1116

Van Landingham, Mrs. M. O., devoted to stimulating the culture of

woman . 1286

Waddell, James Iredell, the last Confederate in arms; surrendered the

Shenandoah to Great Britain in August, 1865 . 1012

Wait, Samuel, the first President of Wake Forest College . ' . 408

Wheeler, John H., author of History of the State . 1192

Wilson, James, famous engineer in railroad construction . 1090

Wiley, Calvin H., first Superintendent of Public Instruction; author . 408

Winder, John C., military engineer; constructor of railroads, etc . 1090

Winston, George T., President University and A. & M. College; gave

impulse to educational awakening . 1224

Woody, Mary C., of Guilford College . 1286

Worth, Jonathan, Union man until the call for troops; Governor;
esteemed citizen . 1034

INTRODUCTION

•At the period this volume of the history of North Carolina operfs
the State was under the government established by the Constitution
adopted in 1776, with perfect autonomy, but was in association with
the other states forming the Confederacy. The struggle for inde¬
pendence had closed and, in the treaty of peace signed in September
1783, Great Britain formally acknowledged North Carolina and each
of her sister states separately and particularly to be “free, sovereign
and independent states.”

Alexander Martin was Governor ; Ashe, Spencer and Williams were
the Judges; Hawkins, Nash, Williamson and Spaight were the dele¬
gates to the Continental Congress.

HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA

THE DEVELOPED STATE
1783-1924

CHAPTER I

Social Conditions in 1783

Social conditions in 1783. — The general condition of the com¬
monwealth. — No transportation facilities. — The animosity against
the Tories. — The absence of currency. — No facilities for dissemin¬
ating information. — The County Courts. — Their social features. —
Their educational value. — Courts of Equity established. — The low
state of religion. — Asbury’s estimate of the people. — Patillo’s view.
— No religious intolerance. — The Church of England becomes the
Protestant Episcopal Church — The Baptists and Presbyterians. —
The Methodists. — Conditions promotive of illiteracy. — No public
schools. — But few private schools. — No printing press. — Social
culture. — The Masonic Order.— The tone democratic. — The disso¬
lution of the Cincinnati. — Keith sets up a print shop and book
store. — The pamphleteers. — Death of Burke. — The negroes. — The
master’s right in his slaves. — Few great estates. — The negroes
attend church. — The slave trade held injurious. — Free negroes as
Continental soldiers. — They gain the right of suffrage. — Some
become slave-owners — Some effects of the war.

Social conditions in North Carolina in the year 1783, the
year of peace and independence, were Arcadian in their sim¬
plicity. The commonwealth, extending far into the wilder¬
ness, numbered some 350,000 souls, slaves and free, widely
scattered, nearly one-tenth beyond the distant mountains ;
with no city — and indeed only a few villages whose popu¬
lation reached a thousand; as yet commerce, so long inter¬
rupted, had not revived; there were no manufactures save
the work of the men and women in their homes ; but depre¬
ciated currency ; poor markets and only bad highways ; no

SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN 1783

History
N. C.,

I, 279

Non-

jurors

newspapers, and not a single printing press ; but few schools,
and religious instruction but scantily supplied — in a word,
with nought but freedom and farm products, manhood and
energy.

Nor were the people entirely united in the bonds of amity
and friendship. Probably a full third of the white popula¬
tion had not espoused the cause of separation and independ¬
ence. Early in the struggle a considerable number, un¬
willing to take the test oath, had under the stringent laws of
the State, been forced from their homes and had sought shel¬
ter abroad. Later, when Hamilton, a Scotch merchant, and
MacLeod, a Scotch minister, arranged for the formation of a
loyal regiment, many repaired to the King’s standard. From
time to time others joined this regiment ; but between the sup¬
pression of the Royalists at Moore’s Creek, followed quickly
by the defeat of the British fleet at Charleston, and the ap¬
pearance of Fanning on the upper Cape Fear in 1780, there
was a period of comparative repose, during which the disaf¬
fected adjusted themselves to the prevailing conditions. The
Assembly, session after session, postponed putting into full
operation the confiscation acts, and, practicing tolerance and
conciliation, allowed the Tories to remain unmolested, class¬
ing them, along with the Quakers, as “non-jurors,” but im¬
posing special taxes on them.

The bridge between a “non- juror” and a “good and true
citizen” was opened and made easy to cross; and along with
Rev. George Micklejohn, James Hunter, Dr. Pyle and many
other conspicuous Tories who soon took the test oath, men of
smaller consequence resumed association and fellowship with
their Whig neighbors. But the harrowing events of 1781,
when the malcontents under McNeil and Fanning established
a reign of terror in the Cape Fear region, put an end to toler¬
ation. The inhumanities and butcheries of the closing years
of the long struggle left an indelible mark on the social
conditions of the State. Fierce resentment and implacable
hatred took possession of the contending factions ; and when

REPAIRING WASTE OF WAR

the British Army withdrew many of the Tories departed,
some going to Florida and some to Nova Scotia, where the
negroes carried off by the British also were located, while
others sought new homes in the distant west, even crossing
the mountains and establishing themselves in the outskirts
of the western settlements. It was in that period of ran¬
corous animosity that the former policy of conciliation was
abandoned and measures were taken to enforce the confisca¬
tion laws; and thus' when blessed peace came there were
mingled with the peans of victory loud execrations of the
hated Tories.

The waste of the war had not yet been overcome. Espe¬
cially in the Cape Fear counties had the destruction been
great; and so many families there were in dire need that by a
general law they were to be exempt from the payment of
taxes in the discretion of the county justices. Elsewhere the
inhabitants were suffering because of the absence of markets
and of facilities to dispose of the products of their industry,
but the people were measurably inured to their situation and
had been so long accustomed to their privations that they
scarcely realized the hardships. They had known nothing
better.

Life offered no field for activity but on the farm and in the
forests ; and clearing new land and making forest products
were the only openings for energy and enterprise.

During the war, to supply the necessities of the people as
well as the needs of the army, bounties had been freely
offered to stimulate manufactures, but when the occasion had
passed the bounties ceased. Yet the looms were still busy,
skins were tanned, and furs secured from otters and beavers,
and shoemakers and hatters plied their trades.

At that period factories had not been erected anywhere in
America ; there were no power looms, and only the spinning
jenny and hand weaving were in use, and nails were still
made by hand. But so industrious were the people in their

1783

Antago¬

nisms

Industries

SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN 1783

1783

Agriculture

homes that many districts not only clothed themselves, but
had a surplus of cotton, linen, and woolen cloths for sale.

In the tidewater regions where naval stores abounded,
men found profitable employment in making tar, pitch, and
turpentine, of which the mercantile world stood in great
need, while lumber and staves were always in demand for
the West Indies. In colonial days trade with the British
Islands in the Caribbean sea had brought in a liberal supply
of specie; but when the State separated herself from the Brit¬
ish empire the restrictive navigation laws obstructed that
commerce.' Yet England soon fostered shipments to her own
ports, and the London merchants hastened to send their goods
to markets that were bare of foreign manufactures.

The great forests of the State, so rich in products, were
virtually unbroken. While near the coast and in the Albe¬
marle regions there were some large plantations, in the in¬
terior the holdings were smaller, and the clearings were only
such as were needed for cultivation. Generally every man
owned his land, and, as there was no labor for hire, tilled
his own fields. Back from the markets where there was a
surplus of corn and grain, hogs and cattle were raised and
driven on foot for sale. Also in some communities grain
was converted into whiskey, and the fruits of the orchard
into brandy.

Agriculture, the chief occupation of the inhabitants, had
long received intelligent application, and despite adverse
conditions presented examples of thrift and skill. At the
east rice and indigo were grown, as well as flax and cotton ;
while along the water-courses, lumber and staves and naval
stores were produced. In the upper country where the soil
and climate were suitable tobacco and the cereals were culti¬
vated, and clover was not unknown. Mr. Hooper, a lawyer
rather than a farmer, wrote to his merchant at Edenton,
“Send me a barrel of clover seed.”

But transportation facilities were sadly lacking ; and back
from the rivers the want of good roads was a serious draw-

CURRENCY PROBLEMS

back. Public highways had been laid out connecting the
back country with the several market towns of the east, but
they could not be maintained in good condition, and the
northwestern counties found it more convenient to trade with
Virginia towns, and southwestern with Charleston. The
exports were tobacco, tar, pitch, turpentine, potash, staves,
lumber, rice, and provisions, all of these except tobacco alone
being the products of the east. Indeed transportation to
market involved such an expense as to largely deprive the
products of the distant interior of their value.

Necessarily all sales of products were made to merchants,
who established themselves at convenient points in the inte¬
rior, and setting their own prices, made great gains by their
bargains.

Of money there was none ; the State as well as the Con¬
tinental currency had ceased to have value, and to express
utter worthlessness the phrase was coined — “not worth a
continental." Money is not only of value in itself, but it is
the standard by which the value of other things is measured
and the chief instrument of commerce by which exchanges
are made, and the very foundation stone of credit. When
the State and Continental paper fell, there was virtually
no specie in circulation. Neither gold nor silver had been
found in any of the colonies, and the entire country was
dependent on such foreign coin as could be obtained for
commodities, and there were but few commodities to send
abroad. The people were indeed without a currency. In
the extremity recourse was again had to an issue of State
bills. At the April meeting of the Assembly a proposition
to emit new bills, matured by William Blount, met with
general concurrence. To give the issue a footing of sub¬
stantial value a special tax was levied to redeem it, and its
redemption was further secured by a pledge of all the con¬
fiscated property of the Tories held by the State. The cur¬
rency of the Revolution had been dollars to distinguish it
from colonial issues ; and now to emphasize that the new

1783

Exports

C. R., XXIV
475

The

currency

1783

SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN 1783

No interior
mails

The County
Courts

issue was on a distinct footing, it was in pounds and shil¬
lings, the pound being of the value of two and a half silver
dollars. The shilling was the same as the Spanish “bit,”
later twelve and a half cents. The amount was conserva¬
tively limited to a hundred thousand pounds.

There were no buggies, but few coaches, and traveling
was on horseback, men riding their own horses hundreds
of miles, and the women seldom visiting out of their neigh¬
borhood. The Assembly had established no mail facilities,
but the post route opened at the beginning of the Revolu¬
tion, along the coast, passing through Edenton and New
Bern and Wilmington, had been continued by Congress and
was still in operation, but there were no post ridings to the
interior. Letters were sent by hand. Without means of com¬
munication, the dissemination of intelligence among the peo¬
ple was slow and unreliable. Information about current
affairs was acquired by conversations at casual meetings, at
religious gatherings and the sessions of the county courts.
Indeed, these quarterly courts had no inconsiderable educa¬
tional value. More than any other instrumentality they
kept the people in touch with civilization. In every dis¬
trict of each county there were two or more justices of the
peace, and constables, and often a deputy sheriff. The jus¬
tices were men of responsibility and approved character, and
around them centered a strong personal influence. They met
quarterly at the courthouse and administered the public af¬
fairs of the county. They laid taxes, appointed officers,
provided for the poor, looked after the orphans and the set¬
tlement of estates of deceased persons. They laid off roads,
appointed the overseers and directed the construction of
bridges. In a word they exercised all the powers of govern¬
ment in matters of local interest in the several neighborhoods
of the county. Also, they tried offenses against the law and
civil suits between litigants. Necessarily they were attended
by many jurors, witnesses and parties interested in their
proceedings. Others with no particular business likewise

COUNTY COURTS

attended from a desire of intercourse with fellow-men ; and
so those occasions thus drew great crowds together, and at
such times private accounts were settled, trades were made,
and ordinarily there was much swapping of horses, and oc¬
casional trials of speed, for the people dearly loved a horse
race ; also, there were more or less drinking and carousing,
and contests, friendly and otherwise, of personal prowess.
It was always a field day when court met. But apart from
the social side of such meetings, in addition to these oppor¬
tunities of social intercourse, there was a distinct value in
training the people in respect for law, and in educating them
in local administration, in legal processes and in matters of
public concern. Many a man who could read no word in a
book knew well the common law of the land, knew private
rights and wrongs, knew nice distinctions and could weigh
with unerring judgment the value of evidence. As deficient
in schooling as the Barons of Runnymede, they had intelli¬
gence trained by experience into practical wisdom.

In 1783 the system of judicature was perfected by invest¬
ing the Superior Court judges with equity jurisdiction, such
as the Court of Chancery had under the Crown, but which
had not been exercised by any court since the Revolution.
There was, however, a provision that no final decree should
be entered except when two judges were present. Now,
the hardships of strict law were mitigated by an appeal
to conscience, and while the judges might enter a judg¬
ment in the law court, sitting in equity, they could enjoin its
execution.

Religion, the traditional inheritance of the race, meas¬
urably entered into the lives of the people who, however,
were generally neither warmly attached to doctrine nor very
demonstrative in their zeal. Francis Asbury noted in his
Journal in April, 1780, that he preached in Halifax County
to about five hundred persons — and “the people were sol¬
emnly attentive." A few days later, he found “people were

Courts of

equity

Religion

SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN 1783

1"80 for the ordinances, though not heated.” At the Tabernacle,

about four hundred attended : — “The people very insensi¬
ble. I think these people must be awakened by judgment, for
it appears the gospel will not do it” ; on Sunday at Green
Hill’s, Franklin County, O’Kelly “raised high, and was very
affecting, but to little purpose. There are evils here, — the
meeting not solemn : the women appeared to be full of dress ;
the men full of news. The people are gospel slighters : I
fear some heavy stroke will come on them.” Somewhat
later Rev. Henry Patillo, a learned and observant Presby¬
terian minister, a man of great liberality and thoroughly
imbued with a spirit of Christianity, wrote : “As to our
young people, and others not well settled in their principles
joining with other professions, and particularly the Metho¬
dists, I would just observe that this seems to be the versatile
season with America ; and a change of religious profession
has become almost as common and as little noted as the vari¬
ations of the weather in this most changeable climate.”

This zealous Presbyterian also mentioned having received
warm, friendly letters from the Methodists — whose bias nat¬
urally was towards the Church of England — “expressing
c. R., xxiv, their wishes to cultivate a nearer intercourse, and that bigotry
might cease among Christians”; nor were the Baptists of a
different mind, for he likewise pointed to “the friendly inter¬
course that subsists between the Baptists and us in all re¬
spects, except communion, known and acknowledged by all.”
Altogether, the picture he presents is free from the baneful
spirit of religious intolerance. Indeed no zealous attach¬
ment to doctrine can be observed, but, rather, there was an
expressed desire of Christian fellowship. Doubtless in those
years when the denominations were unorganized and when
there was an insufficient number of ministers, there was a
loosening of religious ties and an indisposition to adhere
closely to doctrine ; but the seeds of piety had been sown and
were planted in a fruitful soil, even if they lay dormant for

a season.

PASTORLESS CHURCHES

In colonial days the Church of England had in some meas¬
ure been organized in the eastern counties, especially near the
Virginia line, but as constituted, upon the declaration of
independence it was a solecism and out of place in the col¬
onies. A portion of the National Church of England, with
the rubric of the Book of Common Prayer requiring a prayer
for the King, it did not fit the new conditions. Its mem¬
bers had been foremost in asserting their political rights,
and under their leadership, chiefly, the Revolution had been
begun and brought to a successful close. Notwithstanding
the separation from England, by them it continued to be re¬
garded as the Apostolic church, and they remained true to
their faith and devotedly attached to the rites, ceremonies
and practices of “the church.” While the position of the
laymen was thus peculiar, that of the ministers, being under
the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London, was full of embar¬
rassment. One of them, Rev. Mr. Wills, at Wilmington,
withdrew from his charge in 1775, although he remained
on the Cape Fear and performed the marriage service and
perhaps other rites during- the war. As the • ordination of
a new minister could be only by the Bishop of London, no
other was then called, and twenty years elapsed before that
pulpit was again filled.

At New Bern, Rev. Mr. Reed, although a Loyalist, con¬
tinued to officiate ; while the Edenton congregation had the
services of Rev. Charles Pettigrew, a warm patriot, in the
place of the Rev. Mr. Earle, who, in 1775, retired to his farm
in Bertie County, although his sympathies were with the
people. Rev. George Mickle john, the pastor at Hillsboro,
who was taken at Moore’s Creek, remained in the State and
eventually took the test oath, and after peace was a minister
in Virginia. The other incumbents are said to have been in
sympathy with the Revolution and to have continued their
services without interruption. But on the separation from
their mother country, there being no method of procuring
ordination, the power of the organization to perpetuate itself

Church of
England

Vass:

Presbyterian
Church, 78

SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN 1783

1783

The Baptists

The Presby¬
terians

The

Methodists

ceased. In addition to this drawback the association of the
church with the English hierarchy and its theoretical connec¬
tion with the British government were distinct influences
adverse to its being regarded with favor by the struggling
patriots. Its members were as sheep in a wilderness without
a shepherd. The three orders of ministers were essential
to its existence, and there was no bishop in America. Natur¬
ally it was engulfed in stagnant waters, and years elapsed
before it revived. In 1783 in Maryland, it assumed the name
of ‘‘The Protestant Episcopal Church in Maryland,” and
that name was adopted by a General Convention held three
years later. About the same time the consecration of bishops
was secured ; and that deficiency was supplied. But so weak
were its adherents in North Carolina that year after year
passed without any effort at organization, and when efforts
were made, about 1790, they failed of success.

Nor were the other denominations, in the eastern counties,
in a much more vigorous condition. Although there were a
few Presbyterian congregations on the waters of the Cape
Fear, in 1783 there seems to have been no minister of that
faith east of Granville. The Baptists, however, were better
settled, and there were Baptist ministers, especially in the
northern counties, each congregation being separate and in¬
dependent. Farther west the Baptists were still more
flourishing ; and there also the Presbyterians were well estab¬
lished, having at the end of the Revolution about a dozen
pastors actively at work — men of high repute, and teachers as
well as preachers to their flocks. In 1770 Orange Presbytery
had been organized, and in 1788 the Synod of the Carolinas
was formed. It was in that year that Rev. Mr. Patillo, who
was located in Granville, published at Wilmington, his
volumes of sermons. He also published an interesting vol¬
ume on geography, printed in 1790, at Halifax, by Hodge.

The first Methodist Societies organized in North Carolina
looked to Rev. Mr. Wesley as their head, and recognized the
authority of the ministers of the Church of England ; and,

PIONEER PREACHERS

indeed, they were regarded as being within the fold of that
church. Dr. Coke was of that communion, and the first
Methodist to preach in the State, James Pilmoor, after¬
wards became an Episcopal minister in New York. Like the
Church of England, the Methodists suffered some detriment
because of the conflict with the mother county, whence had
emanated the influences that established and controlled the
societies; but in 1784, at a Conference held at Baltimore, a
new, distinct and separate organization was adopted. Yet
notwithstanding the Methodists thus severed connection with
the Protestant Episcopal Church, Christian fellowship was
still maintained.

In 1780 Francis Asbury had traveled through the northern
central counties, visiting the societies that had been estab¬
lished, and the year after the new organization he and Dr.
Coke held at Green Hill’s house, Franklin County, the first
Conference. But despite the zeal and activity of the minis¬
ters, the growth of the Methodists, like that of the other de¬
nominations, was slow in the State. The people in many com¬
munities of the center and east had lived so long without
regular ministrations that they had become somewhat in¬
different to the formalisms and doctrines of church organi¬
zations. The Quakers and Moravians, being men of peace,
had not suffered much during the war, but rather had reaped
the reward of their steady habits and productive industry.
The German Lutherans, whose church services were still
in German, however, felt the effects of the war, like their
neighbors, the Scotch-Irish.

Unhappily, conditions in general were promotive of illit¬
eracy, for educational facilities were meager and insufficient.
The proposition to establish a public school in every county,
made during Governor Dobbs’s administration, had come to
naught because some English merchants objected to the issue
of currency proposed for that purpose ; and Governor Dobbs
having omitted to inform the Assembly of the particular
objection, the obstacle was never removed.

First

conference

SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN 1783

Dickson’s
Letters, 31

The subject thus passed out of view and no further effort
was made for general education at public expense. There
were some private schools, but they were inadequate for the
general education of the people. Yet the condition was not
so bad but that it could be worse ; and apparently it became
worse. In 1826 Governor Burton urged on the Assembly :
“Many enlightened persons believe that it is more difficult
for an individual in ordinary circumstances to obtain for his
child, at this time, the common rudiments of education than
it was at the period when our Constitution was adopted.”

Although there was a constitutional provision requiring
the establishment of public schools, and also of a university,
yet the provision was long inoperative. No general system
of public instruction had been introduced anywhere except
alone in Massachusetts ; and circumstances were adverse to
its inauguration in North Carolina. Education by the State
has been a development of a more recent period. It was not
then demanded by the spirit of the times. The scarcity of
money made it difficult to pay taxes, and there was a general
reluctance to pay public dues ; but more than all, the isolated
lives of the separate farmers, residing in sparsely settled
neighborhoods, led them to be indifferent to education. In¬
deed, as Dickson expressed it, “the genius of the people was
not adapted to the study of learning and science. The objects
they had in view were money and pleasure.”

There were no magazines, no newspapers, or story books
to stir the mind, to nourish the imagination, to exercise the
mental faculties. Acquaintance with the art of reading and
writing but little enlarged the horizon of life or added to the
zest of living. In that primitive condition of existence, such
education as could be obtained was of slight service in the
daily routine of farm work, and was not felt to be indis¬
pensable, either for its usefulness or as contributing to
recreation in the family circle. The labors of the day were
not supplemented by intellectual pleasures. A considerable
number of the poorer settlers probably had been without the

ILLITERACY

rudiments of an education, and illiteracy was on the increase
among that portion of the inhabitants. An essayist, writing
of Caswell County, says: “Between 1775 and 1800 a com¬
mon English education — to read, write and cypher, was ob¬
tained by only one-half of the people of that county.” Else¬
where it was largely the same. The absence of public schools
bore heavily on the social condition of the interior. Yet
there were individual efforts to maintain primary schools and
even academies. At every session of the Assembly some new
academy was incorporated, and trustees appointed to manage
its affairs ; but necessarily the influence of these was limited
largely to the vicinity of the villages where they were situ¬
ated and to those more prosperous families that had always
enjoyed the advantages of education, for in every county and
settlement there were then as now, some families of education
who knew its value and fully appreciated its beneficial in¬
fluences, and no sacrifice was accounted too great to obtain
it for the children.

In that period of isolation when there was so little room
for intellectual effort, the art of letter writing was practiced
by few, and, other than the public records, the memorials
of the time are scant and meager. Nor has the small stock
of what survived the uses of the day been carefully guarded.
Williamson, Martin, Murphey, Hooper, and others sought, in
succeeding generations, to gather up the scattered fragments
for historical purposes, but their collections have all disap¬
peared. McRee later performed a grateful service in pub¬
lishing the correspondence of Iredell, and, if we may judge
from the elegant diction and refined sentiments of that cor¬
respondence, even in the darkest hours there were circles
here and there throughout the State, of a high order of
social culture and literary merit.

Nor were there lacking the beneficial influences attending
the order of the Masonic fraternity, which, established early
in colonial life, was revived after the war. On the death, in
1776, of Grand Master Joseph Montfort, who held under

Coon, 1-64

Letters

The Masons

SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN 1783

Haywood :
Beginnings
of Freema¬
sonry in
N. C., 14

The Cin¬
cinnati

S. R„

XVIV, 793

Davis: N. C.
Society of
Cincinnati,
53-55

A ruling
class

authority of a British commission, the Grand Lodge ceased
for twenty years; but in 1787 representatives from ten
lodges met at Tarboro, and, setting up an independent
authority, elected Samuel Johnston Grand Master. Caswell,
Davie and many of the other leading men of the day were
members. Since then the order has always been a factor in
the life of the people.

The general tone of society was more democratic and less
aristocratic than either in Virginia or in South Carolina.
But the form of government, a representative republic, was
somewhat calculated to foster a class distinction. The ab¬
sence of great fortunes tended to suppress social pretensions
based on wealth and not founded on personal worth, public
service and popular applause; and there was a jealousy of
other distinction. An indication of the prevailing sentiment
may be gathered from the speedy dissolution of the patriotic
order of the Cincinnati. This order was organized in the
State by the Continental officers at Hillsborough in October,
1783, General Jethro Sumner being chosen President. In
the Assembly, a year later, a petition was presented against
the order by General John Butler, who introduced a bill
to render any member of it ineligible to a seat in the Assem¬
bly. His measure did not pass, but the opposition to the so¬
ciety was so strong as to control the action of the former
Continental officers, to whom it was imputed that they de¬
signed to establish themselves as a peerage. On the death
of General Sumner he was succeeded by Colonel John B.
Ashe ; but after a few years the society informally dissolved.
Notwithstanding this democratic tendency, the Assemblymen
virtually formed a class of rulers. They were generally men
of substance in their counties, who drew around themselves
such strong influences that they were almost continuously
reelected to their seats. They elected all the great officers,
and determined the policy of the State. Doubtless they were
not inattentive to public opinion, which, however, they exer¬
cised a great power in forming; and although advocates of

PRINTING PRESS

a democracy, they were measurably the ruling class in the
State. It is much to their credit that legislation was sound,
liberal and judicious, and the Assembly always responded
to suggestions tending to the general welfare. In addition,
it may be said that the Assembly generally recognized merit,
and there was a liberality of sentiment illustrated in the elec¬
tion to high office of men but recently settled in the State and
unsupported by great family influence.

The need of a printing press was keenly felt, and in the
summer of 1783 Robert Keith set up one at New Bern, and
in August he issued the first number of the North Carolina
Gazette. There had been no newspapers published in the
State in several years and the advent of this was hailed with
interest and satisfaction. The office was “near the church
where the subscriptions, essays and articles of intelligence
are gratefully received.” It was on a demy sheet, with clear
type, and was offered for three Spanish milled dollars per
annum. One of the printer lads was Francis Xavier Martin,
a French boy, who had been stranded at New Bern. Con¬
nected with his printing office, Keith opened a book store
and offered to the public Edwards on Original Sin , Baker
on the Divine Attributes, a choice collection of hymns; and,
for the use of schools, Testaments, spelling books, primers
and writing paper. Quills alone were used for writing. The
opening of a print shop speedily led to publications. No
longer was it necessary for the pamphleteers to circulate their
manuscripts by sending them from town to town by trusty
messengers to secure safe delivery and preservation.

In the fall, Judge Spencer, over the signature of Atticus,
printed an article on the Constitution, probably discussing
the Loyalist, and John Hay, as Tiberius Gracchus, put out
in a six-penny pamphlet an essay which in manuscript he had
read to a coterie of admiring friends, ridiculing the Assem¬
bly and so violently assailing Judge Sitgreaves that Keith
had to divulge the author’s name, resulting in a personal al¬
tercation. Then Hay and the bench drifted apart. There

The press

Weeks :
Press of
N. C., 38

The

pamphleteers

McRee : Life
of Iredell,

75, 76, 95

1 6

SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN 1783

McRee : Life
of Iredell, 96

Death of
Burke

McRee: Life
of Iredell, 83

The slaves

Census 1790

quickly followed a war in which Cusatti, Sully, The Citizen,
and The True Citizen bore their parts; also Germanicus.
The Citizen was imputed to Judge Williams and Richard
Henderson, the polishing touches being given by Governor
Martin.

But one printing office did not suffice, and in March, 1784,
another weekly was begun at Halifax; and perhaps one also
at Hillsboro ; and so disputants had several instruments
of warfare. No one would have entered with greater zest
and more caustic pen into these literary controversies than
the brilliant Irishman, Dr. Burke; but his race was run. In
December, 1784, that choice spirit passed away. His friend
Hooper thus announced his melancholy fate : “Dr. Burke
died about a fortnight since and fell, in some measure, a
sacrifice to the obstinacy which marked his character through
life. Laboring under a complication of disorders, oppressed
with the most agonizing pains, which for months had de¬
prived him of his natural rest; and to sum up his misery, no
domestic prop to lean upon — no friend or companion at his
home to soothe the anguish of his mind or mitigate the pain
of his body — was not death to him a comforter, a friend
and physician?”

At the peace there were about ninety thousand slaves
in North Carolina and five thousand free negroes. The lo¬
cation of the colored element of population was an incident
of settlement. The western counties were settled chiefly
by immigrants coming overland from Pennsylvania. These
were accompanied by no negroes; and so, few Africans, rel¬
atively, were to be found at the west. Near the northern
line as far as Surry, the settlement was largely from Vir¬
ginia, and the planters brought their negroes with them.
Along the coast, including Brunswick and New Hanover,
negroes were comparatively numerous ; but farther in the in¬
terior, where immigrants direct from Europe located, there
were not so many. The free negroes were found chiefly in
the older counties, where indeed there were more blacks

STATUS OF SLAVES

1 7

than elsewhere. In 1790 Halifax returned 6,506 slaves and
446 free negroes. Northampton and Bertie together, 9,650
slaves and 751 free negroes. In New Hanover and four ad¬
jacent counties there were 10,116 slaves and 215 free negroes.
In Iredell, 846 slaves and 3 free negroes. In colonial times
free negroes paid taxes like the whites, but could not vote.
They lived apart and were not allowed free intercourse with
the slaves.

Slaves descended as other property. The master’s right to
rule was complete; but while he could punish, he could not
take the life of a slave. Slaves could have no right to any
property — but no one could interfere with them except the
owner. They were amenable to the law for offenses, but the
masters often protected them from punishment when charged
with minor offenses ; when one was executed, the owner was
allowed his value, but in 1786 this practice was discontinued.
They lived on their master’s premises ; and he was required
to provide for their necessities ; to care for them in sickness
and in age.

Slaves generally were not allowed to use firearms, but the
county court, on application of the owner, licensed one slave
on each plantation to carry a gun for the purpose of protect¬
ing the property from depredations. The conduct of the
farm, the administration and system of work and of living,
was under the regulation of the master. Some slaves were
taught to be carpenters, wheelwrights, blacksmiths, coopers
and shoemakers, and the women to spin and weave. Often
the farm raised its own wool and cotton, tanned its own
leather, had its smithy and shop for wood work, and made
its own shoes and clothing. In all this work, as well as in all
farm work, some negroes were trained and skilled. Gen¬
erally .the farm or plantation was managed by the master,
and in his absence one of the slaves, as “foreman,” super¬
vised the work with orderly precision.

There were but few great estates in North Carolina. In
1790, the largest slaveowner, Cullen Pollok, listed on four
2

Debates,
Conv. 1835,
p. 65

Their work

SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN 1783

The

slaveholders

The negroes
and religion

plantations 372; Whitewell Hall, 270; Benjamin Luther, 221';
Robert Haynes and Thomas Eaton in Warren, each 138.
The next largest was Willie Jones, with 120; then Mr. Col¬
lins, 1 13; Peter Mallet, 103; and Governor Samuel John¬
ston owned 96. Only twelve persons listed 100. Hardly two
hundred persons had as many as 50. Largely more than half
the people owned none at all, while hundreds possessed only
one or two. On the larger plantations the negro families
had their separate houses, with small gardens attached,
some distance from the mansion; and had such pleasures
and recreations as their masters chose to allow. When
the number of slaves was small they lived near the mansion,
and were brought into very close association with the white
family; and, in effect, all constituted a family. The men
were “men of all work,” and the women and children were
employed about the domicile. This association had an educa¬
tional advantage and tended distinctly to the elevation of
the negro. Whatever there was of beneficence in the in¬
stitution of African slavery thus had, perhaps^ its best de¬
velopment in North Carolina, where the country negroes
seem to have attained a somewhat more advanced condition
than elsewhere.

Generally, slaves had such opportunities for religious in¬
struction as the condition of the country afforded. Writing
in 1788, Rev. Mr. Patillo remarked that they composed a
part of most congregations, and in those under his charge
there were 150 negro communicants. Very ignorant, they
were at first taken on trial before admitted to baptism or
the communion. “In the meantime the black members
are very diligent with them, instructing them, and narrowly
inspecting their conduct.” Most masters indulged their
slaves in liberty of conscience, whether religious or other¬
wise, while “pious masters have great disquiet and vexation
from the untractable and incorrigible temper of their slaves.”
“Of the religious negroes in my congregation some are en¬
trusted with a kind of eldership, so far as to keep a watch-

SLAVE TRADE

ful eye over the black members. . . . The great matter of
scandal among the negroes arises from their marriages or
matches. Masters are so often selling their slaves, or re¬
moving to a distance, that as the creatures generally belong
to different masters, they are often parted, or their places
of residence become so distant that they can seldom see
each other. Many masters, however, will rather exchange
or sell, than part husband and wife.” A few can read a
plain book, and many more would learn on Lord’s Day and
sleeping time if they had spelling books, catechisms, Testa¬
ments and Watts’s hymns, as they are peculiarly fond of
singing.” At that period there was no legal inhibition
against teaching slaves to read and write.

Property right in the person of the African slave was the
law of the New World at the time North Carolina was set¬
tled. It was a part of the institutions of every community.
Incident to it was the slave trade, a commerce that came
to be reprobated in America earlier than elsewhere. In
every colony, from the earliest times, there were some in¬
dividuals who were opposed both to slavery and the slave
trade. In August, 1774, the freeholders of Rowan County
resolved that: “The African slave trade is injurious to
this colony, obstructs the population of it by freemen, pre¬
vents manufacturers and other useful immigrants from
Europe from settling among us, and occasions an annual in¬
crease in the balance of trade against the colony.” • This
declaration was followed a few days later by a resolution of
the first Provincial Convention, that “we will not import 01-
purchase any slave brought into this province from any part
of the world after the first day of November next.” This
resolve was observed by the people and enforced by the
Committee of Safety. The next year Jefferson’s declaration
“that all men are created equal — ” received universal as¬
sent, but that evidently had reference to the right to modify
governments, and had no bearing on the status of the Afri¬
can slaves in the colonies. Yet the thought was expressed

Attitude to
slavery

C. R„ IV,
1026
1046

SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN 1783

C. R., XXIV,
14

Ibid., 221,
336

Free negro
militia

C. R., XXIV,
639

Debates,
Conv. 1835,
p. 65

Racial

differences

and disseminated. Owners had the right of manumission,
and apparently manumissions were multiplied, while the
inconveniences of slavery became more pronounced when the
struggle for independence began and the British sought to
incite both the Indians and negroes to become their allies.
At the very first session of the Assembly under the new Con¬
stitution, “because of the evil and pernicious practice of
freeing slaves, at this alarming and critical time, the personal
right to manumit was taken away, a license from the County
Court being made requisite, and the court was forbidden to
grant the license except for ‘meritorious services.’ ”

Notwithstanding the racial difference, the negroes were a
part of the population, and could render service — both bond
and free. During the war the latter were enrolled in the
militia, and performed military service as other freemen.
Slaves, like Indians, Hessian deserters and some others, were
not to be accepted as substitutes for drafted men ; but, with
their master’s consent, they could enlist ; and some did enlist
and rendered faithful service as soldiers in the Continental
ranks as well as in the State troops. One slave, Ned Griffin,
of Edgecombe, having under a promise of freedom served
faithfully for twelve months as a Continental, a special act
of the Assembly was passed to enfranchise him and “dis¬
charge him from the yoke of slavery,” and he was declared
“a freeman in every respect.” As with him, so was it with
others;- after the Revolution free negroes became freemen in
every respect. And thus it came about that they obtained
the privilege of suffrage, which they enjoyed until the Con¬
stitution was amended in 1835. , But their legal status, as
well as that of the slave, was anomalous, and the Congress of
the United States at its second session excluded them from
being enrolled in the militia. Negroes could not give evi¬
dence against a white man, and in some respects they were
not regarded as citizens. But free negroes had property
rights, and generally speaking had all the benefits of the law.
Many became men of substance, and they sometimes owned

IMPORTATION OF SLAVES

slaves. James Lowry, apparently the progenitor of the out¬
law Henry Berry Lowry, was in 1790 the owner of several
slaves. Many other free negroes likewise were slaveowners.
One who had served in the Revolution, John Chavis, not only
was a slaveholder but was a school-teacher, having among
his pupils some boys who afterwards became men of renown.
He was also a Presbyterian minister.

After commerce was reopened slaves were again im¬
ported, but in 1786 their importation was declared productive
of evil consequences and highly impolitic, and in order to
arrest it a tax of ten pounds was laid on the importation of
the most able-bodied, with a smaller duty on others. Some
of the northern states had already taken measures to abolish
slavery, and their slaves were being sold to southern planters.
North Carolina did not propose to allow this transfer to her
territory of negroes who in their own states had the hope of
freedom, and by act of Assembly it was forbidden to bring
into North Carolina any slave from any state that had taken
such a step, and should any be imported contrary to that
act, they were to be immediately returned to the place from
which they were brought. While the institution of negro
slavery was thus perpetuated after the Revolution, yet the
importation of slaves was regarded as injurious and North
Carolina was not favorable to a continuance of the slave
trade. The influence of the Quaker element of the popula¬
tion was distinctly against the institution of slavery, and per¬
haps the prevalence of such sentiments was a natural result
of the war itself.

Indeed the Revolution not only called forth many virtues
but developed much latent ability. When the war began,
says Ramsay, the Americans were a mass of husbandmen,
merchants, mechanics and fishermen ; but the necessities of
the country gave a spring to the active powers of the inhab¬
itants, and set them thinking, speaking, and acting, in a
line far beyond that to which they had been accustomed. It
seemed as if the war not only required, but created talents.

Census 1790

S. R., XXIV,
793

1786

To arrest
importation

S. R., XXIV,
794

Effects of
the

Revolution

SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN 1783

Men, whose minds were warmed with the love of liberty, and
whose abilities were improved by daily exercise, and sharp¬
ened with a laudable ambition to serve their distressed coun¬
try, spoke, wrote and acted with an energy far surpassing
all expectation which could be reasonably founded on their
previous acquirements.

The long years of the struggle had been a period of
great intellectual activity, and the creation and adminis¬
tration of government had thoroughly awakened the people
and vitalized their energies. Great writers were produced,
great thoughts had penetrated the minds of the masses,
and heart and soul, body and mind, alike, had been on the
rack, and tens of thousands of men, bred in solitude, had
moved over the face of the country, every faculty quickened
and stimulated and every passion brought often into play.
Thus, as in all long and arduous contests, the people emerged
from the war, uplifted by the struggle, developed in all their
faculties, broader in thought, stronger in action, more re¬
sourceful, and with higher powers and nobler aims than be¬
fore they had suffered the fearful experience ; and, besides,
they were inspired with a great hope, a great confidence in
the future of their country.

CHAPTER II

1783-1785

Alexander Martin's Administration

Attitude towards the Tories. — Dissatisfaction with the Treaty. —
The perilous condition of the Union. — Action at Edenton. — The
settlement on the Cumberland and growth of the Watauga coun¬
ties. — Land granted to the soldiers; to Henderson. — The Assembly
of April 1784. — Martin’s progressive address. — Reelected. — Entails
abolished. — Advanced legislation. — Lands of Tories held forfeited.
— Fayetteville incorporated. — Rivers to be made navigable. —
Clubfoot and Harlow canal. — Special Commerce Courts.' — The
Treaty not observed. — The offer to Congress of the Western Ter¬
ritory. — Conditions beyond the mountains. — The people assert in¬
dependence. — The Assembly meets in October. — A census ordered
to be taken. — Caswell elected Governor. — Liberty Hall moved to
Salisbury. — Science Hall. — Oath of allegiance modified. — Quakers
allowed to wear hats in court. — The three-fifths rule. — Duties laid
for Congress. — Indignation at greed of other states. — The offer
to 'Congress withdrawn. — The District of Washington. — Sevier
elected General. — The people of Franklin disregard the repeal. —
They adopt a Constitution. — Sevier Governor, and Caswell County
erected. — The currency of the new State. — Martin’s admonitions
disregarded. — Franklin seeks admission into the Confederacy. —
Efforts to control the people in vain. — Martin calls the Assembly
to meet. — Congress urges North Carolina to annul her repealing
act. — Caswell Governor. — The Assembly without a quorum.

Although the year 1783 brought peace it was not un¬
marked by agitations. The doubts, the dangers, the vi¬
cissitudes of the war were passed ; a new standpoint was
gained ; but new questions arose to engage the attention
of men, enlisting their sympathies, awakening their appre¬
hensions and arousing their passions. In the final draft
of the Treaty of Peace Great Britain had sought to conserve
the interests of the Loyalists who, as dutiful subjects, had
made great sacrifices in behalf of their Sovereign and had
staunchly and vigorously maintained the Royal cause. She
secured a stipulation that debts to British creditors were to
be paid in full ; that there were to be no further confiscations
or prosecutions ; and that Congress was to earnestly recom-

MARTIN’S ADMINISTRATION

1783

The feeling
against the
Tories

mend restitution of all rights and property. When this
provision of the Treaty, at first withheld by Congress, was
eventually made public the country was at once aflame. In
every state there were the same vigorous protests. The
Patriots would grant no favor to the Tories. It was im¬
puted to these enemies of their country that they had
cheered the British when despondent, and, by their zealous
partisanship, had greatly prolonged the hopeless struggle
for British supremacy ; that they had given to the contest
its particular cast of brutality and had been the chief actors
in the butcheries that marked its progress ; that they had
applied the torch to their neighbors’ houses with relentless
barbarity, and had wantonly destroyed property while mur¬
dering the unfortunate victims of their vengeance. Some
prudent men realized that better temper should prevail,
and urged that the Treaty under which independence was
secured should be sacredly observed in every part. But
these were few in number, and their arguments served to
intensify rather than assuage the prevailing bitterness.

The revolt of the soldiers

A question not arousing equal passion but of yet more
vital importance related to the Union that had successfully
carried the colonies through the long war to independence.
The Confederacy was burdened by a crushing debt, and
was bankrupt. Its currency was without value ; the public
creditors were unpaid and there was no power to impose a
tax. Worse than all, no provision could be made to settle
with the soldiers who had won independence and were now
in their camps clamoring for their arrearages. To meet
this exigency Congress directed that Washington’s veterans,
although unpaid, should return to their homes on furlough.
As the army was being thus disbanded a hundred mal¬
contents of the Pennsylvania line marched from Lancaster
to Philadelphia to demand of the Pennsylvania Council

FINANCIAL STRAITS

payment of their dues. Joined by others until they became
a formidable mob, they surrounded the building in which
not only the Council but the Continental Congress was in
session, and encircled it with a cordon of bayonets. An¬
archy was about to supplant all authority. Eventually the
members of the Congress succeeded in escaping; and they,
with indignation, resolved h> leave Philadelphia and meet at
Princeton. Washington, always prompt, hurried General
Robert Howe to the scene with a sufficient force to quell
the mutineers. The boldness of the mob and the indignity
to Congress alarmed the friends of established government
who saw rising above the horizon a portentous cloud that
threatened the destruction of all law and order. Gloomy
apprehensions and painful forebodings thus followed fast
the general rejoicings. The financial straits into which the
government had fallen were assuredly deplorable and ap¬
parently without remedy. Unanimity was requisite for ac¬
tion and the negative of a single state could defeat any
measure ; and as the power to levy taxes was not conferred
on Congress it could only apportion the amount needed
among the states and leave it to them to raise their quotas
by taxation.

The Articles of Confederation

North Carolina was not indifferent to these radical de¬
fects in the Articles of Confederation. In the darkest hour
of her own distress, July, 1781, she had with her accustomed
zeal assented to the levying of a five per cent duty for the
use of the United States ; but other states withheld their
sanction and the measure had not become operative. The
varying interests of the different states raised obstacles
that rendered all efforts for unity abortive. The common
debts remained unsettled and unsecured. The pledges of
the states were unredeemed, and the Confederation was
about to vanish in ruin and disgrace. No state was more

The straits
of the

government

North

Carolina’s

attitude

MARTIN’S ADMINISTRATION

1783

McRee :
Life of
Iredell
II, 89

Maclaine

alive to the situation than North Carolina; nor were any
delegates more zealous than hers. In February, 1783, Wil¬
liamson wrote from Congress to Iredell: “For more than
three weeks we have been constantly engaged in fixing a
scale for settling the quotas of the different states. To¬
day we have agreed on one resolution which the Southern
States have carried with great difficulty. I believe we
failed in twenty different plans before we fixed on one.
The framers of our Confederation, with reverence be it said,
were not infallible. Congress has reserved the power of
making treaties ; these treaties include the relations of com¬
merce ; we borrow money and have not the means of paying
sixpence. There is no measure, however wise or necessary,
that may not be defeated by a single state, however small
or wrong headed. The cloud of public creditors, including
the army, is gathering about us ; the prospect thickens.”
The picture was gloomy indeed.

The Tories

During that summer, hostilities being over, a number of
Tories, who had formerly abandoned their homes, returned
to the State. Several came to Wilmington, but the popular
ill will ran so high against them that they quickly withdrew.
Their enforced departure irritated those inhabitants who
had social and friendly relations with them and led par¬
ticularly to the estrangement of Archibald Maclaine, who
had been a strong patriot, from many with whom he had
previously cooperated. As time passed his sympathies and
interests became more and more involved with the Loyal¬
ists, and he grew in bitterness towards those whose faces
were hard set against them. At Edenton, ever the seat of
vigorous zeal guided by high intelligence, these public mat¬
ters agitated the people profoundly. On the first day of
August a meeting of the citizens was held, presided over

WEST OF THE MOUNTAINS

by Samuel Johnston, at which resolutions were adopted
urging the maintenance of order, the support of govern- gam
ment, the payment of the public debt and justice to the Johllston
soldiers. In particular was the necessity of continued union
urged, and an enlargement of the powers of the Union.

It was also resolved, “That we wish, as far as it is con¬
sistent with the Treaty of Peace, proper measures may be
taken to guard the evils that might arise from a return
of those persons who withdrew themselves from a defense
of the country and joined the British in time of our dis¬
tress” ; and the “gasconading encouragements they held
forth to induce a continuance of the war” were dwelt upon
in vigorous language. Especially it was recommended to
the magistrates to be vigilant against those persons who
might attempt to return in violation of the laws.

These resolves, appealing alike to prejudice and patriot¬
ism, doubtless were proposed as embodying the purpose of
those who favored them as of the first importance, strength¬
ening the Federal Union. But there were other subjects,
also, tending to division.

The western settlements

The region beyond the mountains had become of im¬
portance. Settlers guided by John Sevier had moved from
the Watauga to Nolichucky, and the Indians ceded all the
territory north of the French Broad to the whites, reserving
as their hunting grounds the region south of that river.

Farther in the interior of Kentucky had received many ac¬
cessions, and the call of the West appealed to bold, adven¬
turous spirits. In 1779 James Robertson penetrated far
into the wilderness and established a camp at a salt-lick
on the Cumberland, separated by impassable mountains
from the Watauga settlements. Once occupied by the
French traders as a station, it was commonly known as
“French Lick.” The following year others passed in boats

MARTIN’S ADMINISTRATION

1783

Grants to
the soldiers

The

migration

down the Tennessee to the Ohio, and then ascended the
Cumberland to Robertson’s cabins. Although much har¬
assed by Indians they held their ground and so increased
in numbers that in 1783 the North Carolina Assembly in¬
corporated that region into a county, calling it Davidson,
and naming the central settlement Nashville. At the same
session the State made some provision for her soldiers
now returning to their homes, wearing the laurel leaf of vic¬
tory. There was set aside, as a bounty for the veterans of
the war, an extensive domain from the point where the
Cumberland River crossed the Virginia line, south fifty-five
miles, then westward to the Tennessee; and Martin Arm¬
strong was appointed the surveyor to locate their grants,
while a board of commissioners adjusted their accounts to
be paid by the Treasurer.

On the east of the Cumberland Mountains, in the valley
of Powell River, in extinguishment of their claims for
land purchased from the Indians, more than two hundred
thousands acres were allotted to Richard Henderson and
his associates, the Indians remaining in possession from
the French Broad to Chickamauga. And now the soldiers
crossed the mountains to take possession of their bounty
lands, and population flowed in with a rush to occupy
the fertile tracts along the Powell and the Clinch, while
others passed on to the distant Cumberland.

The Assembly meets — Martin’s great address

The Assembly elected in the spring of 1784 met at Hills¬
boro in April and, having much business of importance to
transact, the session was prolonged beyond any other since
the Revolution. 'It was remarkable for its ability, and its
work indicates breadth and patriotism,, a just conception
of the needs of the day and zeal in perfecting legislation.
Perhaps because of the great matters to be determined both
Willie Jones and Sam Johnston, neither of whom was often

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

29 •

in the Assembly, were members of the Senate. The over¬
shadowing questions were those relating to the Union, and
to the future prosperity of the State, and these were for¬
cibly dwelt on by Governor Martin in his address. The
cause of the Union he urged with power and without re¬
serve, insisting on “the great wisdom displayed in connect¬
ing the states under one common sovereignty in Congress.”
“I need not mention,” said he, “in conclusion, that you are
building for posterity. For centuries to come the infant
annals of our time will be traced with eagerness by inquisi¬
tive posterity for precedents, for maxims to which the future
government may still conform. Now is the important mo¬
ment to establish on your part the Continental Power on its
firmest basis, by which the people of these states rose and
are to be continued a nation.” But as anxious as he was to
maintain the Union, he was no less pronounced in advocating
progress in State affairs. A resident of the western part of
the State and familiar with the disadvantages under which
the inhabitants of the interior labored, he pressed on the
Legislature administrative policies intended to promote the
general welfare. The practice of issuing State bonds had not
then been introduced, and in a general way it may be said
there was no State credit. State aid could be given only
through taxation, and the people were not familiar with
the idea of taxing the whole for the advantage of a part.
Local efforts alone were available for the promotion of
enterprises. In presenting these subjects to the Assembly
the Governor remarked : “The trade and navigation of
this country is of lasting consequence, and requires your
immediate interposition and patronage. It is necessary our
rivers be rendered more navigable, our roads opened and
supported, by which the industrious planter may have his
produce carried to market with more ease and convenience.
Thereby more merchants of opulence would be induced to
settle in the State and open new resources of industry
among our inhabitants.” In particular, he again urged, “Let

1784

S. R., XIX,
498ff

Transpor¬

tation

MARTIN’S ADMINISTRATION

1784

Education

Progress

S. R., XXIY,
572ff

State

measures

me call your attention to the education of our youth. May
seminaries be revived and encouraged, where the under¬
standing may be enlightened, the heart mended and genius
cherished : whence the State may draw forth men of ability
to direct her councils and support her government. Religion
and virtue claim your particular care. To preserve the
morals of the people is to preserve the State.” Such senti¬
ments met with the approval of the members, and Martin
was again chosen Governor.

Caswell, Jones and Johnston, all sustained the Governor
in his measures : and at the end of the session, gratified at
his success, he wrote with enthusiasm to the delegates in
Congress : “You have here seven acts passed this session.
They contain almost all the substances of every principal
recommendation relative to finance. The request of Con¬
gress as to the western lands, their favorite object, is com¬
plied with. The Assembly came to no resolution as to the
refugees. Debate ran high. Several bills fell through re¬
specting them, and confiscated property remains unsold
which were laid over to the next session.”

At that epochal period, when every community in America
was entering on new conditions, there was adopted a great
mass of legislation conforming our institutions to the new
life of a broader citizenship; and it is to be noted that at
this time acts were passed abolishing entails, admitting the
half-blood to inheritances, allowing parents to inherit from
their children, allowing widows to dissent from the wills
of their husbands, providing easier means of subjecting real
estate to the payment of debts, making courts of equity
more efficient and extirpating many vestiges of the feudal
times.

By an act altering the meeting of the Assembly to October
and the election to August, it was provided that at the next
session a new Governor should be chosen who should qual¬
ify in June, 1785, at the expiration of Governor Martin’s
term: and the practice of having district treasurers was dis-

THREE-FIFTHS RULE

continued and Memican Hunt was elected Treasurer of the
whole State.

As the five per cent duty granted in 1781 to the Confed¬
eracy for an unlimited period had not become effective, now
on the recommendation of Congress another act was passed
granting the duty for the limited term of twenty-five years,
but with the same condition — that the other states should
agree to it. Under this act the collectors were to be ap¬
pointed by the states, but were to be removable by Congress.
Until the act should become operative, by the other states
adopting it, North Carolina imposed a two per cent duty
for herself. Further, for a period of twenty-five years, the
Assembly granted to Congress a tax of six pence on every
acre of land in the State.

The three-fifths rule

During the war the public burdens had been apportioned
among the states on the basis of property. In 1783 the
Southern members, after a long struggle, succeeded in
changing the basis from property to population. In the
enumeration of the people for this purpose, all free inhabi¬
tants, of every age, sex and condition, were to be counted,
and “three-fifths of all other persons not computed in the
above description/’ Such was the origin of the practice of
computing five slaves as the equal of three freemen, for
purposes of taxation; and afterwards for representation.
It is, however, observable that the word slave was not used
in this enactment, nor in the Federal Constitution that per¬
petuated it. This proposition, vigorously pressed by the
Southern delegates, as mentioned by Dr. Williamson, was
adopted in Congress in 1783 and agreed to by North Caro¬
lina in the spring 1784, and, becoming operative, was con¬
tinued in the Constitution of 1787, being known as the
“three-fifths” rule.

Although hampered for the want of means, the Assembly,
animated by a spirit of progress, was not unmindful of

Grants to
Congress of
duties
and taxes

S. R., XXIV,
557

MARTIN’S ADMINISTRATION

1784

River

navigation

S. R., XXIV,
634

Ibid., 606

Liberty Hall
and Science
Hall

Acts 1784,
Ch. 21

Fayetteville

The

Granville

and

McCulloh

tracts

the commercial and educational interest of the common¬
wealth. The inspection laws, pilotage regulations, and road
laws were revised and perfected ; and steps were taken to
make navigable the Roanoke and the Dan, also the Cape
Fear, the Neuse, the Tar, the Trent and the Fishing Creek;
and indeed the county courts were authorized to make nav¬
igable at county expense any stream in their respective
counties, while private enterprise undertook to cut the Club¬
foot and Ffarlow canal. In the interest of commerce a
special court was established to be held at the four seaport
towns, to try cases arising among foreigners or seamen,
or involving subjects of a mercantile nature. Provision was
made for taking a census of the inhabitants and a tax was to
retire old currency. Trustees were appointed for Innes
Academy; and for two public schools in Onslow, for two
academies in Morganton district ; and, the trustees of Liberty
Hall at Charlotte having represented that institution had
fallen into decay and having petitioned for its removal to
Salisbury, trustees were appointed for Liberty Hall to be
established at Salisbury, and, amending the charter of
Science Hall at Hillsboro, the Assembly converted the old
St. Matthews church into a free church and an academy. •
And in a spirit of tolerance, a special act was passed allow¬
ing the Quakers to wear their hats in the courts : and the oath
of allegiance was likewise modified, for all persons admitted
as citizens were required to take the oath of allegiance and
fidelity to the State.

In grateful recognition of Lafayette’s services the name
of the town of Campbellton had been changed to Fayette¬
ville and its importance had been extended by making it
the seat of a District Court : and now Moore County was
laid off.

As the State now claimed the Granville territory, direc¬
tions were given that all the papers connected with Gran¬
ville’s land officers should be collected and preserved.
Henry McCulloh had succeeded to his father’s rights in

HOSTILITY TO TORIES

the lands granted him for settlement in 1736; but he being
a Loyalist, his estates, like Granville’s, were held forfeited,
and his petition for their restoration, although warmly
pressed by many influential friends, was denied.

Indeed the implacable animosity of the fiercer Whigs
against the Tories was constantly manifest. Agreeably to
the express desire of the Continental Congress, the Grand
Committee of the Assembly brought forward bills to repeal
such laws as were inconsistent with the Treaty of Peace,
and to restore to the Tories such confiscated property as
had not been already sold. Johnston, Hooper, Willie
Jones, Maclaine, Hawkins, General Butler, General Person
and others, either from the softening influences of friendly
ties, or to give effect in good faith to the Treaty of Peace,
advocated these measures, but without avail. Abner Nash,
General Rutherford and their associates carried the day.
George Hooper, brother of William Hooper and son-in-law
of Maclaine, was a Loyalist, and he and Henry Eustace
McCulloh had many friends; but they were powerless. On
May day, when hope and cheerfulness are commonly in the
ascendant, Hooper wrote : “My hopes are at an end. This
day has put the matter beyond controversy; and there is
not a phrenzy of misguided political zeal, avarice cloaked in
the cover of patriotism, or private passion and prejudice,
under the pretense of revenging the wrongs of the country,
let these be carried to what excess they will — that can give
us the least surprise. In the Commons in spite of every¬
thing I could do, the bill was rejected, some 20 of 80 for it.
It fared worse in the Senate. Mr. Johnston spoke for it;
Willie Jones stept forward in a very becoming manner: —
their labor was lost. Griffith Rutherford called the objects
of the recommendatory clause, ‘Imps of Hell’ ; the vote
was called, and there were not ten in favor of it.” Later
he wrote : “The political phrenzy was high ; beyond any¬
thing I had foreseen.” The popular heart was indeed
strongly set against the Tories.

The Tories

MARTIN'S ADMINISTRATION

1784

The

provisos

Western territory ceded

Another measure also led to divergences. Congress in
sore straits had urged the states to cede their unsettled
western territories for the benefit of the Union. North
Carolina had such territory, and some of the people desired
the cession to be made.

The North Carolina Legislature, adopting the suggestion,
offered to cede her entire territory beyond the mountains,
although it was thought to contain one-tenth of her popula¬
tion. The proceeds of the unoccupied land thus ceded
were to be for the payment of the creditors of the Lmited
States. This measure was deemed by some as unjust, weak¬
ening the security of the creditors of the State and depriv¬
ing the inhabitants of a chief asset for the payment of their
public indebtedness. William R. Davie made vigorous op¬
position, and under his leadership General Person and
thirty-six other members filed a strong protest against it.
In particular it met with the disfavor of the representatives
of the interior counties, and even some of those from be¬
yond the mountains strenuously objected. But the purpose
to contribute to the common fund of the Union was strong,
and, besides, there were both political and economical rea¬
sons for the cession. The inhabitants of the territory were
entirely segregated, and the administration of public affairs,
rendered difficult as well as expensive by the remoteness of
the region cut off by impassable mountains, had been so
unsatisfactory that many of the people were discontented
and desired separation. And so, despite much earnest op¬
position, the bill was hastily passed without the subject hav¬
ing been discussed at all among the people of the State.
There were, however, several conditions attached to the
donation. It was to be accepted by Congress within twelve
months. As a provision for orderly government, the
territory was to have the North Carolina Constitution until
the inhabitants themselves should change it ; and there was

ACT OF CESSION

to be no regulation made by Congress tending to the emanci¬
pation of slaves other than should be directed by the new
State itself. This last provision was inserted .because
Congress had already manifested a disposition to legislate
against slavery. When an ordinance was being framed for
the government of the Northwest Territory, a provision pro¬
hibiting slavery in that region failed only by the vote of
Richard Dobbs Spaight, one of the North Carolina dele¬
gates. Three years later, in 1787, when a second ordinance
was passed, Jefferson was successful and slavery was forever
prohibited in that extensive region.

There was a further provision in the Act of Cession that
until Congress should accept the gift the sovereignty and
jurisdiction of North Carolina, in and over the territory
and the inhabitants thereof, should remain in all respects
as if the act had not been passed. So with respect to
government in the territory, the existing government was
not disturbed; nor was it to be disturbed until Congress
should accept the gift; and then it was provided that the
Constitution under which the people had lived should con¬
tinue to be their fundamental law until changed by them¬
selves. Subject to the conditions mentioned, North
Carolina, in June, 1784, made the tender of one-half of her
territory already somewhat settled, and with population
pouring into it, for the benefit of the Union. Truly it
bespoke of high patriotism. No other state had been so
liberal in sustaining the common government. If during
the war North Carolina’s contributions for the cause had
been unsurpassed, now in time of peace she again set an
example for her sisters to follow.

At the west

Some unexpected events, however, quickly followed the
passage of the act. When the measure was being consid¬
ered some of the representatives from the counties embraced
favored its passage, while others stoutly opposed it. The

1784

S. R., XXIV,
563

1784

MARTIN’S ADMINISTRATION

1784

The

Franklin

Convention

Ramsay:

Tennessee,

797

sentiment of the leaders was divided, but the people for
the most part hailed it with satisfaction. For some time
courts had not been regularly held beyond the mountains,
and the laws were not fully enforced. Settlers were daily
encroaching on the lands of the Indians, who had become
irritated because of prolonged delay in delivering to them
goods, agreeable to a treaty stipulation, in compensation for
territory already relinquished. These circumstances aroused
a spirit of hostility and several of the encroaching settlers
were murdered. A feeling of unrest, perhaps of insecurity,
began to pervade the settlement. And, so, when the news
was received of the Act of Cession, among the greater num¬
ber of people it fell on willing ears. It was urged that the
State had neither sufficiently enforced law nor given ade¬
quate protection ; and soon the people numbering some
thirty thousand, hardy and self-reliant, moved forward with
eagerness to assume the functions of self government.
Doubtless, also, the vista of public honors in a separate and
independent commonwealth was pleasant and alluring to
aspiring leaders and quickened them to action. There was
some objection; but the voices of those who doubted were
drowned in the general commotion. Although not author¬
ized under the act of the Legislature, a movement was made
to hold a popular convention. Without delay the counties
of Washington, Sullivan and Greene elected delegates, who
assembled at Jonesboro in August, 1784. It is the first step
that always costs. This irregular action, not anticipated nor
authorized by North Carolina, was the beginning of events
that led to grievous disappointments and deplorable anarchy.
The idea of independence had been urged with great zeal
and had taken strong hold on the public mind. The pro¬
ceedings of the Convention were opened by reading the Dec¬
laration of Independence ; the Act of Cession was approved ;
and initial steps were taken to establish a new government ;
and an association was adopted and signed to maintain
independence. John Sevier presided over the Convention

CASWELL CHOSEN GOVERNOR

and gave direction to affairs. One of the heroes of Kings
Mountain, he had long been the most important personage
in that region, and was esteemed for his capacity and
character no less than for his bravery and vigorous action.
Under his direction it was determined to call a second con¬
vention for the purpose of framing a constitution, and in
the interim it was resolved that the new State should es¬
tablish a government similar to that of North Carolina.

The North Carolina Assembly

In August the North Carolina election was held under
the new law, and in October the Assembly met at New
Bern. As Governor Martin’s term was to expire in the
spring, a successor was now to be chosen. Caswell and
Nash were the aspirants, the former becoming the victor by
twenty majority.

The people had not generally approved the Act of Ces¬
sion. Davie and his followers had been sustained at the
election, and the new Assembly was in sympathy with that
faction. Besides, a new cause of dissatisfaction was now
brought to the attention of the members.

Virginia and New York had in December, 1783, agreed to
convey to Congress the unsettled territory beyond the Ohio ;
but Massachusetts and Connecticut had set up a claim for a
part of that region for themselves ; and these and other
states were making demands on Congress for the repay¬
ment to them of bounties paid to their troops, and were
presenting claims for other military expenses incurred for
local purposes. These demands, so at variance with North
Carolina’s liberality, excited disgust and aroused indignation.
The Assembly directed the Governor to make up North
Carolina’s expenditures and to insist on payment ; and, it
appearing that other states had not passed acts levying taxes

Sevier

1784

Cession

repealed

MARTIN’S ADMINISTRATION

3. R., XXIV,
661

S. R., XIX,
804

S. R., XXIV,
678

Ibid., 689

S. R., XVII,
109

March, 1785

for the Union similar to those passed by North Carolina,
the money collected under these acts was directed to be
turned into the State treasury ; and further, since Congress
had not yet accepted the gift of the western territory,
the Assembly repealed the Act of Cession, the vote in the
House being 3 7 to 22. So within six months after the
offer was made, it was withdrawn. Having determined to
retain the territory, the Assembly created a new judicial
district, called the District of Washington, covering the four
western counties, and appointed John Haywood to pre¬
side, and David Campbell an associate judge; and John
Sevier was appointed Brigadier General of the district.

Tlie State of Franklin

Sevier had been the central figure in the movement to
establish a new state, but, on learning of this action of the
North Carolina Assembly, he was satisfied with it and urged
that no further steps ought to be taken looking to separa¬
tion. A majority of the inhabitants, however, determined
to persist, and Sevier’s advice was disregarded. Neverthe¬
less he exerted his influence to such good purpose as to
prevent the election of delegates to the approaching con¬
vention in two of the counties. Elsewhere his opposition
was ineffectual, and, finding the popular current for separa¬
tion too strong to be stemmed, he at length yielded to it
and became a member of the new convention and presided
over it. That body framed a constitution similar to that
of North Carolina, which was submitted to the people for
their consideration, to be rejected or ratified by a conven¬
tion to assemble thereafter; and it ordered an election for
members of Assembly. The Assembly so elected con¬
vened in March, 1785. At its first session it elected Sevier
Governor of the State for a term of three years, and David
Campbell presiding judge of its courts ; and also appointed
State and county officers. The old county officers who had
been commissioned by North Carolina were for the most

STATE OF FRANKLIN

part retained in their respective offices. The county of
Greene was divided, and two new counties erected, one
named Sevier, and the other in compliment of Governor
Caswell; while an academy was incorporated, called in hon¬
or of Governor Martin, as the State itself had been called
Franklin in compliment of Dr. Franklin, then of great in¬
fluence in the Continental Congress. The salaries* of the
officers were fixed at moderate amounts ; and, there being
a scarcity of currency, it was enacted that the produce of
the country should be received at certain fixed values in pay¬
ment of all taxes, public debts and salaries. This was
entirely similar to the early practice of Albemarle and
North Carolina; and the same custom had prevailed in some
other states and communities. Good flax linen was rated
at 3s. and 6d. per yard, linsey at 3d., beaver and otter skins
at 6d., raccoon and fox skins is. 3d., woolen cloth at 10s.,
bacon 6d. per pound, good distilled rye whiskey, 2s. 6d. a
gallon, peach or apple brandy at 3s. a gallon, country made
sugar at is. per pound; deer skins 6s., good tobacco 15s.*
the hundred.

O11 learning that the people were taking steps to form a
separate state, Governor Martin, in 1785, dispatched a spe¬
cial messenger to General Sevier, notifying him of the
repeal of the Act of Cession and warning him and the peo¬
ple to desist from their revolutionary proceedings and be
obedient to the laws of North Carolina. But the admoni¬
tion was disregarded. The Legislature of Franklin was
then in session and made a formal reply, as also did Gover¬
nor Sevier, declaring their purpose to proceed ; and Colonel
William Cocke was directed to hasten to Philadelphia and
solicit Congress to admit the State of Franklin into the
Confederacy. ■ North Carolina, they said, had cast them
off and they did not mean to return.

*The word “salary” had its origin in the practice of paying the old Roman
soldiers their stipends in salt.

Ramsay :
Tennessee,

297

Martin acts

April, 1785

S. R., XVII,
601, 625

S. R„ XXII,
640

MARTIN’S ADMINISTRATION

On receiving these replies Governor Martin convened
his Council, and on April 25, published a manifesto requir¬
ing the inhabitants beyond the mountains to abandon their
purpose to form a new state, and to return to their alle¬
giance. He declared that the people of North Carolina were
unwilling to part with them as indicated by the result of
the recent election for members of the Assembly ; that all
their grievances had been remedied ; that a military district
had been created for them, and a brigadier general ap¬
pointed; and also that a resident associate judge had been
appointed to hold their courts. But both his entreaties and
warnings were equally unheeded. Undismayed by the Gov¬
ernor’s proclamation, Sevier and his associates, although de¬
nounced as being in revolt, held fast to their new constitution
and reveled in the delights of independence. Evan Shelby,
now appointed Brigadier, in the place of Sevier, and John
Tipton, the Colonel of his county, and Col. James Martin,
s. r., xvii, the Indian agent, all men of great influence, exerted their
utmost power to arrest the progress of events, but with'
out avail. Finding that the western counties persisted in
their course and defied the authority of the State, Governor
Martin issued a call for the Assembly to meet in New Bern
on June 1.

In the meantime the people of Franklin were not inac¬
tive. They proceeded to administer the affairs of the new
State with resolution and determination. Colonel Cocke,
on reaching Philadelphia about the middle of May, met
with much favor at the hands of Congress, and that body,
with scant courtesy to the North Carolina delegates, mani¬
fested its sympathy in his mission by urging North Caro¬
lina to retrace her steps and annul the repealing act and
execute a conveyance of the western territory to the Union.

CASWELL'S SITUATION

Thus matters stood at the opening of June when Martin’s
term expired and Caswell entered on the administration.

Although the Legislature had been called to meet with the Jun6( 1785
new Governor, a quorum did not attend, and Caswell was
left to deal with the novel situation without its aid.

Doubtless the large majority of the inhabitants of Frank¬
lin had merely removed from Orange, Anson and Rowan
counties across the mountains, although others came in from
Virginia. The western part of North Carolina, from the
present Hillsboro to Lincolnton, had been settled by thou¬
sands of Germans and Irish, with a sprinkle of French and
Scotch, and some English west of the Yadkin, and Quakers
from Back Bay, Maine, Nantucket, Pennsylvania and
Maryland; and the Moravians. In 1756, an entry in the
Moravian Diary reads “Three wagons loaded with grain
came to the mill today: two were from New Garden, a
Quaker settlement, and the third was from the Jersey (Irish)
settlement.” Those emigrants had now for years been
North Carolinians, and when they went across the mountains
they were still citizens of the State, and Caswell did not wish
to deal with them harshly.

CHAPTER III

Caswell's Second Administration
1785-1787

Caswell’s policy of conciliation. — The Assembly makes laws
for the Western District. — Formalities of elections dispensed
with. — The interregnum. — Commerce and copyright. — The Grove
and other academies chartered. — The controversy between the
bar and the bench. — The Assembly disappoints the Tories. —
The court suspends an act of Assembly. — It banishes Brice and
McNeil. — The alleged frauds against the State. — The Annapolis
conference. — The Assembly meets at Fayetteville. — The arrest of
the state prisoners. — The conduct of the judges investigated. —
The judges thanked. — They hold the Act of Assembly unconsti¬
tutional. — Commissioners appointed to the Philadelphia Conven¬
tion. — Pardon offered to the inhabitants of Franklin. — Sumner
County erected. — Importation of slaves taxed. — The population of
the counties. — Delegates to the Continental Congress. — The trial
of the state prisoners. — Moore, Davie and Iredell. — The convic¬
tion and punishment of the prisoners.

1785

S. R., XVII,
446, 472

S. R.f XX, 5

Caswell, called now for the second time to the helm of
the State at a difficult period, acted with that prudence and
moderation which had ever characterized his public conduct.
In anticipation of his administration, on May 17, Sevier
wrote him a long representation, inveig'hing strongly against
Governor Martin, who had “lately sent up into our country
a manifesto, together with letters to private persons, in order
to stir up sedition and insurrection.” In reply, Caswell said
that matters must remain as they were until the Assembly
should meet; but he was not to be understood as giving
countenance to the measures taken by the people west of
the mountains. The situation in Franklin therefore re¬
mained undisturbed. The Legislature held its sessions and
made laws and the officers of the new State performed their
functions without interruption.

When the Assembly met in November Martin succeeded
to the position of Speaker of the Senate made vacant by

CONCILIATORY MEASURES

Caswell’s elevation to the executive office. His influence
was unabated. Representations were made to the Assembly
on behalf of the people of Franklin; but they were un¬
heeded. Harsh measures, however, were not taken. On
the contrary a policy of conciliation was pursued. While
asserting the sovereignty of the State over that part of
her territory, the Assembly refrained from the exertion of
force, doubtless expecting that sooner or later the people
would voluntarily return to their allegiance. Still it made
laws to be enforced in that particular part of the State.
Because of the tide of immigration setting to that remote
wilderness, in order to preserve the grain raised as food
for the inhabitants, the Assembly forbade the erection of
any distilleries beyond the mountains. Moreover, it ap¬
pointed inspectors of tobacco for that region, for the cul¬
ture of the weed had extended beyond Surry and Burke
to the confines of civilization. It also provided for the
erection of an academy at Nashville, granting 240 acres of
land for the purpose ; and it established a Superior Court
for Davidson County. Indeed, the people of that county were
so remote from the State of Franklin that they were not
at all involved in the movement on the Watauga and were
in entire accord with North Carolina. At the session of
1785 John Haywood was appointed judge to hold court
across the mountains, but the situation was so perilous that
in June he wrote to the Governor that if it was thought that
he should risk his life through hostile savages, he would at
the peril of his life undertake the service. He seems not
to have gone. The next year John Brown was elected
judge.

Of the inhabitants in Franklin there were some who ad¬
hered to North Carolina, but the authority of the State was
so generally rejected that in order to afford an opportunity
for the loyal people to be represented in the General Assem¬
bly, it was deemed necessary to pass a special act dispensing
with the customary formalities of holding the polls ; and

Conciliatory

measures

Special
election law

CASWELL’S SECOND ADMINISTRATION

1786

S. R., XXIV,
747

Life of
Iredell, 142

there were some elections held under this act. However,
all measures to induce the people to abandon the new gov¬
ernment were without avail, and North Carolina’s authority
being no longer recognized, a period of three years, sub¬
sequent to 1784, was afterwards known as the interregnum.

The North Carolina Assembly

The Assembly was progressive. Acts were passed regu¬
lating commerce and insuring the merchantable character of
products intended for export; for enlarging the jurisdiction
of the county courts, and securing to an author a copyright
of any book, map or chart he should prepare and publish, to
last for a period of fourteen years. The Dobbs Academy
was incorporated for Kinston, and one called The Grove,
afterwards attaining much celebrity, in Duplin, and Eden-
ton was authorized to donate six acres of the town common
to the Smith Academy. The schools already established
were apparently efficient and effective. Of that at Hills¬
boro, originally chartered as Science Hall, Hooper wrote :
“We had an annual commencement or examination. The
boys exceeded our most earnest expectations. They were
examined in Latin, English, natural philosophy, geography,
geometry and Euclid ; some spoke a little in Latin and
English.”

The administration of the courts had not given satisfac¬
tion. The judges had fallen into a habit of having long
discussions, without deciding cases, and the dockets were
crowded. In July, 1785, Hooper wrote to Iredell : “Our
court at Wilmington went on in the old dilatory mode of
doing business. Great threats of dispatch, accomplished
in the usual way. Much conversation from Germanicus
(Spencer) on the bench; his vanity has become insufferable,
and is accompanied by the most overbearing insolence.
Maclaine and he had a terrible fracas. The courts must be
altered. Against the present system the cries of the people
are loud ; they must be heard. But what affects me most,

TORIES LOSE HOPE

the censure is pointed at the bar, when the occasion is
seated much higher.” At the following session of the As¬
sembly John Hay introduced a bill to establish a court of
appeals. Powerfully urged by the bar, it passed the House,
but failed in the Senate. The prime purpose was to re¬
move the judges, and the failure of the measure was the
defeat of the lawyers. Their efforts to establish a new
system had come to grief. They also met with a severe
reverse in their purpose in respect to the Tories. The new
Assembly reelected Caswell and was surrounded by the
same influence as the previous one. The Loyalists had not
grown in favor, and the sentiment of the country found
expression in new legislation adverse to their interests.
Once more it was enacted that no one who had ever given
aid or countenance to the British should hold any office in
the State ; and because some of the returned Tories were
seeking to regain possession of their property under the
provision of the Treaty of Peace, the Assembly, to put an
end to such proceedings, ratified all sales made by the
commissioners of confiscated property and declared that
the sales passed title to the purchasers, and that the pur¬
chasers should not be liable to answer any suit instituted
to recover the property; and the more certainly to effect the
purpose, it directed the courts to dismiss any such suits
that might be brought.

The last ray of hope that buoyed the expectant Loyalists
seemed to be extinguished ; and, moreover, this sweeping
legislation aroused the indignation of the lawyers who were
interested in this class of profitable litigation, and, also of
those conservative public men who desired to see the Treaty
carried into effect and its obligations honorably observed.
Iredell hotly declared : “No consideration shall induce me,
directly or indirectly, to support, countenance or have act or
part in carrying so infamous a law into execution.” Mac¬
laine was full of ire: “The Assembly and the judges have
indeed found an easy way to avoid the Treaty. The for-

1786

S. R., XXIV,
730

Life of
Iredell, 133

CASWELL’S SECOND ADMINISTRATION

1786

Life of
Iredell, 137

S. R.,

XVIII, 138
1786

Ibid., 139

mer refuse to point out any method to ascertain what is
confiscated; and the judges refuse to let any person, whose
property may be taken by a rapacious commissioner, main¬
tain a suit, so that we seem to be at the mercy of a set of
needy adventurers, whose interest it is to pillage us.” This
adverse criticism of the commissioners was not, however,
founded in rancorous partisanship, for they were men
who had served with honorable distinction in the field dur¬
ing the war, making every sacrifice that patriotism had de¬
manded, and had given to the world sufficient evidence that
they were not actuated by a spirit of rapacity. However, a
constitutional question was involved in the new legislation
that at first escaped the attention of the lawyers : had the
Legislature, under the Constitution, power to direct the
judicial department of the government to dismiss actions
regularly instituted? In England the power of Parliament
was supreme, so supreme that some one had wittily re¬
marked that its only limitation was that it could not make
a woman to be a man. In the new state governments writ¬
ten constitutions had replaced the unwritten constitution of
Great Britain; and these instruments were the charts of
government. The judicial department was separate and
distinct from the legislative, and independent of it. At
the first court held after the passage of this act, in May,
1786, at New Bern, a motion was made to dismiss such a
suit, agreeably to the act. The judges did not assent. They
took an advisari and recommended to the parties to settle
their differences out of court. At once the subject came
under public discussion. The judges were severely ar¬
raigned, even by some of the bar, whose hostility was
deep seated.

During the December term, 1785, at Wilmington, two
Tories, Francis Brice and Dr. Daniel McNeil, of Bladen,
who had fled the State under charge of treason, because of
acts committed during the war, returned and “paraded the

BENCH AND BAR CLASH

streets with an insolent bearing.” Out of respect for the
court, then in session, the inhabitants forbore the personal
chastisement which such conduct invited. The presence
and bearing of these men, and the repressed indignation of
the people, being brought to the attention of the court by
General Brown and Colonel Robeson, the court directed the
grand jury that, although there was no statute on the
subject, no sovereign state was without power to prevent
it from receiving injury; that the return of these men
was in itself a misdemeanor, and that the court would de¬
termine whether the act was criminal; that if it appeared
to them that the allegations were true, they could find a
true bill. Indictments were found ; the parties were tried
and convicted, and the court imposed a small fine on both,
and directed that they should enter into bond to depart the
State within sixty days. The banishment of these Tories
greatly inflamed the lawyers who were caring for the in¬
terests of the Loyalists.

Constant were the collisions between the bench and some
of the bar, whose bearing towards the court greatly ex¬
asperated the judges. In the course of one of these incidents,
Judge Ashe, on the bench, told John Hay that his insolence
to Judge Sitgreaves, in the court of admiralty, deserved to
be answered with a cane. Hay was, in particular, a leading
agitator, publishing articles with a view of bringing the
judges into disrepute and covering them with ridicule.

Robbery of the State

As great as was the commotion that attended these pro¬
ceedings, there was another subject that agitated the State
even still more. Early in 1785 a board composed of Ben¬
jamin McCulloh, John Macon and Henry Montfort, men of
high social standing and strong connections, was appointed
to liquidate army accounts. Certificates were to be given
by officers to those who had rendered service, which, when

1785

S. R., XVII,
234

Life of
Iredell, 89,
143

CASWELL’S SECOND ADMINISTRATION

approved by this board, would be paid by the State Treas¬
urer. It came to be rumored that in many instances, cer¬
tificates were given in blank ; that in some cases no services
whatever had been performed, and, in others, forgery had
been resorted to. It was alleged that the officers shared
in the spoils; and it was thought that some of the board
were involved in the conspiracy to defraud the State. Soon
the entire State resounded with clamor, raised by rumors,
trumpeted by a thousand tongues, of widespread fraud
and conspiracy to pillage the treasury. Governor Caswell,
after consulting with the Council, directed the treasurer to
pay no more claims until the Assembly should meet. Hunt,
however, did not obey ; and the clamor grew in volume and
the public indignation was Unbounded.

Commerce claims attention

Another subject of general concern also engaged public
attention. The powers of the Confederacy were found by
experience to be inadequate to accomplish the purposes of
the Union and the regulation of commerce by the individual
1786 states led to controversies. The necessity of a change was

fully realized. In February, 1786, Virginia, pressed by ques¬
tions arising from commerce on the Chesapeake by four
different states, moved the waters by adopting resolutions
inviting the states to appoint deputies to attend at Annap¬
olis in September and consider amendments to the Articles
of Confederation relating to commerce. On receiving this
invitation, Governor Caswell, in July, 1786, called his Coun¬
cil together and appointed Abner Nash, Alfred Moore,
Hugh Williamson, John Gray Blount and Philemon Haw-
s R kins to represent North Carolina in the Conference. Wil-

xviii, 681 liamson alone attended ; and on arriving he found that
some of the commissioners from other states had met and,
without waiting, had joined in a recommendation that there
should be a convention of all the states to consider other

ASSEMBLY AT FAYETTEVILLE

subjects besides that of commerce; and, having agreed on
that course, the Conference had adjourned. Affairs relating
to the Union were thus also in the public mind.

The Assembly convenes

The Assembly was to meet at Fayetteville, and there was
great bustle preparing for the event. Already that town
was spoken of as the capital. It was at the head of water
transportation, and was the chief mart of the interior of
the State. From there highways branched out in all direc¬
tions, and its importance was year by year becoming more
considerable. Hopes of future splendor augmented the zeal
of the patriotic and hospitable citizens in providing suitable
accommodations for the crowd of notables who were to be
their guests during that eventful season. The time was
big with . events, and the public mind in a state of prodigious
excitement on subjects appealing to the prejudices of men
and swaying the passions rather than their reason. Men of
high position, even the State Treasurer, were accused of
looting the treasury; there was a clamor against the judges,
demanding their impeachment; the western counties were
in flagrant revolt, and, further, were in peril of an Indian
war; the Treaty had not yet been given effect; the union
of the states was in jeopardy, being held but by a rope of
sand, and there was a pressing demand for an enlargement
of the powers of the Continental Congress. Such were the
larger matters that were engaging public attention when the
Assembly met on November 18, 1786, the most exciting by
far being the alleged conspiracy to defraud the State.

Caswell, eminently a practical man, now gave evidence
of his efficiency; while James Coor and John B. Ashe, both
solid and capable, were, as speakers of the two houses,
measurably directors of events. On the floors were Davie,
Hooper, Rutherford, Maclaine, Spaight, Cabarrus, Blount,
Battle, Stokes and others of large experience and approved

Nov. 1786

The

excitement

CASWELL’S SECOND ADMINISTRATION

1786
S. R.,

XVIII, 233

Ibid., 251

Ibid., 303

wisdom; and Alfred Moore, the learned and admirable At¬
torney-General, was directed to attend that the Assembly
might have the benefit of his advice.

The prisoners of state

The Governor hastened to detail the circumstances con¬
nected with the fraudulent accounts, and added that “ Il¬
liberal suggestions had been thrown out against several of
your principal officers.” The subject was at once taken up
and pressed with vigor. An order was passed directing
the Governor to arrest twenty-three persons whose names
were specified, while twenty-eight others were named as
witnesses. The accused were to be held in confinement, as
‘'prisoners of state.” Caswell lost no time in obeying
His measures were so prompt and efficient that the Assem¬
bly, in token of its enthusiastic approbation, declared by
resolution that it entertained “the highest sense of the up¬
right, spirited and vigorous exertions of His Excellency.”
A grand committee was raised to make an inquisition and
to examine the prisoners. On December 9 the houses met
in joint session, with Elisha Battle in the chair, to hear the
report. The report was signed by the full committee, among
others, General Rutherford, General Gregory and Col. Wil¬
liam Polk. It was full, explicit, and had the clear ring of
investigation. Henry Montfort, a member of the House,
was implicated, and was g'iven a day to exonerate himself ;
but his explanations were so unsatisfactory that he was ig-
nominiously expelled. The Treasurer, Memican Hunt,
was also required to appear before the houses, and was
heard in his defense. His term was about to expire; and
John Haywood was elected in his place.

For the trial of the parties implicated, still held as
“state prisoners,” a bill was passed ordering a special term
of court to he held at Warrenton on the last Monday in
January.

JUDGES ON TRIAL

The judges impeached

While these proceedings were being taken against the
conspirators to pillage the treasury, John Hay, hoping to
remove the judges from the bench, took advantage of the
commotion and introduced , resolutions of impeachment
against them. The House notified the judges in order that
they might attend. Williams and Spencer hastened to
Fayetteville, but Ashe, saying that he had “clean hands and
a pure heart” and would disregard the clamor, remained at
home. He, however, addressed a letter to the House ex¬
plaining the various matters alleged against the court as
far as he was informed of the charges. He detailed the cir¬
cumstances of the case of Brice and McNeil and continued :
“This is the foundation of that charge against the judges,
and I suppose the charge is considered a mighty achieve¬
ment, a matter of great exultation and triumph, that the
champion dare stand forth and in the face of the Legislature
accuse the judicial power of the State for presuming to
molest those respectable personages.” One of the charges
was that the court had suspended an act of the Assembly,
inasmuch as it had not dismissed the case at New Bern.
With reference to that he observed : “If my opinion of our
Constitution is an error, I feel it is an incurable one, for I
had the honor to assist in the forming it, and confess I so
designed it, and I believe every other gentleman concerned
did also.” The delay in the trial of cases he laid largely
at the door of the lawyers.

The several matters alleged against the court were re¬
ferred to a committee of lawyers “to investigate the admin¬
istration of justice”; and their report being ready, at the
request of the two judges in attendance, on January 1
the houses met in conference. The two speakers in their
gowns took the chairs, and a committee was sent to escort
the judges to the chamber. Maclaine, the chairman of the
committee, read its report as to the facts. The houses then

1786

Life of
Iredell, 155

S. R.,

XVIII, 189

Ashe’s letter

Ibid.

CASWELL’S SECOND ADMINISTRATION

Jan. 1787

S. R.,

XVIII, 421,
425, 428

Ibid., 218

Ibid., 477

The judges
thanked

S. R.,

XVIII, 399

Life of
Iredell, 133

resolved themselves into a committee of the whole, the
Speaker surrendering the chair to Richard Dobbs Spaight,
and the judges were heard in explanation. All matters
against the court were in committee of the whole resolved
in favor of the judges. The next day the report of the com¬
mittee of the whole was made to the House of Commons,
and was approved by a vote of 49 to 22. It was then sent
to the Senate and was concurred in by the Senate. Four
days later a resolution was introduced in the Senate thank¬
ing the judges for their good conduct. The lawyers pro¬
tested. They urged particularly that there should be added
to the resolution a paragraph declaring that “banishment
is a punishment unknown to the laws of the State”; but
their vigorous protests only served to strengthen the pur¬
pose of the majority. The resolutions, as adopted, thanked
“the judges for their good conduct during the whole period
of their service on the bench, and particularly in the matters
for which they were charged in the present Assembly.”
The resentment against the Tories was still hot; and it was
a sustaining power for the court, although the temper of
the House was so far modified that in that body a bill was
passed declaring the Treaty the law of the land. While
the lawyers could not approve of the court’s action, they
did not sympathize wholly with Hay. At the close of the
session Hooper wrote: “This ridiculous pursuit of Hay’s
ended as we expected. It was conceived in spleen, and
conducted in such headstrong passion, that after the charges
were made evidence was wanting to support them.” But
the controversy between the bar and the bench did not
subside. Judge Ashe’s references to the delinquencies of
the bar led to a grave reply in the newspapers by Iredell,
Johnston, Davie, Hooper and others. To this he made
answer stoutly maintaining his former criticism, and saying
that if the lawyers thought proper to withdraw their friend¬
ship “I should have no objection, for that I was independ¬
ent in principle, in person and in purse, and should neither

JUDICIAL INNOVATION

court their love nor fear their enmity.” For years the hos¬
tility continued, the lawyers strenuously endeavoring to
write the judges off the bench.

The court holds an act of Assembly void

Soon after this trial, at the May term of the court, the
motion to dismiss the case at New Bern, Bayard v. Single-
ton , was decided by the judges, and denied, Judge Ashe
saying: “As God said to the waters, so far and no fur¬
ther ; so said the people to the Legislature by the adoption of
the Constitution.” It was thus determined by the court
that the judicial power was independent of the legislative
power. In the interval between the terms, the court in
Rhode Island had made a similar declaration ; but the re¬
fusal of the judges at May term, .1786, to obey the Act
of Assembly was the first announcement of the principle
involved by any court in any of the states. The action
was widely discussed, but eventually was accepted by the
people as the correct interpretation of the Constitution.

Animated by patriotic sentiments the Assembly approved
the course of Governor Caswell in appointing representatives
to the Annapolis Conference. The necessity of enlarging
the powers of Congress was recognized, and in an act re¬
citing that “this State has ever been desirous to act upon
the enlarged system of the general good of the United
States, without bounding its views to the narrow and selfish
object of partial convenience,” the Assembly appointed five
commissioners to attend the convention at Philadelphia
and “to decide on the most effectual means to remove the
defects of the Federal system, reporting such an act to the
General Assembly as will effectually remedy the defects.”
To discharge this important duty, Governor Caswell, Alex¬
ander Martin, Davie, Spaight and Willie Jones were chosen ;
and, should any vacancies occur, the Governor was author¬
ized to fill them. Of these, Martin, Davie and Spaight were

Life of
Iredell, 601

1787

Moore v.
Bradley,
2 Hay.
Reports

Tlie Phila¬
delphia
Convention

S. R., XXIV,
791

CASWELL’S SECOND ADMINISTRATION

1786

S. R.,
XVIII, 86

S. R., XXIV,
820

Ibid., 783

Ibid., 802

favorable to some changes in the Articles of Confederation,
as also was Caswell. Willie Jones may not have been.

Franklin still held

Representations were made in behalf of the State of
Franklin and were patiently heard. But the Assembly was
not of a mind to allow the western counties to separate
themselves under the existing conditions. On December
14, 1786, Elisha Battle, always moderate but firm, as chair¬
man of a select committee, made a report to the Senate deny¬
ing immediate separation, but promising it when the wealth
and number of the inhabitants should justify it. In the mean¬
time no taxes were to be collected for the period of the inter¬
regnum since 1784; and oblivion and pardon were offered,
embracing all persons, and every kind of offense against the
government ; and the civil and military officers in office in
1784 were continued and confirmed in their respective offices.
To give further relief from some inconveniences, Sullivan
was divided and the county of Hawkins was created.

Farther to the west, on Cumberland River, Davidson
County was likewise divided and Sumner County erected ;
and, the Indians being hostile, a military force of three com¬
panies was ordered to be raised for the protection of the in¬
habitants of that region ; but as a preliminary the command¬
ing officer was to open a good road from Clinch Mountain
on the Watauga to Nashville, for as yet no wheeled vehicle
had passed into the wilderness, all provisions being trans¬
ported on pack horses.

Slaves not to be imported from certain states

Some notable changes were inaugurated in State polity.
It was ordered that land should be taxed by the hundred
acres, instead of at its value; the jurisdiction of magis¬
trates was enlarged ; and the Assembly, resolving that the
importation of slaves “is productive of evil consequences

CENSUS

and highly impolitic,” laid a tax on their importation, and
directed that all slaves brought into the State from any
state that had passed an act to liberate slaves were to be
returned to such state under heavy penalty. At that period
there was some importation of slaves from foreign parts,
but the number was very limited.

At the previous session a census of the population had
been ordered, and the report was now laid before the As¬
sembly. The enumeration had been imperfectly made, but
it indicated a population in eighteen counties of 105,213.
It showed a more considerable population in the counties
bordering on Virginia than elsewhere, the results being
similar to the subsequent census of 1790.

Delegates in Congress

The Continental Congress was then holding its sessions
at New York; but the North Carolina delegates were not
in attendance, and for months the State was not repre¬
sented. The delegates elected for the year 1786 were Nash,
Blount, Burton, Charles Johnson, Timothy Bloodworth and
Nathaniel Macon. Macon, however, resigned without at¬
tending the Congress at all. The expense was so burden¬
some that the position, while one of honor, was undesirable,
and Macon declined because the provision for his support
was inadequate. Bloodworth tried to sustain himself by a
shipment of tar to New York, but losing money by the
venture, also resigned. Nash died at his post, and Charles
Johnson resigned. Cummings and White, Benjamin Haw¬
kins and John B. Ashe were chosen to fill the vacancies.
They sought to so arrange it that one or more should be
in attendance until relieved, for none could long stand the
expense. On January 7, 1787, the Assembly brought to a
close this session which, in many respects, was marked by
more excitement than any other of that period.

1786

S. R., XXIV,
794

The census

S. R., XX,
605

1787

Murphey’s

Address,

1827

CASWELLS SECOND ADMINISTRATION

The state trial

Two weeks after the Assembly rose the court met at
Warrenton to try the “state prisoners/’ chief among whom
were McCulloh and Montford, while the many persons im¬
plicated touched society in almost every part of the State.
The profound interest of the public, the gravity of the
accusations, and the anxiety of the friends of the accused,
invested the trial with an importance never before equaled
in North Carolina. Alfred Moore, the Attorney-General,
prosecuted ; Iredell and Davie defended ; and the surrounding
circumstances stimulated the counsel to the most brilliant
display of forensic eloquence. Describing two of these
rivals for fame, Murphey has said : “Moore was a small
man, neat in his dress and graceful in his manners ; his
voice was clear and sonorous ; his perceptions quick ; his
judgment almost intuitive; his style was chaste and his
manner of speaking animated — He spoke with ease and
with force, enlivened his discourses with flashes of wit, and,
when the subject required it, with all the bitterness of
sarcasm. . . . Davie was a tall, elegant man in his person,
graceful and commanding in his manners ; his voice was
mellow and adapted to every passion; his mind compre¬
hensive, yet slow in its operations when compared with
his great rival. His style was magnificent and flowing;
and he had a greatness of manner in public speaking which
suited his style and gave to his speeches an imposing
effect. While Davie ranked as one of the first orators
Moore was held one of the first advocates of America.”
All of these contestants were well trained in every art of
legal warfare. In the management of the defense Iredell,
superior to either Davie or Moore in many respects, per¬
formed his part with credit and renown. Every year of his
life he attained a higher eminence in his profession, and
at length, differing with his associates on the Supreme
Court bench, his views were engrafted into the Constitu-

STATE PRISONERS TRIED

tion of the United States, an enduring monument. Hun¬
dreds of persons were in attendance at the trial and all eyes
were fixed on the great drama being enacted at Warrenton.

For nearly a month the court was in session. Henry
Montford was acquitted, but Benjamin McCulloh, John
Sheppard, John McNeer, John Price, William Faircloth,

Thomas Butcher, James Holmes, McCarthy, Mann, Phil¬
lips and several others were convicted. A fine sufficed as
punishment for all but McCulloch and Sheppard. The
former in addition to a fine of 4,000 pounds, was sentenced
to be confined in Warrenton jail for twelve months; but
at the end of eleven months because of his ill health, he
was allowed his liberty.. It was, however, said that he was
a victim to the indignation and resentment of the people,
and that he was charged beyond his real offense. His
brother-in-law, John Stokes, wrote: “I wish I was igno- f
rant of it. I think of it by day ; it is represented to me iredeii, 157
in my dreams, which are wont to make it nothing but a
phantom. The blushing morn establishes the reality and
renews my grief.”

CHAPTER I\

The State of Franklin

Caswell’s policy with respect to the Franks. — Sevier and Shelby
make an agreement. — The Franklin Assembly repudiates the
action, and proposes to suppress all North Carolina authority. —
Caswell urges moderation. — Indian war on the frontier. — Major
Evans’s expedition to the Cumberland. The disintegration of
Franklin begins. — Representatives elected to North Carolina As¬
sembly. — The clashing in Washington County. — Sevier engages in
war with the Creeks. — The last Assembly of the fading State. —
Delegates chosen on behalf of Franklin. — The Assembly meets at
Tarborough. — The act of pardon extended. — The policy of concilia¬
tion bears fruit. — The seizure of Sevier’s negroes by local officers.
— He attempts their rescue. — Tipton defies him. — His embarrass¬
ment. — Maxwell’s militia arrives. — The collision. — The Franks re¬
tire. — Sevier to the frontier. — General Martin secures submission.
— Sevier invades Indian territory. — Governor Johnston suggests
arrest of Sevier. — Judge Spencer issues the warrant. He is ar¬
rested. — Is conveyed to Morganton. — Escapes. — The act of pardon
again extended, — Sevier declared ineligible to office, but other¬
wise pardoned. — The Convention at Greenville. — Sevier elected to
North Carolina Assembly August, 1789. — His disability removed. —
He takes his seat. — The end of Franklin.

Hardly had the spectacular trial of the state prisoners
closed at Warrenton before conditions at the west, becoming
more acute, claimed Governor Caswell’s anxious attention,
st r., xxii, Qashing between the two courts and the county officers
was inevitable. To avert trouble, in March General Evan
Shelby, acting in behalf of those adhering to North Carolina,
and Governor Sevier entered into an agreement that while
the respective courts might try criminal cases they should
not proceed to any civil business except to prove wills and
deeds, and that the inhabitants might pay their taxes either
to North Carolina or to the State of Franklin as they
might select: and further, that the sheriffs and jailers under
the Franklin government should receive felons committed
by North Carolina courts. This agreement, tolerating North
Carolina authority, was, however, immediately repudiated
by the Franklin Fegislature, then in session. That body,

SEVIER DEFIANT

rejecting every purpose of temporizing, acted with vigor ^

and vehemence. It passed an act punishing with fine and
imprisonment any person who should act as a magistrate,
or in any other civil capacity, under the authority of North
Carolina, and it directed the Governor to raise the militia
and oppose by force the operation of any North Carolina
law, authorizing a bounty of 400 acres of land to those
who would enlist; and, to draw the wavering to their side,
a land office was opened where grants were to be obtained
on very easy terms. Sevier’s attitude, which had been
moderate, now was completely changed. He wrote to Cas¬
well : “We shall continue to act independent and would
rather sufifer death, in all its various and frightful shapes,
than conform to anything that is disgraceful.” The pur- R xxn
pose to maintain independence was fixed and strong, while 680
those who adhered to North Carolina were equally reso¬
lute and determined. The division between the two parties
among the inhabitants was clearly drawn, and the circum¬
stances of every day intensified the estrangement. Toler¬
ation gave way to bitterness. In, May the situation was
so acute that General Shelby notified Caswell that hostili¬
ties were about to begin, and unless the government inter¬
fered, bloodshed would at once take place. It was no
part of Caswell’s policy to precipitate a situation where he
would have to subjugate the inhabitants, although in
revolt. He hastened to urge the officers holding North
Carolina commissions to use the utmost moderation. To
dampen their ardor and restrain their action, he declared ibid., 686
that he could not send them any assistance, and he begged
them not to engage in a civil war. His information was
conflicting. David Campbell assured him that nineteen-
twentieths of ithe inhabitants favored separation, while
Thomas Hutchins reported that, although the people of
Greene were much divided, in the other two counties two-
thirds were willing to return to their allegiance. In the
meantime the force, which the Assembly had directed to

THE STATE OF FRANKLIN

■Caswell’s

moderation

S. R., XX,
277

be raised to cut the road to Davidson, was being recruited ;
and Colonel James Martin, the Indian agent, went among
the Indians to prevail on them to desist from hostilities.
At length, towards the close of April, General Shelby
called together Tipton, Maxwell and Hutchins, the colonels
of the three counties, and they united in urging that the
only hope of averting bloodshed was for North Carolina
to send from Burke a thousand men to uphold her authority.
Intent on the supremacy of their faction and on the sup¬
pression of their opponents, they sought to strengthen their
cause by a display of force that would deter the Franks
from persisting in their defiance. But it must not be for¬
gotten that they held commissions from the State charging
them with the duty of upholding and maintaining her su¬
premacy. Caswell, however, relied on gentler means of
persuasion and hoped for the healing influence of time. In
the meanwhile, farther in the interior the savages were
murdering the settlers. The Mississippi was claimed by the
Spaniards, who, from their stronghold at Mobile, had free
communication with the tribes in the interior ; while the
Frenchmen on the upper Mississippi had trade relations
with the Indians, which bred a jealousy of the encroaching
pioneers. The savages were thus influenced to continue
warfare. In June, from the Cumberland came a cry for
immediate help. Anthony Bledsoe wrote: “Nothing but
the distress of a bleeding country could induce me to trouble
you on so disagreeable a subject — Enclosed you have a list
of the killed in this quarter since our departure from this
country to the Assembly. This, with the numbers wounded,
with the large numbers of horses stolen from the inhabi¬
tants, has in a degree, flagged the spirits of the people/’
And the next month, James Robertson advised Governor
Caswell that there had been a hot war with the Chickamauga
Indians; that he had raised 130 men and gone to the front,
where he found that the Indians had been joined by French-

Ibid., 731

DIFFICULT EXPEDITION

men from Detroit who were inflaming them to hostility.
In one of the encounters, three Frenchmen and a French
woman had been killed. He urged the Governor to hurry
on the force the Assembly had ordered for their protection.
The commander of that detachment, Major Thomas Evans,
had met with such obstacles that the middle of August found
him still east of the Blue Ridge, and Caswell indignantly
ordered him to proceed, not delaying to open the road to
Nashville but pressing on to the relief of the people. Evans,
however, could not scale the Alleghany Mountains. Di¬
verted from the direct course, he passed through Cumber¬
land Gap and made his way into Kentucky, his men cheer¬
fully enduring their march through the wilderness where
no supplies could be obtained. In Kentucky he could pur¬
chase no provisions either on public or private credit, and
was driven to furlough his men until by their labor they
could procure sufficient food to last them to Nashville. At
length, in the middle of October he reached Davidson
County after a toilsome journey of 400 miles. There he
found the inhabitants were being daily murdered, and he
hurried advices home that he himself was hourly expecting
attack.

While such was the critical condition on the Cumberland,
on the Watauga influences were silently at work under¬
mining the foundations of the new State. The moderation
and firmness of the North Carolina Assembly, its tender of
oblivion and remission of taxes, together with the hope
held out of eventual consent to the separation, had a soft¬
ening influence on the public mind. But for a period there
was so much bitterness, and the current was so strong for
separation that General Shelby himself yielded to it, re¬
signed his commission as brigadier, retired from the service
of North Carolina, and recommended to Governor Caswell
that separation should be conceded. Yet notwithstanding
his defection, and despite the strenuous efforts of Sevier
to sustain his government, the enthusiasm that had at-

1787

Indian war

S. R., XX,
786

The end
approaches

THE STATE OF FRANKLIN

Aug. 1787

The election

S. R„ XX,
120, 302

Local

friction

tended the first movements for independence gradually dis¬
appeared. When the August elections came on, only two
counties failed to elect representatives to the North Caro¬
lina Assembly. In Greene, David Campbell, the presiding
judge of Franklin State, and in Washington, where the
Sevier party had been strong, Colonel Tipton were elected
to the Senate. Sullivan elected General Joseph Martin,
and Hawkins sent to the House of Commons Henderson and
Marshall ; all of whom and their colleagues had at one time
been adherents of the new State. Only Sevier and Caswell
counties, well on the frontier — where land had been occupied
contrary to the North Carolina laws, stood faithful. The
former lay between the Little Tennessee and the French
Broad, within the Indian reservation, where more than i,ooo
families had located, and the latter in the forks of the
French Broad and Holston. Still there were many who
yet adhered to Franklin; and in all the counties conflicts
were continually, arising between the courts held under
the authority of the two different states. In Washington
County particularly these clashings reached a great height,
being colored by personal enmity as well as political antag¬
onism. In that county resided both Governor Sevier and
Col. John Tipton, neighbors and once friends; but when
on the repeal of the Act of Cession Colonel Tipton aban¬
doned the new government which he had aided to frame
and renewed his allegiance to North Carolina withdrawing
his support from Governor Sevier, a bitter personal feud
sprang up between them. And this was intensified by the
circumstance that while Colonel Tipton was the clerk of
the North Carolina county court, James Sevier a son of
the Governor, became clerk of the Franklin court, and
each dominated the justices and officers of their respective
courts. In August, 1787, Colonel Tipton, at the head of
some fifty men, undertook to take the records of the Frank¬
lin court, and quickly two hundred of the Franks embodied
to oppose him. A rumor was that their purpose was to

WAR AGAINST INDIANS

seize Governor Sevier, and fifteen hundred of his follow¬
ers rushed to protect him. The error, however, was made
known, and no blood was shed ; but there were personal
encounters between Tipton and the Seviers.

About that time Governor Sevier, seeing that the tide
was turning against the continuance of his government, de¬
termined on strengthening his cause with the people by
prosecuting an Indian war. Far to .the south the Creeks
were giving trouble, and Governor Sevier entered into ar¬
rangements with the Governor of Georgia for their con¬
quest. In September, with some difficulty, a quorum of
the Franklin Assembly met at Greenville, but confidence in
the new State had ebbed so fast that Sevier was able to
secure the passage of an act providing the means for carry¬
ing on the projected war only by a compromise. He agreed
that two delegates might be chosen to attend the North
Carolina Assembly and make such representations as they
should think proper. Judge Campbell and Landon Carter
were elected delegates for this purpose, the former having
been already chosen to represent Greene County in the
North Carolina Assembly. This action indicated that the
last stage was being reached in the existence of the new
State. Gradually the commonwealth of Franklin was pas¬
sing away. Hardly had its Assembly adjourned, and it
was the last Assembly of Franklin that met, before Gover¬
nor Sevier began to prepare for his campaign. In the great
bend of the Tennessee, in the Creek country, lay some very
desirable land, and it was arranged that this should be re¬
served for the Franklin volunteers. On November 28
Governor Sevier announced that every private should have
640 acres in the great bend, and officers in proportion ; and
the work of enlistment went briskly on.

The North Carolina Assembly

The General Assembly met at Tarboro on November 19,
and both the representatives elected by the counties beyond

Sept. 1787

Ramsay :
Hist, of
Franklin,
402

Sevier’s

action

Ibid., 389

1787

THE STATE OF FRANKLIN

Sept. 1787

S. R., XX,
120

Ibid., 225

Ibid., 235

Sevier

insulted

the mountains, and the delegates chosen by the Legislature
of Franklin, attended the session. The former were admit¬
ted to seats, and the latter given a respectful hearing when
they urged the continued desire of the people for separation.
The Assembly, however, held steadfast to its purpose.
James Martin was appointed brigadier of the district, and
a special committee was directed to report measures to quiet
the disorders in the western counties. They advised a fur¬
ther extension of the act of pardon, and that all suits for
nonpayment of taxes should be discontinued ; and these
measures were adopted. The policy of moderation and con¬
ciliation was bearing its fruits and North Carolina was
supplanting the State of Franklin whose Legislature had
ceased to exist, whose judicial officers were no longer act¬
ing, and whose executive after March would have no claim
for the exercise of authority. Governor Sevier’s term was
to end on March 3, and no successor had been chosen;
and, there being no Assembly, none could be chosen. The
State of Franklin was about to expire by a natural dissolu¬
tion, and without any great convulsion or bloodshed. But
now an incident occurred attended by unfortunate
consequences.

During the fall of 1787 a judgment having been obtained
against Governor Sevier in one of the North Carolina
courts, an execution against his property was put in the
hands of the sheriff. The levy was made on some of his
negroes on his plantation, and for fear of interference, the
sheriff removed the negroes to the premises of Colonel
Tipton for safe keeping. It was a great error in judgment
and an improper exercise of power. Necessarily it in¬
flamed Governor Sevier and was a personal affront that he
would not brook. Had no such incident occurred the State
of Franklin would probably have faded away, leaving, doubt¬
less, a memory of disappointment but without pangs of bit- -
terness. At the moment, Sevier was in Greene County col¬
lecting volunteers for the expedition against the Creeks.

SEVIER AND TIPTON

O11 learning of this seizure of his property and the removal
of his negroes to the premises of Colonel Tipton, he dis¬
patched a messenger to Caswell County, February 15, say¬
ing that the Tipton party had got very insolent and that
he had ordered fifteen men out of every, company to turn
out. He was “satisfied that a small exertion will settle the
matter to our satisfaction.” Tipton, on being informed
of Sevier’s action, wrote on February 25 : “The rebels are
again rising. Sevier is now making his last effort. This
day they are to meet at Greene. Tomorrow at Jonesboro,
and Wednesday, if not before, they push here.” And he
called for aid. A few friends reached him in time. But
soon the Governor with 150 men and a small cannon ap¬
peared on the scene and demanded an unconditional sur¬
render. Tipton valiantly defied him. Truly Sevier’s situ¬
ation was embarrassing. He had no desire for bloodshed.
His commission as Governor was to expire within three
days, and his State had virtually ceased to exist. Stigmatized
as a rebel by the Carolina officers, he doubtless com¬
prehended that to use military force against the Carolina
authorities placed in jeopardy the lives of himself and his
followers. It was levying war and high treason. For
nearly four years two conflicting governments had been
carried on in that wilderness ; and despite personal enmities,
despite the clashing of the courts and the antagonistic au¬
thority of the militia officers, there had been no serious
collision. This of itself is high evidence of the wisdom,
courage and moderation of Sevier, as well as of the for¬
bearance of the inhabitants generally. Now circumstances
springing from his personal affairs brought the Governor
face to face with an emergency threatening bloodshed.
He had probably hoped to redress his wrongs by a show
of superior strength ; but a hard fate had brought him
into a position from which he could not retreat with credit,
nor proceed without hazarding consequences for which he
had no heart. He became a prey to conflicting emotions — -
5

Feb. 1788

Sevier arms

His

situation

THE STATE OF FRANKLIN

sad and dejected. There was no assault made on the
house ; but some firing took place, not in Sevier’s presence.
Those passing into Tipton’s premises were fired on, and
one or two killed and wounded, but there was no engage¬
ment. At length, in the early morning of February 29,
Colonel Maxwell, of Sullivan County, to whom Tipton had
appealed for aid, approached with his militia. He had made
a night march. The weather was very cold, and there was
a blinding snow storm. As he neared the scene about
sunrise, Maxwell saw Sevier’s men advancing and a col¬
lision occurred. Maxwell's militia discharged a volley
and raised a great shout, which led Tipton to sally out, tak¬
ing Sevier’s party in the rear or flank. As it probably had
never been Sevier’s purpose to engage in battle, he and
his men quickly dispersed, followed, but not aggressively,
by the militia. On March 3 Sevier sent a verbal message
that if his life was spared, he would submit to North Caro¬
lina. Tipton, in reply, offered to cease hostilities, giving
Sevier and his party until the nth to submit to the laws.
The council of the Franklin State replied that they would
be obedient to the laws of the Union, and they wished a
convention of the people called at once. As for Governor
Sevier, they stipulated that he should be left at liberty
to act for himself ; and he, with some anxiety, required a
plain understanding as to what he could depend on. Ten
days later Gen. Joseph Martin, the brigadier of the district,
appealed to General Kennedy to bring about a reconciliation.
He declared that he would be sorry to imbrue his hands
in the blood of his countrymen, but ‘'nothing will do but
a submission to the laws of North Carolina.” This is the
only way, he urged, that would relieve Governor Sevier
from a very disagreeable situation. He offered Kennedy
a commission under North Carolina, and urged him to
prepare for action, as a general Indian war was expected.
Martin’s conciliatory steps and firm action had a very sal-

ACTS OF TREASON

utary effect. All opposition ceased. Every trace of the
State of Franklin disappeared.

In the meantime Sevier, no longer governor, left Wash¬
ington County and took shelter in the distant settlements.
A period of repose now set in; but in June Sevier, having
gathered some forty bold and daring men, fell on the Hi-
wassees and killed twenty of them, following this with an¬
other raid and bringing in fourteen scalps ; and then, in
July, he made a third invasion of the Indian country which
precipitated an Indian war.

Notwithstanding that the State of Franklin had fallen,
Sevier and his friends indulged a hope that the State Con¬
vention, which was to meet at Hillsboro in July to consider
the proposed Federal Constitution might cede the western
territory, or otherwise provide for a separation, but that
body adjourned without action favorable to their desires.
On the other hand Governor Johnston, because of advices
from General Martin, called his Council to meet at Hills¬
boro in July; and, on receiving information of Sevier’s bat¬
tle with Maxwell, while the Convention was still in ses¬
sion, he wrote to Judge Campbell: “It has been represented
to the Executive that John Sevier, who styles himself Cap¬
tain General of the State of Franklin, has been guilty of
high treason in levying troops to oppose the laws and gov¬
ernment of this State, and has with an armed force put to
death several good citizens. If these facts shall appear
to you .by the affidavit of credible persons, you will issue
your warrant to apprehend him.” Judge Campbell, how¬
ever, took no action. Eater, Judge Samuel Spencer crossed
the mountains to hold court at Jonesboro, and he issued
a warrant for the arrest of Sevier. On the evening of
October 9 Sevier with a number of men had a violent al¬
tercation with one Deadricks in Washington County, and
Colonel Tipton, armed with the bench warrant and doubt¬
less feeling that his hour of triumph had arrived, hastened
in pursuit with a body of horsemen. At early dawn the

July 1788

Franklin
passes away

Judge

Spencer’s

warrant

THE STATE OF FRANKLIN

Sevier taken

He escapes

Nov. 1788

S. R., XXIV,
955

S. R., XXI,
523

posse surrounded the premises of widow Brown, where
Sevier lodged that night, and at sunrise the arrest was made.
Sevier was taken to Jonesboro, and then was conveyed to
Morganton for trial. It is said that he was treated with
great discourtesy and malevolence, and for a time was
subjected to the indignity of being handcuffed; but the
details are obscure, and the circumstances were such as to
require unusual care on the part of those charged with
his safekeeping. In a letter to the General Assembly he
alleged that he “was treated with wanton cruelty and savage
insult,” and he complained of being “borne off out of the
district” for trial. Arrived at Morganton he was released
on parole to visit a brother-in-law in the vicinity. The court
being convened, he attended agreeably to his parole. In
the meantime, two sons and other friends had followed to
rescue him. “At night, when the court broke, and the
people dispersed, they with the Governor pushed forward
towards the mountains with the greatest rapidity and,
before morning, arrived at them, and were beyond the
reach of any who might think proper to pursue.” Appar¬
ently no further effort was made to capture him. At the
November session of the Assembly the act of pardon and
oblivion was again passed, but it was provided that Sevier
was so far excepted that he should not be entitled to hold
any office under the State.

Congress and the states of Georgia and North Carolina
had taken measures with the view of quieting the hostility
of the Indians ; and on a conference they agreed to peace.
But shortly afterwards Sevier with a party of men went
into one of their towns, all the braves being off on a hunt,
and brought away twenty-nine women and children ; and
the people on the frontier realized the necessity of protect¬
ing themselves.

On the 1 2th of January, 1789, at a convention held in
Greene County it was resolved to petition North Carolina to
divide the State and cede the territory west of the mountains

TREASON ' COND ON ED

to Congress; and that John Sevier keep the command of the
inhabitants. On being informed of these proceedings Gov¬
ernor Johnston wrote to Martin that "Sevier appears to be
incorrigible and I fear we will have no peace in your quar¬
ter till he is proceeded against to the last extremity” ; but
he urged Martin to act with prudence and conciliation both
in regard to the inhabitants and the Indians.

At the August election, however, Sevier abandoned his
opposition to the State of North Carolina. He was elected
to the State Senate ; and appeared along with the other
members when in November the Assembly met at Fayette¬
ville. His disabilities had not been removed ; but during
the session he filed a memorial. On November 30 a commit¬
tee reported that when the people of the western counties
first attempted to subvert the government, Sevier opposed
them and prevented elections from being held in two of the
counties, and that he was not as highly reprehensible as
many others. A bill was therefore passed including him
in the general pardon; and further it was declared that he
still held the office of brigadier general under his original
appointment in 1784. And thus the last vestige of the
State of Franklin was by conciliation and moderation
buried out of sight without any punishment of any person
for the offense of insurrection.

1789

S. R., XXI,
722

Ibid., 537

Ibid., 616

Nov., 1789

Sevier

pardoned

CHAPTER V

New Government Proposed

The Philadelphia Convention. — Virginia proposes a national
government. — North Carolina delegates assent. — New Jersey
seeks to amend the old Articles. — Hamilton’s plan. — The dead¬
lock. — North Carolina votes with the small states and secures
state equality in the Senate. — Her delegates act with unanimity.
— Caswell urges a national government. — Davie and Martin re¬
turn home. — The word “National” freely used in rough draft. —
By the vote of Massachusetts importation of slaves allowed until
1808. — On revision word “National” eliminated. — Advocates of the
Constitution called Federalists. — The instrument signed. — The
exposition given by Blount, Spaight and Williamson. — The im¬
portant action of the North Carolina delegation. — The August
elections. — The Federals successful. — The Assembly meets at
Tarborough. — The Treaty of Peace declared the law of the land.
— Iredell appointed to revise the laws. — The Legislature recom¬
mends the pardon of Bradley, and of those convicted of fraud
against the State. — Convention called to consider proposed Con¬
stitution. — Raleigh Inlet. — Samuel Johnston elected Governor. —
Atmore’s visit. — Washington, Tarborough, New Bern. — The As¬
sembly at Tarborough. — Willis. — -Lumberton. — No mails.— Books.

1787

S. R., XX,
610

Ibid., 611

Ibid., 129

Framing- the Constitution of the United States

In February, Congress, responsive to the recommenda¬
tion of the Annapolis Conference, adopted a resolution ad¬
vising the states that it was expedient that a convention
should be held at Philadelphia in May, for the sole and
express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation
and reporting such alterations and provisions as should be
adequate to the exigency of government and the preser¬
vation of the Union. As we have seen the North Carolina
Assembly appointed delegates to attend the proposed con¬
vention. Willie Jones found that he could not attend at the
time appointed, and he requested that some person “should
be appointed in my place as a matter of so much importance
must necessarily require the fullest representation.” Nor
could Caswell attend, because of ill health. To fill these
vacancies the Governor and Council appointed Dr. Hugh
Williamson and John Gray Blount, then a member of Con-

PLANNING CLOSER UNION

7 1

gress. In May, Martin, Spaight, Davie and Williamson [

reached Philadelphia. There Blount joined them for a few
days in June, but to make a quorum in Congress soon re¬
turned to New York. It was not until August that he
took his seat permanently in the Convention. On May 25
delegates from seven states being in attendance, the Con¬
vention was organized. Virginia, the chief state of the
Union, was the originator of the movement. Her son,
Washington, presided over the body, and she presented the
first series of resolves, outlining a new system of general
government. The Convention was called by Congress for
the purpose of amending the Articles of Confederation.

Virginia, at the outset, proposed to overthrow the Con- Virginia’s
federacy and establish a national government. The Virginia plan
resolutions provided for a national legislature with repre¬
sentation based on the number of free inhabitants, or on
the contributions to the public treasury. The idea of
state equality, the corner-stone of the Confederation, was
entirely eliminated. The national legislature was to con¬
sist of two branches, the one chosen by the people of the
several states, the other selected by that branch from
persons nominated by the state legislatures. There was to
be a national executive chosen by the national legislature.

The powers of government were large and supreme. This
plan, providing for a national government, was antagonized
by those who sought to maintain a federative system, and
there was a clash of opinions from the first. To test the
sentiment of the body, Randolph of Virginia offered a
resolution that “a national government ought to be estab¬
lished, consisting of a supreme legislative, judiciary and ex¬
ecutive.” The great states, Virginia, Massachusetts, Penn¬
sylvania and the two Carolinas, voted affirmatively ; as
also did Delaware. They carried the measure. The Con¬
federacy, with its state equality, was to be supplanted by
a national system. That much was fixed at the outset.

, ‘ ^ it

Although, because the members were sworn to secrecy,

NEW GOVERNMENT PROPOSED

1787

Life of
Iredell, II,
161

Hamilton’s

plan

Davie could not divulge the proceedings of the Convention,
he yet could ask advice, and on the introduction of the
Virginia resolves, he wrote to Iredell: “Yesterday nine
states were represented, and the great business of the meet¬
ing was brought forward by Virginia. . . . Be so good

as to favor me by the next post with your opinion how
far the introduction of judicial and executive powers, de¬
rived from Congress, would be politic or practicable in the
states. And whether absolute or limited powers for the
regulation, both as to exports or imports, would be best.
I shall trouble you frequently, and I shall expect your
opinion without reserve.”

Later came up the question of representation. North
Carolina and the other large states voted for proportional
representation in both of the branches of the legislature,
and for a time it was so determined. But June 15, New
Jersey offered a resolution that the Convention should
merely amend the Articles of Confederation, enlarging its
powers, providing for a President and Supreme Court, but
leaving the Union as it was, a Federal Union, each state
casting a single vote in Congress and with a negative on
the proceedings. This was the signal for a heated contest
in the midst of which Alexander Hamilton, against the
wishes of the other delegates from New York, offered his
plan of government. He proposed that the President
should be chosen for life ; that the Senators should also hold
for life ; that the governors of the states should be ap¬
pointed by the general government and should have a nega¬
tive on all laws passed by the state legislatures. In effect
his proposition was to establish an elective limited mon¬
archy, and to reduce the states to provinces. In the bit¬
ter debate that followed the small states were pressed to
the wall, and with hot indignation they declared that if
turned adrift by their larger sisters they would look to some
foreign state to take them by the hand.

DEADLOCK BROKEN

At length, July 2, there was a deadlock, and the Conven¬
tion was about to end in failure when all matters at issue
were referred to a grand committee of one from each state.
Davie represented North Carolina on that committee. Con¬
cessions were made ; and it was proposed that in the first
branch representation should be according to population,
while in the second branch the equality of the states was
to be observed, but money bills were to originate only in
the first branch. North Carolina now voted with the small
states, giving them the majority, and by her action the
deadlock was broken and state equality in the Senate was
secured. Discomfited by this turn in affairs, Virginia and
the other large states were much dissatisfied. This mem¬
orable vote by North Carolina turned the tide which had
been surging so strongly towards the national system with¬
out any element of state equality, and the great states, de¬
feated in their purposes, no longer insisted with vigor on
a constitution deficient in safeguards for their weaker
sisters.

In determining the basis of representation, North Caro¬
lina declared that she would never confederate on any terms
that did not rate the slaves as at least three-fifths for fed¬
eral population ; and Davie, who took high rank among the
delegates, closed an impassioned speech: “If the eastern
states, therefore, mean to exclude them altogether, the busi¬
ness is at an end.”

It was while the proceedings were pregnant with this
great matter that Williamson wrote: “The diverse and al¬
most opposite interests that are to be reconciled occasion us
to progress very slowly. I fear that Davie will be obliged
to leave us before the business is finished, which will be
a heavy stroke to the delegation.” Martin wrote to Cas¬
well that the North Carolina deputies were generally unan¬
imous in all the great matters; and Williamson with jus¬
tifiable pride also said to the Governor: “We shall on some
future occasion be at liberty to explain to your Excellency

1787

North

Carolina’s

action

Elliott:
Debates, 303

Life of
Iredell, II,
163

'i m

NEW GOVERNMENT PROPOSED

. R., XX,

i 66

Ibid., 752

Life of
Iredell,
II, 167

S. R., XX,
763

how difficult a part has fallen to the share of your State in
the course of this business, and I flatter myself greatly if
we have not sustained it with a principle and firmness that
will entitle us to what we have never asked for — the thanks
of the public.”

Nor were the deputies without encouraging words from
home. Caswell, who shared with Martin the greatest per¬
sonal popularity, wrote July 26, to Spaight : “I am induced
to think that the plan of a national parliament and su¬
preme executive with adequate powers to the government
of the Union will be more suitable to our situation and
circumstances than any other, but I should wish also an
independent judicial department to decide any contest that
may happen between the United States and individual
states and between one state and another ; this, however,
is only a hint. You may not see the necessity of it as for¬
cibly as I do, and I presume it is now too late to ofifer any
reasons for the establishment, as that matter I flatter mv-
self is before this time got over : all I can say respecting
the Convention is to recommend a perseverance to the end,
to the deputies from this State.

At length the general principles of a constitution were
substantially agreed on, and on July 22 Williamson again
wrote : “After much labor the Convention has nearly
agreed on the principles and outline of the system, which
we hope may fairly be called an amendment of the Federal
Government. This system we expect will in three or four
days be referred to a small committee to be properly dressed :
and if we like it when clothed and equipped, we shall
submit it to Congress.” At this time, too, Martin wrote
to the Governor : “Believe me, it is no small task to bring
to a conclusion the great objects of a united government,
viewed in different points by thirteen independent sover¬
eignties ; United America must have one general interest
as a nation, at the same time preserving the particular in¬
terests of the individual state." Finally the special com-

ESTIMATE OF DAVIE’S SERVICE

mittee, on August 6, reported the rough draft clothed,
as indicated by Williamson, which was then taken up para¬
graph by paragraph.

A fortnight later Martin again wrote to Caswell :
“Though I have not told your Excellency affirmatively what
the Convention has done, I can tell you negatively what
they have not done. They are not about to create a king,
as has been represented unfavorably in some of the east¬
ern states/’ The news of Hamilton’s plan had gotten
abroad and had created a stir in New England; indeed, the
rumor went so far as to indicate the particular person who
was to be invited to the throne in America.

Davie had then left to return home, and Williamson,
the most important man of the delegation because of his
learning, wide information, talents and reputation, writing
to Caswell, said : “I regret his departure very much, as his
conduct here has induced me to think highly of his abilities
and political principles.” A few days later, Alexander
Martin also returned to North Carolina ; the representatives
remaining being Williamson, Blount and Spaight.

The purpose to establish a national government was gen¬
erally entertained ; so, in the draft of the Constitution,
all of the departments were designated as national, and
that term was freely used throughout the document; nor
in the Convention was it objected to. In such a system,
the federative power of an absolute negative in a single
state could have no place. On August 12 Spaight wrote
to Iredell : “It is not probable that the United States will
in future be so ideal as to risk their happiness upon the
unanimity of the whole ; and thereby put it in the power
of one or two states to defeat the most salutary proposi¬
tions and prevent the Union from rising out of that con¬
temptible situation to which it is at. present reduced.”

There was a provision in the instrument as reported by
the committee, that the importation of such persons as the
several states shall think proper to admit shall not be

1787

S. R., XX,
764

Ibid., 765

Life of
Iredell,
II, 168

Importation
of slaves

NEW GOVERNMENT PROPOSED

1787

The

Constitution

“National”

eliminated

prohibited”; and another, that “No navigation act shall be
passed without the assent of two-thirds of the members
of each house. The latter was distasteful to Massachu¬
setts, while the first was repugnant to all the states north
of the Carolinas. In the Convention it was proposed to
insert “free” before the word persons, and Georgia and
South Carolina became alarmed. They insisted on a right
to import slaves. The Convention hastily adjourned, and
the next morning these two clauses were referred to a spe¬
cial committee of one from each state. In that committee
South Carolina and Massachusetts voted together, and their
respective wishes were consummated. Slaves were allowed
to be imported until 1808, by the joint vote of New Eng¬
land and the Southern States, except Virginia ; and by
the aid of South Carolina all restrictions on the power of
Congress to regulate commerce were removed. Thus with
the assent of New England the institution of slavery was
largely fastened on the country and rendered of much con¬
cern by the continued importation of African slaves, New
England being more interested in the slave trade than the
southern commonwealths.

On September 8 the Constitution having been agreed on,
the document was referred to a committee to revise its
style, and when, four days later, the instrument was re¬
ported the word “national” was nowhere to be found in it;
and although all of its national features remained intact,
those who advocated its adoption assumed the name of
Federalists. It was to be adopted by the people of each
state that should ratify it. On Saturday, September 15,
the Constitution was agreed to, and then it was signed
and transmitted to Congress. On September 18, Blount,
Spaight and Williamson united in explaining to Governor
Caswell the provisions . of the instrument. No exertions
had been wanting to guard and promote the particular
interests of North Carolina. Attention was directed “to
the representation in the second branch of the national

RESULTS SUMMED UP

legislature being according to numbers, that is to say : ac¬
cording to the whole number of white inhabitants added to
three-fifths of the blacks. . . . We had many things

to hope from a national government, and the chief thing
we had to fear from such a government was the risk of
unequal or heavy taxation. . . . It is provided in the

ninth section of Article i that no capitation or other direct
tax shall be laid except in proportion to the number of
inhabitants, in which number five blacks are only counted
as three. If a land tax is laid we are to pay the same
rate; for example, fifty citizens of North Carolina can be
taxed no more for all their lands than fifty citizens in one
of the eastern states. . . . When it is also considered
that five negroes are only to be charged the same poll
tax as three whites, the advantage must be considerably in¬
creased under the proposed form of government. The
Southern States have also a much better security for the
return of slaves who might endeavor to escape than they
had under the original Confederation.” And the delegates
added: “While we were taking so much care to guard our¬
selves against being overreached, and to form rules of tax¬
ation that might operate in our favor, it was not to be
supposed that our northern brethren were inattentive to
their particular interests.” Particularly, they mentioned the
power to regulate commerce. “This is what the Southern
States gave in exchange for the advantages we mentioned
above ; but we beg leave to observe, in the course of this
interchange, North Carolina does not appear to us to
have given up anything, for we are doubtless the most
independent of the Southern States ; we are able to carry
our own produce ; and if the spirit of navigation and ship
building is cherished, we will soon be able to carry for our
neighbors.”

In the debates in the Convention, Williamson, highly cul¬
tured and a man of details, took an active part; and Davie
won particular encomiums for his talents and devotion to

Taxes

Commerce

NEW GOVERNMENT PROPOSED

1787

Life of
Iredell,
II, 177

The parties

Ibid., 170

Jbid., 181

business. It appears that the delegation acted as a unit,
and North Carolina exerted a considerable influence. It
was by her vote that the equality of the states was pre¬
served in the Senate, and the general plan made acceptable
to the smaller states. But for North Carolina's action
on that question, the smaller states might have withdrawn,
and the new Union might not have embraced them.

The August election

In North Carolina, while the Convention was in session,
its work not yet done, and the general result unknown, the
August elections took place. There was much rancor
and political asperity evolved in the contest. Already those
who favored a closer union of the states began to be known
as “Federals”; and their opponents, who were either con¬
tent with the Confederation, or advocated only slight
amendments, were called “Anti-Federals” or Republicans.
Great bitterness was infused into the canvass, and in many
places tumults and assaults occurred. In Orange, “Hooper
had an engagement with McCauley, in which he came
ofif second best, with his eyes blacked." Generally, those
who agreed with the Federal leaders were successful. Ire¬
dell had been brought forward too late to be elected, but,
heartily in favor of the proposed Constitution, he urged
its adoption by tongue and pen, and gave to the cause
the full weight of his influence. Early in November a pub¬
lic meeting was held at Edenton and resolutions adopted
to support the Constitution ; and four days later the grand
jury attending the Superior Court of that district, presented
to the court an elaborate address prepared by Iredell: “We
admire in the new Constitution a proper jealousy of liberty,
mixed with the due regard to the necessity of a strong, au¬
thoritative government. Such a one is a requisite for a
confederative as for a single government, since it would
not be more ridiculous or futile for our own Assembly to
depend for any necessary exertion of power on the unan-

BROAD PATRIOTISM

imous concurrence of all the states in the Union.” And
the grand jury urged that the Assembly should call an
early convention.

The Assembly

It was under such influences that the Legislature met at
Tarboro on November 19. Willie Jones was not a mem¬
ber, but Person and Coor were in the Senate. That body
organized by electing as speaker Alexander Martin, one
of the delegates who had framed the Constitution. Judge
John Sitgreaves, also an advocate of its adoption, was chosen
Speaker of the House. The temper of the Assembly was
manifested by a broad patriotism and a liberal spirit.
Governor Caswell was about to retire from the executive
chair, and doubtless threw his influence toward promot¬
ing the closer union which he had advanced in its incip-
iency by appointing delegates to attend the Annapolis Con¬
ference, and which was exactly in line with his own rec¬
ommendation to the delegates.

The disposition to conform to the wishes of the general
government was made apparent by the first act of the
Assembly. The Governor communicated the correspond¬
ence from the President of the Congress urging that the
Treaty of Peace should be fully observed. So far North
Carolina had turned a deaf ear to all entreaties, declining
to give effect to the provisions of the Treaty that were
favorable to the Tories. Now, the first act of the session
declared the Treaty to' be the law of the land, and required
that the courts of the State should judge all cases accord¬
ingly. Thus ended the protracted contests over that exas¬
perating question, and the tribulations of the Loyalists and
their friends drew to a close. Although James Iredell had
failed of election his party colleagues were in the ascendancy
and he was appointed one of the State Council, and his repu¬
tation as a lawyer was so high that he was directed, as
sole commissioner, to revise and publish the Acts of Assem-

Nov. 1787

S. R., XX,
301

Ibid., 752

Ibid., 129

Treaty of
Peace

NEW GOVERNMENT PROPOSED

McCulloh

pardoned

S. R, XX
370

1787

Convention

called

S. R., XX,
372

The

capital

bly, with large discretionary powers. The sympathies of
the Assembly were aroused in behalf of Richard Bradley,
a young man who had killed Col. Sam Swann in a duel at
Wilmington, and it recommended that the Governor should
pardon him.* And the Governor was also authorized to
pardon McCulloh and all others convicted of frauds against
the State.

On the second day of the session Governor Caswell pre¬
sented the draft of the proposed Constitution and a
letter from Congress submitting it to the State; and Decem¬
ber 6 was set apart for its consideration. When that day
arrived the two houses formed themselves into a committee
of the whole, with Elisha Battle in the chair, to consider
the instrument. The business was speedily disposed of.
At a single sitting resolutions were agreed to recommending
the people of each county to elect five delegates to a con¬
vention to be held to consider the Constitution, and if
approved by them, to confirm and ratify it on the part of
the State. In .the Senate, James Coor, seconded by General
Person, moved an amendment that “in case they do not
agree that the said proposed Constitution shall become
binding on the people of the State, then and in that case,
they report to the executive authority of this State their
objections, and the necessary alterations that should he made
in it to secure to the people their most valuable and indis¬
pensable rights, liberties and privileges as expressed and
secured to them by the Bill of Rights and Constitution of
the State.” This proposition, however, received but eight
votes, while thirty-five members voted against it. In the
House there was no division : The Assembly also recom¬
mended to the people to authorize the convention to fix
a place for holding the General Assembly, which shall be
the unalterable seat of government.

*The Governor accordingly pardoned Bradley; but the judges held that the
Executive was not authorized by the Constitution to pardon a culprit before
conviction, and at the next session, the Legislature itself passed an act
pardoning him.

JOHNSTON INAUGURATED

To open Raleigh Inlet

The spirit of enterprise for which the Albemarle section
was famous was illustrated by an application for the incor¬
poration of a company composed of many well-known
citizens to deepen a channel and cut out an inlet to be
known as the Raleigh Inlet, from Albemarle Sound to the
sea. The affairs of the western counties received atten¬
tion, and it being again proposed to repeal the act annulling
the Act of Cession and to authorize the delegation in Con¬
gress to convey the western territory to the United States,
the proposition was defeated ; and measures were taken to
quiet the disorders in that region.

Dr. Hugh Williamson and Robert Burton were chosen
delegates to the Continental Congress, and their election
was in line with the general action of the Assembly, favor¬
able to the Federal party. Still more strongly did the
Assembly manifest its Federalism by the election of Samuel
Johnston as Governor. On being notified, Johnston re¬
paired to Tarborough, where he was received with many
marks of distinction. Davie mentioned “a number of gen¬
tlemen were to meet him on his coming to town and Cas¬
well must have felt some mortification at this attention to
Mr. Johnston, as no notice had been taken of him.” On
December 20, at a joint session of the two houses, Johnston
took the oaths, but departed from the usual custom and
delivered no inaugural.

Glimpses

In November, 1787, William Atmore, a merchant of Phil¬
adelphia, came to New Bern, Tarboro and Washington,
having business relations with many of the people of that
section. He kept a journal, in which he entered “Washing¬
ton is a town consisting of about sixty families. . . . Vessels
drawing seven and a half feet of water come up when the

river is low. . . . About two miles below the town the navi-

1787

Johnston

Governor

Life of
Iredell,
II, 216

S. R., XX,
456

NEW GOVERNMENT PROPOSED

Commerce

Life at
Tarboro

gation is impeded by sunken logs and by stumps of large
trees that are supposed to have grown there/’ A similar
subsidence also, is said to have occurred above Edenton.
"The trade up the river as far as Tarborough is carried on
chiefly in large scows and flats, drawing but little water,
some of these carry 70 or 80 hogsheads of tobacco. . . .

At Washington there are several convenient wharves and
there are sometimes lying here twenty sail of sea vessels.
There is a courthouse, and prison there, and there is a school
house.

“The merchants export from this Town, Tar, Pitch,
Turpentine, Rosin, Indian Corn, Boards, Scantling, Staves,
Shingles, Furs, Tobacco, Pork, Lard, Tallow, Beeswax,
Myrtlewax, Pease, and some other articles. Their Trade is
chiefly with the West Indies and with other States on this
Continent; the Navigation not admitting Vessels of great
burthen to come up to the Town; and for a large Vessel to
lay below to load at the Anchorage near the Bar is always
inconvenient, and sometimes dangerous.

“We found upon our arrival at Tarborough the place
much crowded ; the Legislature being sitting for the dis¬
patch of business — The size of the Town appear’d so inade¬
quate to the comfortable accommodation of a Legislature
composed of about 120 Commons or Delegates and about
60 Senators, together with the people attending the Ses¬
sions in business or going there on motives of pleasure,
that you will not easily believe that it was possible to provide
for them; Yet provided for they were. And they said
themselves, very comfortably ; One old Countryman said
that he had cause to be satisfied ; that he lives there much
better than at home. —

“Captain Toole, a Trader, and for the time Innkeeper
provided for 40 or 50 Members, with a great number of
others ; every family almost received some of the Members ;
Beds were borrowed from the Country, 3 or 4 placed in
a room, and two of their Honors in a Bed — : provisions

LEGISLATURE IN SESSION

were in plenty. Horses were mostly sent to Farms in the
vicinity of the Town — Mr. Falkener who formerly resided
sometime in Philadelphia brought hither his E. O. Table;
Gambling was carried to great extent at this Table and also
at other Games ; at times several of my acquaintances have
told me of their losses, — A Trader of Newbern lost in one
night 600 pounds — Some attempts were made to represent
some dramatic pieces, but with very bad success — Two of
the Actresses were Adventuresses from Charleston.

“The Court House is a large wooden building of two
Apartments, and standing on brick Pillars ; in the long
Room the Commons met ; in the other the Senate — Any
person is at liberty to go and hear the debates in either
House, Standing uncover’d without their Bar — The bar at
the Senate was a Board laid across two old trunks, standing
on the ends which served very well pro tern.

"The Bar of the Commons House was the Court House
Bar — Every Member sat with his Hat on except when ad¬
dressing the Chair — The business before the house not
being very interesting I soon retired — But soon after hear¬
ing that the new Governor was to be Sworn into office I
returned. There was now a joint Meeting of the two
houses in the large Room, a Committee of 3 or 4 gentlemen
went to him, they walk’d together to the House. All the
Members rose on his entering. The usual Oath of Alle¬
giance to the State and Oath of Office as Governor being
by him distinctly repeated and sworn, he retired to his
lodgings, there being no Ceremony of Proclamation.”

Being rowed across the river at Blounts ferry by two
negroes, Atmore asked one :

“Where was you born, boy?”

“I was born in Guinea.”

“Don’t you want to go back to your Country?”

“I have learnt another Language now, they will kill me
if I go back to my home — ”

“How came you brought from yr. Country?”

1787

The custom

The

imported

African

NEW GOVERNMENT PROPOSED

1787

Life at
Lumberton

“I went with many more to attack a town, where they were
too strong for us, they killed a great many, and took 140
of us prisoners, and sold us.”

‘‘Had you not better have let them alone and remained in
peace at home ?”

“No. My Nation always fight that Nation.”

“And what would you do if you return’d to your Country
now, you’d be quiet?”

“No, I go there, and fight ’em worse than ever.”

Mr. Atmore visited New Bern where he had friends,,
and he gives a pleasing account of the society there. And
there he met the daughter of Judge Sitgreaves, who event¬
ually married him. He describes the palace as untenanted,
but the spacious hall sometimes was used for balls, and in
the building a school was kept.

Gen. John Willis had been a soldier in the Revolutionary
War. He was a lawyer and a civil engineer and also a
large planter and mill owner. He laid ofif the town of
Lumberton on some of his land ; and established an academy
there of which David Kerr was the principal before he was
employed at the University. Somewhat later he proposed
to sell to W. Norment his lands in the Raft Swamp and
Drowning Creek, 11,776 acres, with his mills. The trade
from Lumberton was by flats down the river to Georgetown.
He was in the Assembly at times and in that of 1787 at
Tarboro. On December 10, when the session was about a
month old, he wrote to his wife : “I now have an oppor¬
tunity to write to you — a young man going to Fayetteville —
the first I have had since I arrived here.” After telling
about calling the Convention of 1788, he adds: “I have the
future of the dear children around you continually in my
views. I will bring when I come about 20 pounds worth
of excellent books, just such as I know you will be fond
of.” He became a member of the Convention.

CHAPTER VI

Convention of 1788

The influence of Virginia. — Ratification doubtful. — Jefferson’s
attitude. — The people divided in every state. — Virginia ratifies in
June. — Opposition in New York weakens. — The Convention meets
at Hillsboro in July. — Willie Jones influenced by action of Vir¬
ginia — Governor Johnston presides. — The Anti-Federals in con¬
trol. — The Constitution considered by paragraphs. — The Conven¬
tion fails to ratify and proposes amendments. — The seat of govern¬
ment located in Wake County.

The Convention was to meet at Hillsboro in July, July, 1788
and in March the election of delegates took place. Pre¬
liminary to it great interest was manifested. Iredell pub¬
lished in the State Gazette at New Bern a masterly dis¬
sertation on the proposed Constitution that attracted wide Lifeof
attention. But the Virginia influence was strong. In that {ge6de11, IIf
state Mason had published a caustic criticism of the instru¬
ment, and although Jefferson was in France he maintained
an active correspondence with friends, to whom he ex¬
pressed grave apprehensions. Even before the close of Jan¬
uary Davie wrote : “The great deference this State has
been accustomed to pay to the political opinions of the Old
Dominion will, I believe, have a very bad effect on the de¬
termination of this great question. This circumstance,
added to the opposition already formed, in my opinion, ren¬
ders its adoption in this State extremely doubtful.” In May

a j j 217

he and Moore and Iredell prepared a pamphlet, published
by contributions for general -circulation. But the cause was
hopeless. Willie Jones had from the first been opposed to
the Constitution, and he at once became the head of a party
having its defeat for their object. The men in office were
generally unfavorable to any change, and a cry was raised
that the poor would be ruined by taxes and that there was
no security for freedom of conscience. The paper at New
Bern, published by Xavier Martin, was strongly Anti-

CONVENTION OF 1788

Life of
Iredell, II,

223

Ibid., 329

Federal, and although most of the leaders of thought were
favorable to accepting the Constitution, those who had the
ear of the masses were in opposition. At the election,
Allen Jones, Blount, Hooper, Alfred Moore, Alexander
Martin and Judge Williams, all Federals, were defeated.

Jefferson’s views

About the middle of December Jefferson had written from
Paris : “Our new Constitution is powerfully attacked in the
American newspapers. The objections are that its effect
would be to form the thirteen states into one ; that, pro¬
posing to melt all down into one general government, they
have fenced the people by no declaration of rights ; they have
not renounced the power of keeping a standing army ; they
have not secured the liberty of the press ; they have reserved
the power of abolishing trials by jury in civil cases; they
have proposed that the laws of the Federal legislature shall
be paramount to the laws and constitutions of the states ;
they have abandoned rotation in office, and particularly,
their president may be reelected from four years to four
years, for life, so as to render him a king for life.” Later,
while pointing out what pleased him in the Constitution, he
again referred with disapprobation to an omission of a bill
of rights, providing “for freedom of religion, freedom of
the press, protection against standing armies, restrictions
of monopolies, the eternal and unremitting force of the
habeas corpus laws, and trials by jury.” Finally he wrote:
“I wish with all my soul that the first nine conventions may
accept the new Constitution, because this will insure to us
the good it contains, which I - think great and important.
But I equally wish that the four latest conventions, which¬
ever they may be, may refuse to accede to it till a bill of
rights be annexed.”

VIRGINIA RATIFIES

The opposition

The question of ratifying the Constitution indeed divided
the people into two hostile camps from Massachusetts to
Georgia. The proposition was bitterly antagonized. The
opponents were inflamed by every art that could appeal to
popular prejudice as well as to sound judgment. Every¬
where there was passionate remonstrance against putting in
peril the liberties of the people — met, however, by the advo¬
cates of the measure with an equally forcible presentation
of the necessity of securing the benefits of the Union and of
stable government. The future of America hung trem¬
blingly in the balance. At first the result was doubtful.

In Pennsylvania there was hot opposition, but in Decem¬
ber Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey ratified; and
Georgia and Connecticut in January. The convention of
Massachusetts, after a long and severe struggle, in Feb¬
ruary ratified by a vote of 187 to 168, proposing a great
number of amendments. By May, Maryland and South
Carolina had also adopted the Constitution, proposing
amendments. Only eight states had ratified ; and the result
was expected to be adverse in the remaining states.

The Virginia ratification

Such was the situation when on June 2 the Virginia Con¬
vention met. There was bitter opposition; the majority was
adverse, and the result was altogether uncertain. The great
leaders were divided. At length, after a discussion ex¬
tending over three weeks, the influence of Washington pre¬
vailed, and it was on June 26 agreed by a vote of 89 to 79
to ratify; and the form of ratification adopted was: “We
the delegates of the people of Virginia . . . do in the

name and in behalf of the people of Virginia, declare and
make known, that the powers granted under the Consti¬
tution, being derived from the people of the United States,
may be resumed by them whenever the same shall be per-

1788

CONVENTION OF 1788

verted to their injury or oppression.” A bill of rights
was proposed and twenty-one amendments.

Likewise New Hampshire ratified on June 21. In July,
the New York Convention met. As elected, the majority
against the Constitution was overwhelming; but when New
Hampshire and Virginia ratified, the opposition weakened.
It was, however, proposed that a new convention of all the
states should be held ; and finally, on the strength of pledges
that there would be amendments, the instrument was on
July 26, agreed to by a majority of three votes; a large
number of amendments being submitted: and New York,
in her ratification declared her right to withdraw.

The Convention

On July 21 the North Carolina Convention met in Old
St. Matthews Church at Hillsboro, which had by act
of 1784 been converted into a free church. The full mem¬
bership was 280, of whom 268 were in attendance. There
were two chief factions : those who favored ratification re¬
gardless of amendments, and those who proposed that there
should be amendments before North Carolina would ratify.
Of the latter Willie Jones was the leader. Originally he
had opposed the adoption of the Constitution, and was
“perfectly Anti-Federal”; but on the ratification by Vir¬
ginia, realizing that the new government would be ordained,
he abandoned his earlier position and sought to secure
amendments before North Carolina should yield her assent.
Many of the Federal leaders had been defeated, but among
the members were Johnston, Iredell, Maclaine, Davie,
Spaight, Blount, Grove, Cabarrus, Steele, Hill, Sitgreaves,
Owen and other Federals of the first water. Davie and
Spaight had a hand in preparing the Constitution; and Ire¬
dell and Maclaine had been its sponsors in North Carolina.
In the opposition were Elisha Battle, Willie Jones, Spencer,
Person, David Caldwell, James Galloway, Clinton, Mont-
fort, Lenoir, Mebane, Kenan, Egbert Haywood, William

DEBATING THE CONSTITUTION

Shepperd, Benjamin Williams, Hargett, Joel Lane, Hinton,
Rutherford, Josiah Collins, Bloodworth, Devane, Branch,

Dickson, General McDowell, John Macon, Locke, Tipton
from beyond the mountains, and other men of consequence.

It soon developed that the Federals were in a woeful
minority; but Governor Johnston was unanimously chosen
President, a compliment no less due to his eminence than
to his official character as Governor of the State. On the
third day, Galloway, seconded by Macon, moved that the
Constitution and other papers be. read, and that the Consti¬
tution be discussed clause by clause. Willie Jones, seconded
by General Person, moved that the question on the Consti¬
tution be immediately put. He said that the Constitution
had been so long the subject of deliberation that he believed
every member was prepared to give his vote at once. To
this Iredell replied, if that was to be the procedure, the
voters at the polls might as well have determined the matter ;
that the Constitution had been submitted to the Convention
for debate and deliberation. Galloway then proposed to go
into committee of the whole. To this Person objected, but
the Convention took that course, and by a majority deter¬
mined to discuss the Constitution, clause by clause. Evi¬
dently Willie Jones and General Person did not control the
body. The discussions continued a week, Elisha Battle pre¬
siding as chairman of the committee of the whole. As it
seemed from the first that the Constitution would not be Life of

Iredell, II, 8

ratified, Iredell and Davie, hoping that the publication of the
debates might have some effect in procuring its ratification
on a subsequent occasion, employed a stenographer to take
them down and, at some pecuniary loss, published them.

The opposition was alike from the west and the east. The
Federals argued that the instrument had to be adopted in its
entirety or rejected: that the rejection of one clause carried
the whole Constitution. The debates were full, warm, and
often acrimonious. While the Federal leaders spoke much,

Jones and Person did not enter into the discussion. Judge

CONVENTION OF 1788

Life of
Iredell,
15

Spencer, a graduate of Princeton, Dr. Caldwell, the head
of the famous academy, Timothy Bloodworth, James Gallo¬
way, Joseph McDowell, Matthew Locke and Joseph Taylor
were the chief debaters against the instrument. At the
outset, Dr. Caldwell, as a basis to test the principles of the
Constitution, submitted some political maxims, the first of
which was that government is a compact between the rulers
and the people ; but the Convention refused to adopt them,
although strongly urged by Person and Rutherford. And
as the Convention refused to follow Jones in his proposition
of no discussion and Dr. Caldwell in laying down funda¬
mental principles, apparently the members were retaining
their independence, and there was a gleam of hope that
a majority might be won for ratification. Accordingly the
Federal leaders entered on the discussion, intent on persua¬
sion, and determined, if possible, to answer every reasonable
objection. They all participated in the debates, which,
though sometimes heated, were generally in good temper,
and the presentation of the various provisions of the Con¬
stitution by Davie, Iredell, Maclaine, Johnston, and their
associates excites admiration for its fairness, accuracy and
comprehensiveness. On the other hand the objections to
the instrument, the necessity of amendments to fully secure
the rights of the people and of the states, were forcibly
presented.

Dr. Caldwell animadverted with severity on the expres¬
sion, “We, the people.’’ “Were not they who framed this
Constitution the representatives of the legislatures of the
different states? In my opinion, they had no power from
the people at large to use their name or to act for them.
They were not delegated for that purpose.’’

This allegation that the delegates had exceeded their
powers led to an exhaustive speech from General Davie, one
of the delegates involved: “Were not the state legislatures
afterwards to review our proceedings? Is it not through
their recommendations that the plan of the Convention is

ARGUMENT ON ADOPTION

submitted to the people? . . . The Confederation de¬

rived its sole support from the state legislatures. This
rendered it weak and ineffectual. It was therefore neces¬
sary that the foundations of this government should be laid
on the broad basis of the people. . . . The House of

Representatives are immediately elected by the people.
The Senators represent the sovereignties of the State.”
Davie’s exposition was candid, thorough, and highly credit¬
able to him as a statesman. Joseph Taylor, however, re¬
plied : “This is a consolidation of all the states. Had it
said ‘We, the states,’ there would have been a federal inten¬
tion in it. But, Sir, it is clear that a consolidation is in¬
tended.” On the other hand Maclaine insisted : “It is no
more than a blank till it be adopted by the people. When
that is done here, is it not the people of the State of North
Carolina that do it, joined with the people of the other
states who have adopted it?”

When the clause permitting the importation of slaves un¬
til 1808 was reached there were strong expressions in favor
of putting an end to the traffic; but as to manumission,
Galloway declared : “It is impossible for us to be happy, if,
after manumission, they are to stay among us.”

In the course of argument Iredell said : “There was a
great debate in the Convention whether the Senate should
have an equal power of originating money bills. . . .

I have reason to believe that our representatives had a great
share in establishing this excellent regulation (the exclu¬
sive right in the House of Representatives), and in my
opinion they deserve the public’s thanks for it.” Arguing
for adoption, Iredell continued : “That power which created
the government can destroy it. . . Massachusetts,
South Carolina, New Hampshire and Virginia have all
proposed amendments ; but they all concurred in the neces¬
sity of immediate adoption.”

Judge Spencer argued that there should be a bill of
rights, something to confine the power of government within

Life of
Iredell, II,
16

Ibid., 101

Ibid., 120

Ibid., 130

9 2

CONVENTION OF 1788

Life of
Iredell, II,
169

Ibid., 169

its proper bounds. It would keep the states, he urged,
from being swallowed up by a consolidated government.
He objected strongly to the jurisdiction of the Federal
courts. He thought those courts would prove oppresssive,
and he urged that there would undoubtedly be clashing be¬
tween them and the state courts. He expressed the view
that the business and the remaining power of the state
courts would gradually be abolished.

Mr. Locke said that if the state judiciary might be par¬
tial so would the Federal judges. He deemed it deroga¬
tory to the honor of the State to give this jurisdiction to
the Federal judges. “I greatly fear,” he exclaimed, “for
this State and for other states.” But Governor Johnston,
Iredell, Maclaine, Davie and others combated these views,
the discussion taking a wide range.

The opponents of the Constitution, admitting that the
new government acted on the individual and not the state,
urged the absolute necessity of a bill of rights to guard
and protect the liberties of the citizens, which were in dan¬
ger because there was no sufficient limitation on the powers
of government.

On the other hand, said Maclaine, “the powers of Con¬
gress are limited and enumerated. . . . We retain all

those rights we have not given away to the general gov¬
ernment.”

The subject of preserving the rights and powers of the
states was discussed at great length ; and while the doctrine
was broadly maintained that the Federal Constitution, when
adopted, would become a part of the State Constitution, it
was declared that the latter must yield to the former only
in those particular cases where power is given. The State
Constitution, they said, is not to yield in any other case
whatsoever. The laws of the United States would be
supreme, but only in cases consistent with the powers spe¬
cially granted. Maclaine, perhaps the most violent Feder¬
alist in the body, said: “This proposal is made to the peo-

Ibid., 180

STATUS OF STATES DISCUSSED

pie. No man will deny their authority to delegate powers, £

and recall them, in all free countries.” To this there was
no dissent.

The necessity of some amendments was freely admitted,
opinion being divided as to the scope of the necessary
amendments, and as to whether there should be ratification
prior to the adoption of the amendments.

At length, after a patient discussion of every clause of the
Constitution, Governor Johnston proposed that the conven¬
tion should ratify the instrument, and at the same time pro¬
pose amendments. Somewhat later, Willie Jones said that
he was opposed to that step ; he proposed that there should
be certain amendments before North Carolina should ratify.

On the following day, for the first time, he explained his
views: “It is objected that we will be out of the Union.

So I wish to be. We are left at liberty to come in at any Life of
time. It is said we shall suffer a great loss for want of a 225
share of the imposts. I have no doubt we shall share it
when we come in, as much as if we adopt it now. I have
a resolution in my pocket, which I intend to introduce if
this resolution is carried, recommending it to the Legislature
to lay an impost, for the use of Congress, on goods im¬
ported into this State similar to that which may be laid bv
Congress on goods imported into the adopting states. This
shows the committee what is my intention, and on what foot¬
ing we are to be. This being the case I will forfeit my life
we shall come in for a share. It is said that all the offices of
Congress will be filled, and we shall have no share in appoint¬
ing the officers. This is an objection of very little impor¬
tance. Gentlemen need not be in such haste. If left eighteen
months or two years without offices, it is no great cause of
alarm. The gentleman further said that we could send no
representatives, but must send ambassadors to Congress, as
a foreign power. I assert the contrary ; and that whenever a
convention of the states is called, North Carolina will be
called on like the rest. ... I have in my proposition adopted

CONVENTION OF 1788

Life of
Iredell, II,
224

Ibid., 250

word for word the Virginia amendments, with one or two
additional ones. . . . There is no doubt we shall obtain

our amendments and come into the Union when we please.”
He mentioned Mr. Jefferson’s wish that nine states should
ratify and four reject the Constitution. “ Amendments
might be by conventions or by the legislatures. In either
case, it may take up about eighteen months. For my part
I had rather be eighteen years out of the Union than adopt
it in its present defective form.” His proposition and re¬
marks led to a very hot debate. Davie declared that it
would be arrogantly saying to the other states : “I wish to
be in copartnership with you, but the terms must be as I
please.” Finally, after a long day of animated discussion,
Jones’s resolution was agreed to by a great majority and
was reported to the Convention. It provided that a bill of
rights and twenty-six amendments should be laid before
Congress for consideration previous to the ratification of the
Constitution on the part of North Carolina. xA.t that time
the action of New York was unknown; and indeed it was
thought that that state would not adopt the Constitution ; but
Virginia’s action influenced the Anti-Federals at the North
as well as in North Carolina. With great difficulty, Iredell
on Saturday, August 2, obtained a vote on his proposition to
ratify at once, while recommending five amendments. This
motion received 84 votes, while there were 184 in the nega¬
tive. And then the report of the committee of the whole,
being the resolution offered by Willie Jones, was agreed to
by the reverse vote, 184 to 84. Willie Jones then offered his
other proposition, which was agreed to ; that as the Conven¬
tion had thought proper neither to ratify nor reject the Con¬
stitution, it was recommended to the Legislature to pass a
law for collecting an impost for the use of Congress similar
to any that Congress should pass.

LOCATING THE STATE GOVERNMENT

The Convention then passed an ordinance directing the
General Assembly to provide for the selection of a site for
the State capital within ten miles of the plantation of Isaac
Hunter in the county of Wake — that being as near as pos¬
sible the geographical center of the State and on the great
highways leading to every section. After being in session
eleven days on Monday, August 4, the body adjourned.

CHAPTER VII

The Separate State

The people divided. — The Federals strong. — Congress provides
for election of President, etc— Indian war feared. — The proposed
capital. — The two houses at points.- — Another convention agreed
on — Delegates appointed to New York’s proposed Federal Conven¬
tion. — Johnston again Governor. — Jones’s progressive action. — The
County of Tennessee. — The District of Mero formed. — Andrew
Jackson. — Iredell honored. — New enterprises. — South Carolina
negroes. — The Confederacy ends on March 4. — The interregnum.
— April 30 Washington President. — The bust of John Paul
Jones. — The State continues as a sovereign State. — Its prosperity.
— Wilmington’s commerce. — North Carolina pays her debt to the
Confederacy. — The Indians pacified — Federal legislation. — The
election for Assemblymen and for delegates. — The House elects
Caswell speaker. — The Convention elects Johnston to preside. —
The Assembly takes recess. — The Convention ratifies the Consti¬
tution. — Davie in the Assembly. — Federal elections provided for. —
The western territory ceded. — At Davie’s instance the University
established. — Fayetteville again prevents locating the capital. —
The death of Caswell — of Hooper — of Maclaine — of Penn. — The
Great Experiment.

The new
Union

Nine other states having ratified the Constitution of the
United States by June, 1788, the Constitution by its terms
took effect between them. The Confederation that had
been agreed to be perpetual was thus supplanted by a new
Union in which North Carolina had no part. The Conti¬
nental Congress, however, continued its session, making
provision for the establishment of the new government. In
the State the result of the Convention had been so strongly
foreshadowed by the returns of the election of members
that while it did not conform to the wishes of the Federal
leaders it did not disappoint their expectations. Soon after
adjournment it became known that New York, while calling
for a new convention, had followed the example of Virginia,
so that besides North Carolina the only state that did not
ratify was Rhode Island, and she was held in such low es¬
teem that her nonaction gave no concern. Generally
throughout the Union while the Anti-Federal party had

BITTER FEELINGS

shown great strength, it had failed of success. The only
respectable state not acceding to the Union, there was rea¬
son to hope North Carolina would not long remain sepa¬
rated from her sisters. But the opposition had been carried
to a great height and, as the issue involved government
affecting the happiness, prosperity and liberties of the peo¬
ple, the defeated partisans, numbering nearly one-half of the
inhabitants, were sore, sullen and dissatisfied. In their
view, the obstinacy of their opponents was very reprehen¬
sible and harsh epithets were hurled at Willie Jones and
his coadjutors and much bitterness was evolved.

The election

As the August election for assemblymen approached it
was evident that events had weakened the influence of the
Anti-Federalists. The potent argument against isolation was
perhaps strengthened by the hope that some of the public
characters entertained of sharing in the offices of the new
government. Thus at the election the policy of rejecting
was not generally approved and the Anti-Federals sustained
a reverse. Especially at the west was the change of sen¬
timent noted. Surry elected three Federals ; and in Rowan
both Rutherford and Locke, theretofore invincible popular
idols, were beaten. Still the general result was unknown
and Willie Jones, whose following was so large in the Con¬
vention, expected to control the Assembly. He, himself, at
variance with his habits of life, had stood for the Senate and
was returned a member of that body, while General Person
was again elected to the House. They had cooperated in
their purposes, first to reject and then to await amendments;
and now assuming that they still controlled, they announced
their plan to remain out of the Union for a period of five
or six years. Halifax was one of the seats of intelligence
whence radiated the influence that swayed the actions of the
interior communities; and although his brother Allen, his
brother-in-law, Colonel Ashe, and all of his friends who
7

August,

1788

Life of
Iredell, II,
239

THE SEPARATE STATE

habitually gathered around his fireside were now in favor
of immediate adoption, Colonel Jones adhered with persist¬
ence to his plan, and was constantly addressing the people
and pointing out the disastrous consequences that would
possibly attend the supremacy of the Federal judiciary.
But as the sentiment in Virginia had at the outset strength¬
ened Anti-Federalism in Carolina, now her action in rati¬
fying placed the State in a predicament that constrained her
to accept the Constitution and the new Union as the less
of two evils. Thus the prospect was hopeful for ratifica¬
tion ; and the Federal leaders, taking heart, entered with
enthusiasm upon a new agitation. Iredell published an ad¬
dress to the voters, and Johnston, Davie, Steele and others
distributed petitions for the people in the several counties
to sign, praying for a new convention. All was activity
in the Federal camp. Indeed, leading men in the other
southern states, realizing the importance to southern inter¬
ests of North Carolina’s aid in Congress, urged the Feder¬
alists to renew action.

Providing for the new government

In the meanwhile Congress, early in September, in order
to inaugurate the new government, provided for the election
of members of Congress and presidential electors. These
latter were to be appointed in January and were to choose
a President in February. The Senators and Representatives
were to assemble in New York on March 4, and on that day,
Sept. 1788 when the Congress should be organized, the President was
to be inaugurated. This act was officially communicated
to Governor Johnston in September; and otherwise it seemed
to be considered that the delay in North Carolina’s accession
was merely temporary. But the fall passed in uncertainty,
all depending on the temper of the Assembly, which could
not be ascertained with accuracy.

FEARS OF INDIAN WAR

The Assembly

The Assembly was to meet at Fayetteville on the first
of November, and as the members came in it was found that
other matters than the Union were engaging their attention.
For a time western affairs and the probability of an Indian
war were uppermost in their minds ; for there was reason
to apprehend that a general confederacy had been formed by
all the tribes, those at the North being supplied with arms
and ammunition by the British. The situation was alarm¬
ing, and as the inhabitants on the Cumberland feared that
North Carolina alone could not adequately protect them,
the members representing those counties now desired to be
under the protection of the Union.

Another subject of absorbing interest to many members
was the ordinance of the convention fixing the seat of gov¬
ernment in Wake County. All the influence of the Cape
Fear region was actively arrayed in opposition, and the ad¬
vantage of selecting as the capital Fayetteville, a thriving
town at the head of navigation with highways affording
transportation facilities to the western counties, was pressed
with vigor. But the Albemarle members were opposed to
Fayetteville.

However, overshadowing these local subjects the great
matter was that the State was separated from the Union.
In the first days of the session the Federals were sanguine
in their expectations of a new convention. Martin and Sit-
greaves, both Federalists, were reelected speakers, but their
personal popularity was also a factor and their success was
not a sure test of the main matter. In his message, Gov¬
ernor Johnston urged: “The first object which calls for
your serious attention is the situation into which the State
will be cast on the meeting of the Congress of the United
States” ; and petitions were presented from nineteen coun¬
ties, among them Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Rowan, Randolph
and Surry, and even Halifax, praying for a new convention.

Life of
Iredell, II,
245

Out of
the Union

S. R„ XXIr
10

Ibid., 21

IOO

THE SEPARATE STATE

Life of
Iredell, II,
246

S. R., XX,
924

S. R., XXI,
33

Life of
Iredell, II,
245

S. R„ XXI,
52

S. R., XX,
514

But the matter was in doubt. At length, after most of the
members had arrived, on the night of the eighth day of
the session, a secret meeting was held, and it was ascer¬
tained that the Federals had a small majority of the mem¬
bers. The Senate was Federal, but the Anti-Federals had
a majority in the House. It would seem that Willie Jones
early realized the futility of opposing the popular current
which was now setting in favor of the Union. On Monday,
the ioth of November, he moved that the Senate should pro¬
pose a conference of the two houses, a joint meeting, to hear
the petitions read, and to deliberate on them and to determine
on the propriety of convening a new convention. The
Senate assented and sent the message, but the House did not
accept the invitation.

The strongest argument for action was based on the iso¬
lated situation the State would be in were she to remain out
of the Union; but there came a report that, under the in¬
fluence of Patrick Henry, the Assembly of Virginia would
refuse to participate in the organization of the new gov¬
ernment, thus virtually reversing the action of that state.
Besides, New York had proposed another convention of the
states, and there was a hope that such a body might convene.
It was, perhaps, because of the reported reactionary move¬
ment in Virginia and the expectation of a new Federal con¬
vention that the House declined to join in the proposed con¬
ference, and that General Person secured on the 15th a
vote in the House of 55 to 4 7 for his resolution declaring
that: “It is now not expedient to call a new convention.”
This declaration, however, did not deter Caswell and the
other Federal leaders from pressing forward. The logic
of the situation was irresistible, and the strength of the
Federals was sufficient to bear down the opposition. Two
days after the House had spoken Caswell offered in the
Senate a resolution that “another convention should be
called for the purpose of reconsidering the new Constitu¬
tion,” and it passed by the decisive vote of 30 to 15.

NEW CONVENTION ORDERED

101

Jones’s attitude

Willie Jones voted in the negative ; but immediately on the
adoption of the resolution, either in deference to the popular
will, or perhaps because of his position as chairman of the
Committee on Public Business, he introduced a formal
joint resolution providing for a new convention to deliber¬
ate and determine on the said Constitution, and amendments,
if any. He proposed that each county should be represented
by three members, and that the election should be held in
August and the convention meet in October. Thus he
would secure a year for developments and deliberation; but
Caswell was not content with the proposed delay and sought
to make haste by holding the election on December 15, al¬
lowing less than a month for the canvass. While the sen¬
timent in the Senate was overwhelming for Union, this
haste was not approved, and perhaps in view of Colonel
Jones’s attitude and to conciliate his followers, Caswell’s
proposition was voted down and Jones’s resolution was
passed without amendment. The concession was apparently
effective, for although but two days had elapsed since the
House had declared against a convention, on receiving
this resolution, that body informed the Senate that if the
representation should be increased to five members from
each county, and if the convention should meet on the
third Monday of November it would concur in the adoption
of the resolution. The Senate thereupon made the proposed
amendments, and the House concurred ; and the Federals re¬
joiced at this accomplishment of their purposes. The diver¬
gence between Jones and General Person was further empha¬
sized, when a few days later, the latter, manifesting his dis¬
satisfaction, moved to reconsider the resolution to call the
convention ; but the House was no longer under his control,
and his motion failed, only 32 voting with him while 50 sus¬
tained the previous action of the Assembly. The struggle
was over and Federalism was triumphant. There was, how-

s. r., xx,

515

Ibid., 516

S. R., XXI,
67

Ibidi., 130

102

THE SEPARATE STATE

S. R., XXI,
68

S. R., XX,
544

Jones’s

measures

S. R., XX,
505.

Life of
Iredell, II,
276

ever, an expectation that the call made by New York for an¬
other Federal convention might materialize, and to be ready
for the contingency, should such a body convene, the Assem¬
bly elected delegates to represent the State in it. Governor
Johnston and other Federals, while not in sympathy with
that movement and declining to be candidates for the honor
of representing the State, made no opposition, and Person,
McDowell, Locke, Bloodworth and Lenoir were chosen.
Delegates from New York, Pennsylvania and, perhaps, other
states did subsequently meet, but as the movement was with¬
out the countenance of the Continental Congress, it had no
result.

Other business

d he Assembly, being now in thorough accord with the
Federal leaders, no longer delayed the election of a gov¬
ernor for the ensuing year, and the honor was again awarded
to Governor Johnston. Willie Jones was chairman of the
committee to prepare bills of a public nature, and as such he
presented many bills of importance. Perhaps not all of
these measures originated with himself, but his advocacy of
some of them gives assurance that he was a statesman of
breadth of view, and superior to the environments of the
day, and possessed of sound judgment and correct appre¬
hension. North Carolina’s trade was largelv carried on
through the ports of the adjoining states and it was consid¬
ered that her commerce was hampered because her paper
currency had fallen in value, the depreciation being about
30 per cent. As a corrective, Jones offered a measure
providing that debts should be recovered according to the
contract. Although this bill failed a beneficial result was
reached by the revenue act, which contained a direction to
collect a tax for the sinking fund, so large an amount of
currency being thereby withdrawn from the public that
within a year State paper, becoming scarce, was on a par
with specie.

COUNTY REPRESENTATION

103

Colonel Jones, although one of the largest slaveholders in
the State, perhaps partaking the views of Jefferson, pre¬
sented a bill forbidding the importation of slaves, but this
measure was in advance of the times and it then failed.
Another proposition made by him was apparently more in
harmony with the views of those who had been reckoned
as conservatives than with the principles of ultra democracy
commonly attributed to him. He offered a resolution to the
effect that “representation under the Constitution was op¬
pressive and burdensome, and that representation ought to
be distributed in proportion to the share which the counties
contribute to the public fund.” The vote on this resolution
was a tie in the Senate, and it devolving on Speaker Martin
to give the casting vote, he defeated it. But the subject
was not disposed of ; and the Senate passed a resolution
submitting it to the Convention to “take into consideration
the provisions of the State Constitution fixing representa¬
tion in the Senate and the House, and to alter them so that
the Legislature may be less expensive and its measures the
more stable and uniform.” This was the first manifestation
of dissatisfaction with the working of the Constitution
which gave to each county, despite inequalities in property
and in population, an equal vote in the Assembly ; and al¬
though later that subject entered largely into the politics
of the State it was long before any change was effected.

The western country

On the Cumberland, the Indians were hostile and despite
the active efforts of Gen. Joseph Martin, who was in com¬
mand, the' settlers were much harassed ; and they were also
greatly concerned by the denial by Spain of their right to
navigate the Mississippi River. They desired to raise a
volunteer force of fifteen thousand men to crush the In¬
dians and wished to be under the protection of the Union
and of the Federal forces.

s. r., xx,

492

Ibid., 566

Constitu¬
tional reform

S. R., XX,
567

104

THE SEPARATE STATE

S. R., XX,
513

Tennessee

S. R., XXI,
637

Andrew

Jackson

Iredell

Life of
Iredell, II,
266

The eastern members were not willing to precipitate an
Indian war and the situation was embarrassing. As a solu¬
tion of the difficulties, notwithstanding North Carolina had
not then become a member of the new Union, Willie Jones,
doubtless regarding the delay as merely temporary, brought
forward a bill to cede the western territory to the United
States ; but the Assembly was not ready for that step, and
the proposition went over to the next session. Instead,
the county of Davidson was again divided, the new county
being named Tennessee, the first application of that name
to any territorial division ; and the three counties on the
Cumberland were formed into a district, called Mero, in
honor of the Spanish governor at Mobile, whose kindliness
had won for him the regard of the western inhabitants.
For this district military officers were at once appointed,
and also a judge; but in the act establishing the courts no
provision was made for a state’s attorney. Thus the judge,
John McNary, found it necessary to appoint a state’s at¬
torney for the Superior Court of Davidson, November
term, 1788, and for the district of Mero the next year.
He appointed Andrew Jackson, a young man who was born
in the present county of Union, and who had been admitted
to the practice of law in Surry County in 1787, although
barely of age.

To carry into effect the ordinance of the Convention fixing
the seat of government in Wake County, Jones introduced
a bill appointing commissioners for that purpose ; but the
influence of Fayetteville, perhaps with the aid of the ex¬
treme western members, was too powerful to be overcome,
and the measure failed. Other bills proposed by Jones
likewise were rejected. On the other hand, Iredell, the most
active advocate of the Federal Constitution, was honored by
being elected a Councilor of State. Wills and Hodges,
who were allied with the Federal party, were made State
printers, and were directed to print the Acts of Assembly for
distribution ; and Iredell was appointed a commissioner to

STIMULATING COMMERCE

105

revise all the laws of the State. Moreover, Rowan County
was divided, and the new county set off was named Iredell
in compliment to him. While these high honors were being
heaped on Iredell, the implacable Maclaine was rejoicing
that “Jones was unable to secure the passage of a single
bill.” Still Jones exerted positive influence, and Maclaine,
fearing his return to the Assembly of 1789, wrote in Sep¬
tember: “I am persuaded we might have carried our
point last year, but for Willie Jones ; and therefore I am
anxious to know whether he is a member.” However, long
before the session ended Jones obtained leave of absence and
did not return. He soon removed from Halifax, settling
in Wake at the new seat of government, but he was never
again in the public service.

Progressive measures

Former Assemblies had sought to promote manufacturing
enterprises by offering bounties, and now an effort was
made to stimulate the erection of iron works by the offer
of three thousand acres of land for every furnace that
should be established. And in the interest of commerce
another effort was made to secure a navigable passage into
the ocean near Roanoke Inlet, and Governor Johnston,
Nathaniel Allen and others were appointed commissioners
to receive subscriptions “for cutting Raleigh Canal.” Nor
was inventive genius lacking. Thomas Bloodworth, a
brother of the politician, applied to the Assembly for a
patent for the building of mills on the principle of the
oblique wheel, doubtless now known as the turbine wheel.

The negroes of the Loyalists

In 1781 General Sumter had offered a negro taken from
the South Carolina Tories to each private soldier who should
enlist in his command. A considerable number of Caro¬
linians enlisted and shared the fortunes of the “Swamp
Fox,” and they received as compensation negroes that had

Raleigh

Canal

io6

THE SEPARATE STATE

S. R., XXIV,
954

March, 1789

S. R., XXI,
533

belonged to South Carolina Loyalists. Suits were now
threatened for the recovery of these slaves by their former
masters. The Assembly therefore directed that in every
such case a verdict and judgment should be given to the
defendants.

The claims of the State against the Confederacy were
still unsettled and amounted to 14,000,000 pounds, Con¬
tinental currency, and 2,376,000 pounds specie. To liqui¬
date such claims Congress provided a commission, and
Dr. Williamson, in addition to his duties as a delegate to
the Continental Congress, which he continued to attend to
its last day, was appointed the agent of the State to appear
before this commission and settle these claims. Although
Williamson remained in attendance and although Congress
could legislate on some subjects, yet during the entire winter
seven states were not represented at the same time, so
that he could not bring to the attention of the body the in¬
structions given by the previous Assembly.

The New Union

As the Congress of the United States was to begin on
March 4, to mark the end of the old and the beginning of
the new government, salutes were fired in New York City
at noon of that day and the bells of all the churches rang
out peals of joy. The members of the old Congress dis¬
persed ; those not elected to the new Congress going home.
Thus the Confederacy ended; and North Carolina no longer
was in the Union of the states.

The gathering of the new officers at New York was slow.
On the 4th of March only eight Senators and fourteen Rep¬
resentatives met at the public building. Indeed a month
passed before the Senate could organize, the interval being
known as the interregnum. It was not until April 6 that
the Senate organized and the electoral votes were counted.
Being informed of his election. General Washington left
Mount Vernon on April 16, and on the last day of the

AN INDEPENDENT STATE

107

month was inaugurated and the new government was in
force. Robert Burton, also one of the delegates, did not
remain in New York to the end of the Confederacy, but his
patriotism and elevated sentiments are alike manifested in a
letter to Governor Johnston : “As those men who have
fought for us in the great contest cannot be held in too
high esteem, and as Chevalier John Paul Jones is among
the foremost who derived their appointment from this State
that deserves to be held in remembrance to the latest ages,
I take the liberty of offering to the State, as a present
through you, its chief magistrate, the bust of that great
man and good soldier to perpetuate his memory.”

Out of the Union

The dissolution of the Confederacy wrought no change
in State affairs. For years North Carolina had imposed
and collected customs duties and had regulated her commerce
and her currency, and her judiciary, as her Legislature,
was supreme in the exercise of the powers conferred by her
Constitution. The powers delegated to the Continental
Congress related particularly to foreign affairs, and it was
chiefly as to these matters that the State was affected by the
passing away of the Confederacy.

During this period of separation the State exercised
every attribute of sovereignty and opened communications
with the Spanish authorities involving foreign relations.
The Treasury was in easy circumstances. The annual ex¬
penditures for administration, including £37,500 for the As¬
sembly, were bare £50,000; while the receipts in cash were
quite that amount, and an equal amount in certificates. At
the settlement with the Treasurer at the end of the year 1790,
there was in the Treasury £49,454; due from the sheriffs,
£72,000 in cash and £69,356 in certificates, besides £15,629
due from individuals; and the healthy condition of the
Treasury then led to a reduction of taxation.

1789

John Paul
Jones

S. R., XXI,
527

The

sovereign

state

Prosperity

S. R., XXI,
1066

io8

THE SEPARATE STATE

Conditions

Life of
Iredell, II,
255

Vol. I, 16

Life of
Iredell, II,
280

Ibid., 304

The people were enjoying prosperity. Accessions were
continually being made to the population. Business was
good, particularly at the east, although necessarily the
western counties suffered for the want of transportation.
While thus separated, the State was particularly prosperous,
industry reaping substantial rewards. Commerce had im¬
proved and during the fall and winter of 1788-89, more
vessels sailed out of the port of Wilmington than at any
previous time since the opening of the Revolution; lumber,
staves, shingles, etc., being in great demand for the West
Indies. Likewise the business of the other ports had greatly
increased, and foreign seamen were found in all these marts
of commerce ; so that the better to meet the requirements of
the new conditions, special maritime courts had been estab¬
lished to be held at the four ports, with jurisdiction of cases
arising in mercantile matters and where one of the parties
was a foreign merchant or a foreign seaman. The customs
duties brought in a substantial revenue ; while the taxes
laid to be paid in certificates as well as in money were amply
productive. Because of her great trade a French Consul
was . settled at Wilmington and vessels intended for the
French trade had to be cleared from that port.

Prices were remunerative. Provisions and everything
else except house rent were cheaper in New York than in
Edenton. Social life was in full sway. When “the divine
Polly Long married Bassett Stith at Halifax, the nuptials
were celebrated by twenty-two consecutive dinner parties,
each dinner being succeeded by a dance, and all terminating
with a general ball.” Newspapers were published at Fay¬
etteville, Wilmington, Edenton and Halifax. But in the
isolated interior where there were no sawmills to make
plank, nor brickkilns, and where transportation was diffi¬
cult, life was primitive. Still, the people had their enjoy¬
ments and government sat lightly on them.

There was no change in the administration of domestic
affairs. The quietude, the general advancement of all in-

AID FOR THE GENERAL TREASURY 109

terests in the settled portions of the State, and the settling
of the western portion continued to progress as legitimate
results of the prudent action of her statesmen.

To pay her obligation to the Confederacy, the State pur¬
chased tobacco with State currency, and sold the same for
specie or exchange. Thus in May, Governor Johnston of¬
fered for sale one thousand hogsheads of tobacco ; and the
Treasury Board wrote to him: “If the State of North
Carolina at this junction by the sale of this tobacco shall
come to the relief of the General Treasury, it. will be ren-
dering a service honorable to themselves and highly ac- 556
ceptable to the Union.”

At the west

At the west the hostility of the Indians inflamed by the
encroachments of the settlers and particularly by the activity
of Sevier, gave great concern. Commissions were appointed
to bring about a peace. Finally it was agreed that there
should be an exchange of prisoners, the Indians and the
whites having about an equal number of captives, some
twenty-eight on a side. But to make a treaty it was nec- ibid., 547
essary for the Indians to assemble in large numbers and it
was expensive to provide sustenance for them. Col. John
Steele, one of the commissioners wrote : “We calculate
upon 1,000 or 1,500 Indians who will attend the Cherokee
treaty, to say nothing of the whites. The estimated ex¬
pense for thirty days was 1,200 bushels of corn; 100 horned
cattle ; 50 bushels of salt ; 600 gallons of rum ; 40 soldiers,

. ’ ■ ^ Nov., 1781

linguists, etc.” It was Governor Johnston’s good fortune
so to conduct affairs as to allay irritation, induce quietude
and promote the general prosperity, so that the State made
more satisfactory progress during the period when she was
not in the Union than ever before.

1 10

THE SEPARATE STATE

1789

Life of
Iredell,
274

The canvass

As the time came on for the August elections, the rati¬
fication of the Constitution again became a burning question.
Although the Federals had achieved such a decided victory
in the Assembly, the Anti-Federals were not quiescent.
They entered actively into the canvass to prevent ratifica¬
tion. Congress was dilatory in proposing the amendments
desired by many of the states, and the antis were urging
this nonaction on the attention of the people. But to the
joy of the Federals, Madison brought forward a measure
embodying the amendments, and that argument was silenced.
As North Carolina was not a member of the Union, her
people did not vote for either Congressmen or President,
and the laws and authority of the United States did not
extend to her. In the Tariff act, passed July 31, 1789, im¬
ports of merchandise from North Carolina paid the same
duties as those from Europe, while her local productions
entered free of duty; but later, a duty was imposed on “rum,
sugar, and chocolate” produced in the State and imported
into the United States; nor were United States courts pro¬
vided for the State. The State judiciary was supreme.
The judges and other officers who preferred to be inde¬
pendent of any Federal government lent their influence
against ratification, and the public men were divided not
only on that question, but as well on a proposition to make
another issue of paper currency. There was a great com¬
motion throughout the State, for there were no party organ¬
izations ; and in addition to the Assemblymen five delegates
were to be chosen for each county. As a consequence, there
were great changes in the personnel of the membership,
a majority of the Assembly being new members. While
11, the Federals were hopeful that they had carried the Con¬
vention, yet the matter was in doubt and could not be ascer¬
tained until the body should convene. But now the current
was running strongly for the Union. In September Con-

DICKSON’S VIEWS

gress submitted the amendments to the states and there
was no doubt of their adoption. The reason for delay had
passed away. In the Convention of 1788 William Dickson
was in the opposition. Just following the second conven¬
tion he wrote : “I was convinced of the propriety as well
as the necessity of yielding up some of the privileges we
enjoy as freemen for the sake of a more permanent and
efficient government, but I believe that the State of North
Carolina would not have adopted the government of the
United States for this principle only. It was a matter of
necessity rather than choice. Virginia, though with much
reluctance, and the other states around us having previously
adopted the Federal plan, the State of North Carolina could
not remain independent of the Union and support the
dignity of the State itself. Had Virginia only stood out
with us, I think North Carolina would not have been in
of the Union yet." Such was the great reason why North
Carolina abandoned the course mapped out by Willie Jones
in 1788, and did not await the adoption of the amendments
prior to ratification.

The Federals successful

The Assembly met November 2 at Fayetteville, and or¬
ganized by electing Caswell Speaker of the Senate and Ca¬
barrus Speaker of the House, and their election indicated
that the Federals were in the ascendancy, and this was still
further assured when the Governor was reelected. Many
persons were members of both the Assembly and of the
Convention and on the 14th the Assembly adjourned during
the sitting of the Convention. On the 16th the Convention
met. There was still a violent and virulent opposition to
the Constitution, but the Federals were in control. It was
well attended, there being 272 members present. The coun¬
ties beyond the mountains were all represented and among
the delegates was John Sevier. Halifax sent a solid Fed¬
eral delegation. Governor Johnston was again chosen to

Dickson’s

letters

Nov., 1789

112

THE SEPARATE STATE

Ratification

In the
Union

preside, and as he was unwell, Charles Johnston was
elected Vice-president, the antis presenting Judge Spencer
as their choice, but he was defeated.

On November 17 the Convention resolved itself into
a committee of the whole with Col. John B. Ashe in the
chair, and four days were passed in considering the instru¬
ment. Judge Spencer, General Brown, McDowell, Kenan,
Person, Yancey, Bloodworth, Strudwick, Lenoir, Graves,
Pearsall, and Galloway were still opposed, but the Conven¬
tion by a vote of 195 to 77 determined to ratify, at the same
time adopting the twelve amendments submitted by Con¬
gress. Mr. Galloway offered some additional amendments
to be presented by the Assembly, which also were adopted.
The Convention, having by ordinance granted a member of
the House to Fayetteville as a borough town, adjourned on
November 22. North Carolina ’had been disassociated from
her sisters since the formation of the new government in
the spring, but now was again a member of the LMion.

The election of Senators and Representatives and of the
President had occurred nearly a year earlier, North Caro¬
lina having no part in the election of the first President,
nor participating in the first session of Congress.

Davie in the Assembly

In the Assembly Davie, who represented the town of
Halifax, was the leading member. He introduced many
important measures. Now that the State was to be repre¬
sented in Congress, he brought forward a bill to provide
for the election of Senators, another for the election of
five Representatives, one being allotted to the region be¬
yond the mountains, the election to be held in February.
The proposed amendments to the Constitution were at once
ratified ; and no further objection was made to the cession
of the western territory. In the act passed to convey to
the United States that territory, provision was made for
the soldiers who were entitled to grants under former

UNIVERSITY CHARTERED

laws ; and it was stipulated that Congress should not inter¬
fere with slavery there.

Tlie University

Many academies had been established in various parts of
the State, and facilities for acquiring an education were
within the reach of those who had the means to pay the
expenses ; but Davie was not content, and he developed the
idea of building up a state university. At that time the
leading institutions of learning were Harvard, Yale, Prince¬
ton, and William and Mary. Martin had often presented
the subject of education to the Assembly and Hooper, John¬
ston, Iredell, and others had been warm in their advocacy
of such measures. Davie’s proposition to establish a uni¬
versity was doubtless the subject of much personal com¬
munication and received general cooperation. In a letter to
Iredell, he mentions : “The university bill will certainly pass.”
There seems to have been no particular opposition to grant¬
ing the charter : forty of the leading men were made trus¬
tees, and that was followed by a grant of certain debts due
to the State and of all escheats. This was the first propo¬
sition for state aid to education, and one member was so
opposed to it that he filed a protest. A bill was introduced
to carry into effect the ordinance of the Convention of
1788 locating the seat of government, but again the friends
of Fayetteville were successful in opposing it, and it failed
by a single vote.

Death of Caswell

While Caswell, Martin and some others were Federals,
they formed a faction differing with Johnston, Iredell,
Davie, and Hooper ; and they generally held the popular ear.
Indeed at times they advocated measures of temporary
interest although violative of those sound policies which the
other faction adhered to with persistence. Thus in 1789,
when currency became scarce, there was a movement to
8

THE SEPARATE STATE

114

issue more notes, advocated by Person, the Blounts, and
Caswell; but Caswell’s sudden death deprived them of his
aid, and the proposition fell through. On November 10
during the session, General Caswell, then Speaker of the
Senate, died. A state funeral was accorded him, and the
Assembly went into mourning for him for one month.
Thus passed away a man who had been justly esteemed as
one of the foremost of his contemporaries. A year later,
Hooper/ in October, 1790, the State mourned the death of William
andCPenn Hooper, who was highly endowed by nature and was one
of the most cultivated of the public men of America — who,
indeed, earlier than the Revolution, had “cast his philosophic
eye to the future” and beheld a new nation in the new
world. And it was his fortune, as a signer of the Decla¬
ration of Independence, to have a chief hand in bringing
the vision into reality. About the same time Maclaine, like¬
wise a man of unusual endowments, but possessed of a bit¬
ing tongue and violent prejudices, passed away; while
earlier, in September, 1788, John Penn died at his home
on Aaron Creek in Granville County in the 48th year of his
age. He was just 35 years old when he signed the Declara¬
tion of Independence. He was born in Virginia and came
to this State when 33 years old and quickly took rank with
the other unusual men of that period. He was a lawyer,
“possessed of genius and eloquence of a high order.” In
1780 he was one of the three men appointed as a Board of
War to carry on the military operations of the State and
he performed other distinguished services until his death,
which was greatly lamented.

Tlie Great Experiment

The early Continental Congresses were composed of del¬
egates voluntarily sent by the several colonies, each colony
having a single vote; and the action taken was by “The
Delegates of the United Colonies,” who, however, could
only recommend.

ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION

ii5

When the colonies authorized their respective delegates to
declare independence, each colony becoming an independent
state, their delegates united in a “Declaration by the Rep¬
resentatives of the United States of America in Congress
Assembled.” And after that their action was by “The
Delegates of the United States in Congress Assembled.’’

It was then proposed to unite the several states in a Con¬
federation. The proposed agreement ran :

Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union between the
States of New Hampshire, North Carolina, etc.

1. The style of the Confederacy shall be The United States of
America.

2. Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom and independence
and every power, jurisdiction and right which is not by this Con¬
federation expressly delegated to the United States in Congress
assembled.

3. The said states hereby severally enter into a firm league of
friendship with each other, etc.

By Article 13 no alteration was to be made in the articles March, i78i
“unless confirmed by the legislatures of every state.” Each
state had to adopt this Confederation. It was not until
February 12, 1781, that Maryland adopted it and gave in¬
structions to her delegates to sign the articles. On Feb¬
ruary 22, when Washington was closing in on Cornwallis,
the delegates from Maryland appeared and took their
seats ; and March 1 was set for completing the Confed¬
eration. At 12 o'clock, Thursday, March 1, the hour ar¬
rived. The articles were in great formality signed and an¬
nounced. “This happy event,” said the Gazette, “was imme¬
diately announced by the discharge of artillery on land
and the cannon on the shipping in the Delaware.” At two
o’clock the President of Congress received the congratu¬
lations of the Minister from France, the civil and military
officers, and civilians. The evening was closed by an ele¬
gant exhibition of fireworks. The frigate Ariel, com-

. Life of

manded by the gallant lohn Paul lones, fired a feu de ioie Thomas

J J J Smith

and was beautifully decorated.” Now Congress was no (Konkie)

135j 136

longer a Congress of delegates but the Congress of the

THE SEPARATE STATE

Treaties

The dual
Government

states, and the minutes were proudly headed : “The United
States in Congress assembled.”

Treaties were entered into with foreign nations: one
in April, 1783, between “The King of Sweden, of the Goths
and Vandals, etc., and the thirteen United States of North
America; to wit: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, North
Carolina,” etc., naming each of the thirteen. The other
treaties were similar.

Great Britain, in her Treaty of Peace, in 1783, said:
“Art. 1. His Britannic Majesty, acknowledging the said
United States, viz: New Hampshire, etc., North Carolina,
etc., (naming each) to be free, sovereign and independent
states . . . that he treats with them as such,” etc.

The Constitution proposed in 1787 closely followed the
Articles of Confederation in many respects. It was to go
into operation “between the states.” It was to be amended
only by the states ; but it could be amended by three-fourths
of the states. Each state had its equal representation in the
Senate ; and each state had its agreed number of represent¬
atives, and the President was to be elected by the states,
each state appointing its agreed number of electors; and if
no election then each state having a single vote. And
“treason against the United States shall consist only in
levying war against them.”

But while the Union remained a confederation of the
states, it was something more. The powers of government
were divided into two parts, those relating to certain speci¬
fied objects and purposes being vested in the Congress, all
others remaining with the several states respectively. Powers
of government could be conferred on Congress only by the
people of a definite number of states. The government
established thus became a part of the government of each
state ; and there was created a confederated union of
states, not, however, a union of the people — so that there
was no single political entity known as a nation created.

SOVEREIGN POWERS OF STATES

ii 7

Indeed so foreign to each other do the states remain that
the Constitution imposes the particular duty on the United
States “to protect each state from invasion” ; otherwise,
apparently, a state might be invaded and conquered and the
United States have no duty in the matter.

As heretofore said, in the original draft the word “Na¬
tional” was used, but later it was carefully eliminated, the
purpose not being to form a nation of people but a union
of states ; and furthermore, when it was proposed in the Con¬
vention to confer on Congress the right to make a state
observe the Constitution, the proposition was at once
rejected.

As originally drafted and adopted the Constitution began:
“We, the people of New Hampshire,” etc., “North Caro¬
lina,” etc., (naming each of the thirteen states), “do ordain
and establish,” etc., but when the instrument was com¬
mitted to the committee on style, it being evident that the
language was inappropriate, since the Constitution was to
go into effect between the first nine states that ratified it and
there was no telling which states they would be, nor indeed
that every state would eventually ratify it, the present form
was adopted : “We, the people of the United States” that
being the designation of the Confederacy, and in the plural,
not singular, and it meaning — We, the people of the ratify¬
ing states now united. As North Carolina and Rhode Island
did not ratify at first, the necessity of the change in lan¬
guage is apparent.

The sovereign power of establishing government and of
changing its government was not relinquished by any state,
and on the other hand Virginia, New York and Rhode
Island, each, when ratifying the Constitution, expressly as¬
serted its right to exercise that sovereign power.

Elliott’s

Debates

THE SEPARATE STATE

The dual government thus formed when the people of
the states, continuing their own state government, created
this new government of specified but supreme power, by
Congress, was a novelty; and it was called “The Great
Experiment," and for a time it was not known how soon it
would fall to pieces. But it has worked well when observed,
and it has been considered the masterpiece of human
wisdom.

CHAPTER VIII

In the Union

The Federalists rejoice. — Congress extends laws. — Stokes ap¬
pointed Judge, succeeded by Sitgreaves. — Representatives elected.
— Abolition petitions. — The Senators execute conveyance of Ten¬
nessee. — Divergences *in Congress. — State debts. — The trade. —
Clash between the State and Federal courts. — The judiciary
system altered. — The General Assembly. — The Assembly rejects
oath to support Federal Constitution. — Dissatisfaction with Sena¬
tors. — Another post route desired. — Proposition to fix Capital lost.
— Martin again Governor. — Spruce McCay Judge. — Jones Solicitor-
General. — The Dismal Swamp Canal chartered. — Grove and Macon
elected Representatives. — The census gives the State ten mem¬
bers. — The population. — Powers by implication. — The settlement
of Buncombe. — Asheville. — Washington’s visit. — His notes of
travel. — Goes through East, returns through West.

The vexed question of joining the Union being settled,
the Federalists were full of rejoicing and looked with hope
to the future ; but still there were many of the inhabitants
who were in doubt, and some were discontented.

Congress quickly took up the matter of regulating com¬
merce in North Carolina and extended the tariff laws, but
some months elapsed before it established the Federal
courts in the State. It was supposed that Iredell would be
offered the district judgeship for North Carolina; but
there being a vacancy in the Supreme Court, the President
appointed him to that high position. Later, Davie was
offered the appointment of district judge which he de¬
clined; and Col. John Stokes was appointed. Judge Stokes,
however, died in October, and Sitgreaves succeeded to the
office. William H. Hill of New Hanover was the first
district attorney.

All during the year there was excitement in the State
over the action of Congress and much dissatisfaction, and
although the issue which had divided the parties in the
State had disappeared on the acceptance of the Constitu¬
tion, yet the difference between the leaders and among the
people remained.

120

IN THE UNION

The election of Representatives, which took place early in
February, resulted in favor of candidates who adhered to the
Federal party, except in the Cape Fear district where
Timothy Bloodworth was chosen ; the other Representatives
were Hugh Williamson, John B. Ashe and John Steele of
Rowan, and Sevier from across the mountains.

Tennessee ceded

The Legislature on December 22, 1789, had passed a bill
ceding the western territory to the United States. At that
period there was an active society for the abolition of
slavery and at the outset petitions had been offered to Con¬
gress to abolish slavery in the states; North Carolina there¬
fore inserted in her cession a provision that “no regulation
made or to be made by Congress shall tend to emancipate
slaves/' There was also a reservation of the right to locate
military grants in a portion of the territory set apart for
that purpose.

Governor Johnston and Senator Hawkins set out in Jan-
The Senators uary for New York. The 'former, arriving on the 28th,
wrote : “My nerves have not yet recovered the shock of the
wagon, though I came through in very good health, and
less fatigued than I expected after from Baltimore to this
place in less than four days. The roads were very bad
and we rode much at nig'ht. Once it was near 12 at night
before we arrived at our inn.” The coaches were merely
large wagons, the high sides and canopies supported bv
upright beams.

On February 25, 1790, the two Senators from North Car¬
olina made a deed of the western territory to Congress
reciting the above provisions, and on April 2, 1790, Con¬
gress accepted the deed and cession. Then the State became
relieved of further embarrassment because of the western
territory, which afterwards became known as Tennessee.

LOG ROLLING POLITICS

121

Iii Congress

Almost all the members of Congress belonged to the
Federal party ; but the issue of ratification having passed
away, divisions now arose on measures proposed in the
Congress. There were divergences that naturally sprang
up between New England and Virginia, between the North
and the South. Washington, endowed with great natural
sagacity, sought to nationalize his administration ; and among
the propositions brought forward was that of Hamilton
to restore public credit by securing all public indebtedness ;
not only was the Continental debt to be funded, but the
State debts were to be assumed. Anticipating the adop¬
tion of this program, the speculators hastened to buy at
low prices all certificates, both Continental and State.
Early in March the proposition passed the House by a ma¬
jority of five; but there was a motion to reconsider, and
the arrival of the North Carolina members was looked for
with great interest. Senator Johnston was strongly op¬
posed, and on April 6 he was able to write that Williamson,
who had arrived, agreed perfectly with him, and had taken
a conspicuous part in the debate. Then the others came,
and by their votes the measure was defeated by two ma¬
jority. Smarting under their defeat, the New England
members became very sore and impatient. Their dissat¬
isfaction was extreme. Finally, Jefferson arranged with
Hamilton and Madison that two Virginia members should
vote for “assumption” in consideration of the location of
the Federal Capital on the Potomac. That trade was con¬
summated, and the state debts were assumed.

As reasonable as was this measure in theory, it was un¬
equal in its operation ; and most of the certificates had been
purchased by speculators, who reaped rich profit. It caused
great dissatisfaction in North Carolina, which was largely
increased by subsequent events.

1790

The factions

The trade

122

IN THE UNION

Judicial con¬
flict

November,

1790

New judicial
system

The Assembly

One of the chief objects the lawyers had in view at the
last Assembly was to remodel the court system. Defeated
at that time, they hoped for success at the approaching ses¬
sion. The Assembly organized on the first day of No¬
vember at Fayetteville, with Gen. William Lenoir Speaker
of the Senate and Stephen Cabarrus Speaker of the House.
Governor Martin in his message urged a reform in the
judiciary system, indicating the necessity for an additional
judge; he also directed attention to the desirability of an¬
other post route, the only one being confined to the sea¬
board towns.

Just prior to the meeting of the Assembly there was the
first clash between the State and the Federal judiciary.
A suit had been brought by some British subjects against
Judge Iredell and Mr. Collins as executors of R. Smith.
A certiorari was issued from the Federal Circuit Court
by direction of Judges Wilson, Blair and Rutledge to the
judges of the State Superior Court to bring the suit up to
the Federal court. The North Carolina court declined to
obey and on November 19 presented an account of the
matter to the Assembly with a statement of their reasons
for declining to obey the writ. The Assembly approved
their action, although there was a protest against its de¬
cision. That ended the matter.

It was at the instance of the judges rather than of the dis¬
satisfied lawyers that the court law was amended, and an¬
other judge was provided for. The State was thereupon
divided into two circuits ; four districts at the west constitut¬
ing one, and those of Halifax, Edenton, and Wilmington the
other. Two judges were to attend each court, but such
changes were to be made that the same two judges should
not hold the same court successively. It was the duty of
the Attorney-General to attend each court, but under this
new arrangement it became necessary to have an additional

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS

123

attorney to act for the State, and provision was made for a
Solicitor-General who should have equal authority with
the Attorney-General. It was directed that these two
officers should arrange the legal business in such manner
as would be most convenient for them.

The labors of the judges were lessened by giving ex¬
clusive jurisdiction to the county courts of all indictments
for assaults, batteries and petty larcenies and for actions
of slander. There was a further enactment that no process
or judgment in any civil cause should be arrested or
quashed for any defect or want of form ; and the courts
were empowered to amend all defects at any time upon such
conditions as they might impose.

As Tennessee was cut off, it now became necessary to
provide for an election of five Representatives from the
State for the next Congress, and the counties were ar¬
ranged into “the Albemarle, the Roanoke, the Center, the
Yadkin, and the Cape Fear divisions.” From Mecklenburg
to the Virginia line formed the Yadkin division; the dis¬
trict of Ffillsboro together with the counties of Franklin and
Warren formed the Center division. The election was or¬
dered for the last Thursday in January.

In the Assembly there was much irritation displayed in
reference to Federal affairs. The judges were applauded
for their action in the certiorari matter.

The proposition to require the State officers and members
of the Assembly to take an oath to support the Constitution
of the United States was rejected by a vote of 55 to 26.
And an act was passed disqualifying all persons who should
hold an office under the authority of the United States from
holding any office of the State. And it was particularly de¬
clared that Senators and Representatives should be consid¬
ered as coming within the meaning and purview of the act,
and they were made ineligible to State appointments.

Resolutions were considered in committee of the whole
about the propriety of giving, instructions to Senators John-

The districts

S. R., XXI,
21

Instructions

124

IN THE UNION

ston and Hawkins, whose conduct was displeasing to the
Assembly. More resentment seems to have been felt to¬
wards Hawkins than Governor Johnston. Neither Senator
attended the Assembly, while under the Confederation the
delegates either attended or wrote giving an account of the
action Congress had taken. Steele and Williamson appear
1655 ’ to have been present at the session, and Williamson brought

forward some project to defeat the Assumption Act; that,
however, miscarried. The resolutions adopted contained
a protest against the assumption of the debts of the several
states, and a declaration that the Senators and Representa¬
tives should request the advice of the Assembly to prevent
injuries that might arise to the State of North Carolina.
In their resolutions they referred to the confidence they had
in the integrity and industry of the Senators, but expressed
their disappointment at their action.

The Senators were directed to use unremitting exertions
to abolish secret sessions, to correspond regularly and con¬
stantly with the Legislature and the Governor, and to have
the journals printed and transmitted at least once a month.
They were to use their utmost endeavors to effect economy
and to decrease the monstrous salaries of public officers,
who ought not to be enriched with the bounty of regal
ibid., 962 splendor, and they should strenuously oppose every excise
and direct taxation law. Also they were required to en¬
deavor to have another post route established through the
State, and another Federal court held in the State.

Governor Martin as president of the Board of Trustees of
the University presented a memorial urging a loan to that
institution for the purpose of erecting needed buildings.
Such a proposition was offered, but it was resolved that the
bill lie over till the next Assembly. Then on motion of
General Person the bill was directed to be printed together
with the yea and nay vote for the delay, and annexed to the
laws and also published in the Gazette so that the people
could better consider it.

INTERSTATE WATERWAY

125

Again the proposition to give effect to the ordinance of ^

the Convention fixing the seat of government failed. In the
House it passed by the casting vote of the Speaker, but
in the Senate it failed by the deciding vote of Speaker
Lenoir.

The Assembly once more manifested its full confidence
in Governor Martin by reelecting him to the executive
chair. Judge McCay was elected the additional judge;
and Edward Jones, a man of unusual attainments, Solicitor-
General.

The Dismal Swamp Canal

In December, 1786, at a meeting in Fayetteville of the
commissioners appointed by the states' of Virginia and
North Carolina terms were agreed on for a compact be¬
tween the states making free to both states the waters of
the Roanoke, Chowan, etc., to the mouth of the Pasquotank,
and the Chesapeake Bay to the capes, Hampton Roads, etc.,
with no duties on imports and exports, preliminary to the
construction of a proposed Dismal Swamp Canal.' This
commission dealt with some of the matters that led to Vir¬
ginia's proposition for a revision of the Articles of Con¬
federation, and now after four years a company to construct
the proposed canal was chartered. Its capital was to be
eighty thousand dollars, 320 shares of $250 each. The
canal was to be cut from Deep Creek in Virginia to the

r Acts 1790,

Pasquotank River, to be 32 feet wide, 8 feet deep, and it ch. 26,
was to be supplied with water from Drummond Lake. The Revisai, 500
compact between the states with regard to it was made
unalterable and not subject to repeal without the consent
of Virginia.

Grove and Macon in Congress

At the Congressional election, Bloodworth, an anti, was
defeated bv William Barry Grove, a nephew of Mr. Hay

126

IN THE UNION

The census

1791

and a man of parts, and Nathaniel Macon was elected in
the Warren District. While Macon disavowed belonging
to any party, he had been associated with the antis and in
the Congress he was a Southerner and cooperated with
those who later classed themselves as Republicans in op¬
position to the clique who were charged with hoping for a
monarchy and strong government.

While the census was to be taken in 1790, apparently,
the enumeration was not concluded in North Carolina until
in January, 1791. It was taken by deputy marshals, but
their duties were imperfectly performed so that the result
was not entirely reliable. However, it was found that
North Carolina had so many more inhabitants than mem¬
bers of the Constitutional Convention had thought that her
representation in Congress was increased from five to ten;
and later, ten districts were laid off. The population in the
State was stated as being, whites 288,204; free blacks,
4,975; slaves 100,572; while that of Tennessee was 32,013;
361 ; and 3,417. Of all the states Massachusetts alone re¬
ported no slaves. In Maryland, Virginia, South Carolina
and Georgia, the whites were only twice as numerous as
the slaves; but in North Carolina there were nearly three
whites to one slave ; and in the western half of the State
the number of slaves was relatively small, there being
70,000 in the eastern counties and only 30,000 at the west,
where the whites were more numerous.

The attitude of the Assembly towards the delegation in
Congress was not without its effect. There was no further
cause of complaint that members were silent or inattentive.
Letter's came pouring in and the changes were rung on
the assumption of state debts, funding the national debt,
and the excise tax, subjects of particular interest to the
people of the State; and when in July, 1791, it was pro-
proposed to establish a national bank, the fundamental
structure of the new government which had previously been
so intently considered was again examined. It was urged

BUNCOMBE AND ASHEVILLE

127

that if powers by implication were allowed, any power could
be implied, and thus almost at the beginning, public men
differed on powers by implication.

The settlement of Buncombe

Settlers had early pushed far to the west across the
mountains into Tennessee at the north, but the Cherokees
held the mountain country at the south. It was not until
about 1781 that settlers around Old Fort began to cross the
mountains into the Swannanoa Valley. Among the first
was Samuel Davidson and his family, including one negro
woman slave. The Indians killed him, but the Davidsons,
Smiths, Alexanders and Edmundsons persisted. Ruther¬
ford County and Burke embraced the territory, but in 1791
the county of Buncombe was incorporated by the Assembly,
so named in honor of Col. Edward Buncombe, born in St.
Kits, a resident of that part of Tyrrell County now in
Washington County, a distinguished patriot during the
Revolution, who was killed at the battle of Germantown.
The county seat was fixed at Morristown, a site laid off
by John Burton on his land, but in 1795 the residents began
to call it Asheville, in honor of the then Governor — a leading
Anti-Federalist. Its climate and situation and the pro¬
gressive spirit of its citizens have given it a fame that makes
it one of the best known localities of the South.

The State as Washington saw it

The President had in the autumn of 1790 made a tour of
the North and in the spring of 1791 he visited the Southern
States. Leaving Mount Vernon April 7, he reached there
on his return the 13th of June. While some few persons
were aware that General Washington proposed to make this
tour of the South, the date and his movements were not
generally known. Efe traveled in his own carriage and
without ostentation and expected to find entertainment at
taverns along the road. It was not his wish to be enter-

128

IN THE UNION

1791

Trade at
Halifax

Washington’s

diary

Tarboro

tained or to be accompanied by troops of horsemen. While
here and there, there were those who were at variance with
the General because of his advocacy of the new government,
the common feeling must have been one of gladness at his
presence in the State.

Halifax was the first town he came to in North Carolina,
he reaching there about six o’clock on the evening of Sat¬
urday, April 16. “To this place vessels, by the aid of oars
and setting poles, are brought for the produce which comes
to this place and others along the river, and may be carried
eight or ten miles higher up to the falls which are neither
great nor of much extent. The town seems to be in a de¬
cline and does not, it is said, contain a thousand souls.
Colonel Ashe, the Representative of the district, and several
other gentlemen, called upon and invited me to partake of
a dinner which the inhabitants were desirous of seeing me
at, and, accepting it, dined with them accordingly.” The
next night he spent at Tarboro. “This place is less than
Halifax, but more lively and thriving. Crossed the Tar
on a bridge of a great height from the water. Corn, pork
and some tar are the exports from it. We were received at
this place by as good a salute as could be given by one piece
of artillery. ... At 6 o’clock I left Tarboro accom¬
panied by some of the most respectable' people of the place
for a few miles. Greenville is on the Tar River, and the
exports the same as from Tarboro, with a greater propor¬
tion of tar. This article is rolled as tobacco by an axis
which goes through both heads — one horse draws two
barrels in this manner.” At Greenville a small party of
horse under Colonel Simpson joined the General, and al¬
though he sought to keep them from accompanying him,,
for he did not desire to be so attended, they kept with him
to New Bern. At the ferry over the Neuse, ten miles from
New Bern, “we were met by a small party of horse, the
district judge, Judge Sitgreaves, and many of the
principal inhabitants, who conducted us into town to ex-

New Bern

WASHINGTON’S NOTES OF TRAVEL

129

ceedingly good lodgings. . . . Vessels drawing more

than nine feet can get up loaded. . . . The buildings

are sparse and all of them of wood — some of which are
large and look well. . . . The number of souls is about 2,000.
The exports consist of corn, tobacco, pork, but principally of
naval stores and lumber.” The next day “dined with the
citizens at a public dinner given by them and went to a
dancing assembly in the evening, both of which were at
what they call the palace; a good brick building, but now
hastening to ruins. . . . The company at both was

numerous, at the latter there were about seventy ladies.”
While at New Bern he wrote: “Upon the river Neuse and
80 miles above New Bern, the Convention of the State made
choice of a spot, or rather district, within which to fix the
seat of government; but it being lower than the back mem¬
bers of the Assembly, who hitherto have been most numer¬
ous, inclined to have it, they have found means to obstruct
it ; but since the cession of the western territory it is sup¬
posed that the matter will be revived to good effect.” On
Friday, 22d, he left New Bern under an escort of horse and
many of the principal inhabitants, went through Trenton.
On Saturday he made 44 miles and then, after proceeding
sixteen miles on Sunday morning, he was met by a party of
light-horse from Wilmington and, later, by a committee
and other gentlemen of the town. When he arrived at two
o’clock, they fired a Federal salute, and escorted him to very
good lodgings and then he dined with the committee at
their invitation. The road from New Bern to Wilmington
“passes through the most barren country I ever saw.” Wil¬
mington “has some good houses, pretty compactly built, the
whole under a hill, which is formed entirely of sand. . . .

The number of souls by the enumeration is about 1,000,” but
he mentioned that the census was badly taken. “Wilming¬
ton has a mud bank over which not more than ten feet of
water can be brought at common tides, yet vessels of 250
tons are said to have come up. Shipping annually about

Wilmington

IN THE UNION

r3°

1,200 tons. Exports chiefly naval stores and lumber, some
tobacco, corn, rice, flax seeds with pork. Inland navigation
to Fayetteville. . . . Fayetteville is a thriving place, 6,000
hogsheads of tobacco, 3,000 of flax seed. Monday dined
with the citizens of the place at a public dinner given by
them ; went to a ball in the evening at which there were
62 ladies, illuminations, bonfires,” etc. A letter written by
Mrs. Simpson, April 25 : “Great doings this day, General
Washington arrived yesterday. The light-horse went to
meet him. The artillery were ready to receive him with a
round from the batteries, four guns. This day he dines
with the gentlemen of the town ; in the evening a grand ball
and illuminations ; tomorrow takes his leave. Half-past

Cape Fear, lour ; just going to dinner; cannon firing. Cherry and

20S ,

children all gone to see the procession. I must get the can¬
dles. Mrs. Quince has given up her house to the General,
and she stays with our uncles.”

The President left the next morning “accompanied by
most of the gentlemen of the town” and about noon next
day he crossed the line into South Carolina.

On return — Charlotte

The General on May 27 struck the North Carolina line
south of Charlotte about five o’clock in the morning and
reached Charlotte before three o’clock. “On entering the
State of North Carolina, I was met by a party of Mecklen¬
burg horse, but these being near their homes I dismissed
them. . . . Dined with General Polk and a small party in¬
vited by him, at a table prepared for the purpose.” Charlotte
was then a very small village, “though the court of Mecklen¬
burg is held in it. There is a school called a college in it at
which at times there has been 50 or 60 boys. . . . Feft

Charlotte Sunday morning,” and the next day he was met
by a party of horse of Rowan County that had come from
Salisbury to escort him — and when five miles from Salis¬
bury was met by the Mayor and the Corporation, Judge

TOWNS IN THE MAKING 131

McCay and many others. “The lands between Charlotte
and Salisbury are very fine and the first meadows I have
seen since I left Virginia ; and here also we appear to be
getting into a wheat country. . . . Dined at a public

dinner given by the citizens of Salisbury and in the after¬
noon drank tea at the same place with about twenty ladies.

“Salisbury is but a small place, although it is the county
town, and the district court is held in it. There are about
300 souls in it and tradesmen of different kinds. . . .

May 31 — Left Salisbury and about four o’clock arrived at
Salem, one of the Moravian towns, about miles from

. . Salem

Salisbury. . . . Salem is a small but neat village, and

like all the rest of the Moravian settlements is governed by
an excellent police, having within itself all kinds of artisans.

The number of souls does not exceed 200.” June 1 he
passed at Salem. “Spent the forenoon in visiting the shops
of the different tradesmen, the houses of accommodation for
the single men and sisters of the Fraternity, and their place
of worship. Invited six of the principal people to dine with
me, and in the evening went to hear them sing, perform on
a variety of instruments — church music.” There he was
joined by Governor Alexander Martin. The next day, ac¬
companied by Governor Martin, he dined at Guilford where
there was a considerable gathering of people. “On my way,

• I examined the ground on which the action between Gen¬
eral Greene and Lord Cornwallis commenced, and after
dinner rode over that where the lines were formed and the
score closed in the retreat of the American forces. The
first line of which was advantageously drawn up, and had
the troops done their duty properly the British 'must have
been <?orely galled in ye advance, if not defeated. The lands
between Salem and Guilford are in places very fine. On
my approach to this place I was met by a party of light-
horse which I prevailed on the Governor to dismiss, and
to countermand his orders for others to attend me through ^|J.lcsentl
the State. ... In conversing with the Governor on the

l32

IN THE UNION

1791

state of politics in North Carolina, I learned with pleasure
that the opposition to the general government and the dis¬
content of the people were subsiding fast, and that he
should, as soon as he received the laws which he had written
to the Secretary of State for, issue his proclamation re¬
quiring all officers and members of the government to take
leave of the Governor, whose intention was to attend me
the oath prescribed by law. . . . Friday 3. Took my
to the line, but for my request that he would not. Having
this day passed the line of North Carolina and, of course,
finished my tour through the three southernmost states, a
general description of them may be comprised in the follow¬
ing few words: From the seaboard to the falls of all the
rivers which water the lands, except the swamps on the
rivers and the lesser streams which empty into them, and
the internal land higher up the rivers, is with but few ex¬
ceptions, neither more nor less than a continued pine bar¬
ren, very thinly inhabited. The next part, the seaboard for
many miles is dead level and badly watered. That above
it is hilly and not much better than barren.”

Conditions

He mentioned as being cultivated in South Carolina, rice,
corn, sweet potatoes and in the up-country — tobacco, corn,
hemp and some smaller grain, and the same in North Caro- *
lina, “except instead of rice, corn, some indigo, with
naval stores and pork, but as indigo is on the decline, hemp
and cotton are grown in its place. The prices of land in
the lower part of the State are very great, those improved
from 20 to" 30 pounds sterling and from 10 to 15 pounds in
its rude state. The lands of the upper counties sell' from
four to six or seven dollars. In the upper parts of North
Carolina wheat is pretty much grown, and the farmers seem
disposed to try hemp ; but the land carriage is a considerable
drawback having between 200 and 300 miles to carry the
produce either to Charleston, Petersburg or Wilmington.

MEANS FOR LIVING WELL

133

Excepting the towns and some gentlemen's seats on the
whole road I traveled from Petersburg to this place, there
is not a single house which has anything of elegant appear¬
ance. They are altogether of wood and chiefly of logs,
some indeed have brick chimneys, but generally the chim¬
neys are split sticks, filled with dirt between them. . .

The people, however, appear to have abundant means to
live well, the grounds where they are settled yielding grain
in abundance. The manners of the people, as far as my
observation and means of information extended, were or¬
derly and civil, and they appeared to be happy, contented
and satisfied with the general government, under which
they were placed. Where the case was different, it was
not difficult to trace the cause to some demagogue or
speculating character.”

1791

CHAPTER IX

The New Capital

•

The Assembly November, 1791. — The Assembly takes the oath
to support Federal Constitution. — Commission appointed to lo¬
cate the capital. — Ten thousand dollars lent to University. — Po¬
litical fears. — Washington assents to reelection. — Commissioners
meet to locate capital. — Lane conveys 1,000 acres near Wake
Courthouse. — The City of Raleigh. — Trustees locate the Univer¬
sity. — Committee to erect buildings for fifty students. — The new
districts change all Representatives but Grove and Macon. —
Spaight Governor. — Martin replaces Johnston in Senate. — Mat¬
ters of concern. — Indians, England, France. — Genet. — The French
privateers. — At Wilmington. — Eli Whitney invents the cotton
gin. — Cotton and tobacco. — Haywood Judge. — Spencer’s death. —
New Assembly. — The palace sold. — Hatteras lighthouse. — Fort
at Smithville — Importance of Ocracoke. — The University. —
A principal to be chosen. — Rev. David Kerr taken. — Hinton
James the first pupil. — The State press. — Divergences. — Chis¬
holm v. Georgia. — The opinions of the judges. — Iredell’s princi¬
ples. — The Constitutional Amendment. — States’ rights in issue. —
The Republicans elect all Representatives but Grove. — In De¬
cember, 1794, the Assembly meets in the new State House. — No
town at Raleigh; few houses. — Bloodworth Speaker of House
and U. S. Senator. — Importation of slaves prohibited except serv¬
ants accompanying their owner. — Other legislation as to negroes.
— County fairs provided for. — Organization of the Protestant
Episcopal Church. — Rev. Charles Pettigrew chosen Bishop but
never consecrated. — Jay’s Treaty. — Republicans strengthened.

The oath of allegiance

When the session of the Legislature opened at New
Bern on December 5, 1791, the members made no change
either in the Governor or the speakers. But now having
received copies of the Acts of Congress, there was early-
passed “an act for altering the oath of allegiance to the
State," by which “every person elected to any public office
shall talce an oath that he will be faithful and bear true
allegiance to the State of North Carolina and to the con¬
stitutional powers and authorities which are or may be es¬
tablished for the government thereof, and that he will en¬
deavor to support, maintain and defend the Constitution of

CAPITAL AND UNIVERSITY

135

said State, not inconsistent with the Constitution of the
United States, and that members of the Assembly shall
take said oath, and also an oath to support the Constitution
of the United States.” And the members afterwards took
that oath.

To locate the capital

Under the treaty with Great Britain, provision had been
made to secure the rights of British subjects in confiscated
property; and the Assembly as a remedy against hardship
agreed to reimburse those who had purchased confiscated
lands and could not hold them. And now that the territory
beyond the mountains had no voice, and Fayetteville’s in¬
fluence was not so strong, the Assembly appointed ten com¬
missioners, one for each congressional district, to carry
into effect the ordinance to locate the Capital and lay off
a plan for a city in Wake County. Similarly, the Assembly
took a forward step in regard to the University. The
board needed more funds before beginning earnest work,
the provision theretofore made being inadequate. Again
Davie was successful. His eloquent appeal to the Assembly
was long remembered. Ten thousand dollars was lent from
the Treasury, by a vote of 57 to 53 in the House, and 28 to
21 in the Senate. Of those who voted for it in the House,
Bloodworth should be mentioned, and in the Senate, Lane
of Wake and General Person.

The presidential election

In the year 1792 there was to be a presidential election.
The divergences among the public men were so sharp that
Jefferson wrote to General Washington urging him to allow
himself to be reelected. He emphasized that “a squadron”
having the deciding voice in Congress had the design to
get rid of the limitations of the Constitution with the ulti¬
mate object of changing the republican form of government

Acts 1791,
ch. 11,
Martin’s
Revisal, II,
12

Davie pro¬
motes the
University

1792

136

THE NEW CAPITAL

Jefferson’s
Works, IV,
362

The Capital
located

The

University

to that of a monarchy modeled after the British Constitu¬
tion. For himself he declared : “I can scarcely contemplate
a more incalculable evil than the breaking of the Union
into two or more parts.” He pointed out that that might
happen and he therefore urged Washington to accept a re-
election as he could prevent the people from being led “into
secession.” Such apprehensions were rife for “the Great Ex¬
periment” was still in the experimental stage, and the people
had fears of the future. Fortunately Washington assented,
and at the election the Republicans gained a strong ascend¬
ancy in Congress, so that thoughts of a monarchy, if enter¬
tained, were abandoned. It was in the midst of these political
movements that the commissioners met about the last of
March to locate the capital. Only six attended. They se¬
lected an eligible location near Wake Courthouse and a
deed was executed by Joel Lane, conveying to Governor
Martin 1,000 acres, near the center of which was a hill that
was chosen as the site for the Capitol building. A plan of
the city was at once laid off, with five large public squares
reserved, the central one, called Union Square, was for the
Capitol; and the others were named Caswell, Moore, Nash
and Burke, and acre lots were sold off at public auction.
When, later, the report of the proceedings was made to the
Assembly it was confirmed, and by the act of the Assembly
the town was named “The City of Raleigh.”

In like manner, the Trustees of the L^niversity met at
Hillsboro, 25 out of the 40, on the 1st of August, and
agreed that the location should be within a circle of fifteen
miles from Cyprett’s bridge, on the main road from New
Bern to Pittsboro, and pursuant thereto a committee met
at Pittsboro on November 1, and on November 6 selected a
hill known as New Hope Chapel Hill, where a chapel had
been erected in former times, at the crossing of the great
roads north and south, east and west. The owners of
much land near by offered a considerable quantity of land
if that site should be selected. The commissioners made

SEVERE BLOW TO FEDERALISTS

137

their report to a committee consisting of Davie, McCorkle,
Jones, Ashe and Sitgreaves and their action was approved
and ratified ; and a building committee was appointed to lay
out a town, sell lots and erect buildings to accommodate
fifty students.

At the election for Representatives in Congress, it was
found that in making the districts the counties had been so
arranged that disaster befell Williamson and Ashe and
Steele. Of the former representatives only Grove and
Macon were retained. In the presidential election, North
Carolina, like Virginia, gave her electoral votes to Washing¬
ton and to Clinton of New York, the latter being a states’
rights advocate.

The Assembly

In November, 1792, the Assembly met at .New Bern.
The same speakers were reelected and the full constitu¬
tional period that Governor Martin could serve being com¬
pleted, Richard Dobbs Spaight was chosen Governor, his
term beginning December 14, 1792; and Martin was elected
Senator in Congress in the place of Sam Johnston. This
was a severe blow to the Federalists for Johnston was at
the head of that party in the State and had long been the
commanding figure in political action, while in the Senate
he had taken rank with the foremost of the Senators.
Martin was not equal to him in solidity of character and
attainments, but he was of such superior excellence that his
appointment was likewise highly creditable to the State,
and altogether he had served six years as Governor of the
commonwealth.

And now Spruce McCay was added to the Superior Court.

The new Governor, Spaight, had been educated at the
University of Glasgow and was entitled to high considera¬
tion because of his talents and accomplishments. He was
the first native of the State to be chosen Governor. The
early months of his term brought new matters to public at-

The election

1792

Spaight,

Governor

138

'THE NEW CAPITAL

Genet’s

action

Privateers

The cotton
gin

tention. An Indian war threatened, and preparations
were made at the west for rendering aid to Georgia. More¬
over, foreign matters brought concern. Naturally, popular
feeling was with France, now a republic, in her struggle
against monarchical Europe, while the British government
had aroused patriotic hostility. In April Citizen Genet ar¬
rived at Charleston and was warmly received. Instead
of passing on to the seat of government at Philadelphia
and presenting his credentials to President Washington,
he began to fit out privateers. Washington proclaimed
neutrality; but Genet ignored Washington and relied on
popular support. Genet purchased vessels and armed them
and sent them out to prey on British commerce. At Wil¬
mington, the Hector was purchased to be delivered June i
on the high seas. She sailed from Charleston a few days
later with her armament in her hold and, entering George¬
town, was fully equipped as a privateer, her name being

changed to the Vanquer de Bastile. Sallying out, she fell
in with an English merchant vessel which she captured
and brought into Wilmington as a prize. At once Gov¬
ernor Spaight ordered Colonel Campbell of the New Han¬
over militia and Colonel Smith of the Brunswick militia,
to call out their militia and seize both the Hector and the
prize and hold them, and orders enforcing vigilance were
given to the colonels of the seaboard counties. Similarly,
other French privateers were fitted out at Charleston, and
even at Philadelphia. The people were now divided in
their sympathies. Eventually Genet was recalled, but while
a successor was substituted, he himself preferred to re¬
main in America, where he resided the rest of his life.

It was during this period of trouble that a very important
invention was made by Eli Whitney, a native of Massa¬
chusetts, who had for some years been employed near Savan¬
nah. The drift away from slavery had perhaps been strength¬
ened by the French Revolution and its motto of fraternity
and equality, emphasizing the brotherhood of man. The

EXPORT OF COTTON BEGINS

139

Southern States were now prohibiting the introduction of
negroes from abroad. But when this invention of Whit¬
ney’s, the cotton gin, by which the seed of cotton were
readily separated from the lint, was perfected, the possi¬
bilities of cotton culture became realized. In 179° no C°L
ton was exported from the United States. Up to then
patches of cotton were grown chiefly for local use. But
on the introduction of the cotton gin, exportations began;
at first, in 1794, only a million and a half pounds; the next
year, five millions ; and slave labor at the far South became
remunerative. The world needed cotton for clothing, and
the South supplied it. Tobacco had already played a great
role in American commerce, and now cotton was to be¬
come its twin southern sister.

State affairs

On the 24th of June, 1793, John Haywood was com¬
missioned a judge of the Superior Court, perhaps because of
the inability of Judge Spencer to attend the courts ; and
the next year, on Spencer’s death, Haywood permanently
replaced him. Judge Haywood was considered one of the
greatest criminal lawyers of his generation.

The Assembly met at Fayetteville in November. Its tone
was unchanged ; Spaight was reelected Governor. Lenoir
and Leigh were the speakers. Among the acts passed was
one allowing slaves in certain cases to have a jury trial,
and another to sell the palace at New Bern. That last
vestige of Royal rule was thus disposed of. A second ses¬
sion of the same Assembly was held in July, 1794, at New
Bern, at which the title to four acres of land was vested
in the United States at Hatteras for the purpose of con¬
structing a lighthouse there ; and land was ceded at Smith-
ville for a fort, and subsequently the United States took
possession. However, the State had previously had a light¬
house at Ocracoke ; and it was claimed that two-thirds of the
commerce of the State passed through Ocracoke. This was

1793

Cotton

1793

The palace
sold

140

THE NEW CAPITAL

The

University

1794

Battle: Hist.
Univ., 65

the last of the perambulatory legislatures. The Capitol build¬
ing at Raleigh had now been sufficiently completed for oc¬
cupancy, and the next meeting was to be held in it.

Progress had been made at the University, the bricks
being burnt on the land and the lime made from oyster
shells brought from the Cape Fear by way of Fayetteville
and burnt on the premises. The Trustees met on the ioth
of January, 1794, to select a principal, and from half a
dozen distinguished ministers, among them Rev. John
Brown, afterwards President of the University of Georgia ;
Rev. James Tate, a famous educator of the Cape Fear;
Rev. George Micklejohn of Regulator fame; Dr. Mc-
Corkle, a distinguished teacher of Rowan County, and Rev.
David Kerr, the Presbyterian pastor and school-teacher at
Fayetteville, they chose the last named. The opening day
was to be January 15, but it was not until February 12
that the first pupil, Hinton James, arrived, coming from
Wilmington ; and then a fortnight elapsed before three
others arrived, also from Wilmington, the sons of Alfred
Moore, later justice of the Supreme Court, and their
cousin, Richard Eagles. Others soon followed ; and at the
end of the term the number had increased to 41.

The press

From 1785 there had been steady increase in the number
of presses and newspapers in the State. Indeed, Abram
Hodge alone had presses at New Bern, Edenton, Halifax
and Fayetteville, and was instrumental in establishing three
newspapers. He was in five different firms, and at his
death had served the State for fifteen years as “Printer to
the State. ” The printers generally had book stores, and
they were instruments in distributing publications made by
their patrons ; and as it was in their line of business to pro¬
mote publications, they fostered the practice of reaching
the public through such means. Indeed Davis, Martin and
Hodge contributed much to broaden and strengthen the

CONSTITUTION IN COURT

intellectual advancement of North Carolina. Before the
close of the century presses had been set up, besides those
above mentioned, at Wilmington, Hillsboro, Salisbury, Lin-
colnton and the “City of Raleigh.”

States’ rights

At the election that year the divergence between the Re¬
publicans under the leadership of Jefferson and the Feder¬
alists under that of Hamilton became more pronounced than
ever and a decision rendered by the Supreme Court brought
the academic question of states’ rights into the realm of
reality and aroused the people who feared for their former
liberties. In 1792, Chisholm, a citizen of South Carolina, as
executor, having some unascertained claim against the
State of Georgia, brought suit against that State in the
Supreme Court of the United States. The Court took ju¬
risdiction and, Georgia not appearing, gave judgment by
default. In the proceeding the several justices of the Su¬
preme Court filed opinions in which the differing views ex¬
pressed as to the nature of the government under the Con¬
stitution illustrate the divergence of thought at that early
period. Chief Justice Jay said: “The people of the several
colonies being subjects of Great Britain were fellow sub¬
jects and in a variety of respects one people. . . . From

the Crown of Great Britain the sovereignty of their country
passed to the people of it. Afterwards in the hurry of
the war they made a confederation of states and then the
people in their collective and national capacity estab¬
lished the present Constitution. They declared with be¬
coming dignity — ‘We, the people of the United States do
ordain and establish this Constitution.’ Here we see the peo¬
ple acting as sovereigns of the whole country, and in the
language of sovereignty establishing a constitution, by
which it was their will that the state governments should
be bound, and to which the state constitutions should be
made to conform. Every state constitution is a compact

141

Weeks: The
Pi'ess of
N. C„ 39,
43, 49

Chisholm vs.
Georgia

1794

142

THE NEW CAPITAL

Iredell’s

opinion

1794

made by and between the citizens of a state to govern them¬
selves in a certain manner; and the Constitution of the
United States is likewise a compact made by the people of
the United States to govern themselves as to general ob¬
jects in a certain manner. By this great compact, however,
many state prerogatives were transferred to the national
government.”

Judge Wilson said: “The people of the United States
were the citizens of her thirteen states, connected together
by articles of confederation. The articles of confedera¬
tion, as it is well known, did not operate upon individual
citizens, but operated only upon states. Before that
time the Union possessed legislative, but unenforced legis¬
lative power over the states. Whoever considers, as a
combined and comprehensive view, the general texture of
the Constitution, will be satisfied that the people of the
United States intended to form themselves into a nation,
for national purposes. They instituted, for such purposes,
a national government, complete in all its parts, with powers
legislative, executive and judicial; and in all these parts
extending over the whole nation.” Judge Wilson’s argu¬
ment was much stronger than that of the Chief Justice.

The opinion of Iredell, a leading and staunch Federalist,
was different. As a legal argument on the point in the
case it was much superior to that of the Chief Justice; and
in what reference he made to historical events he was
much more accurate than any of the other justices. “A
state does not owe its origin to the government of the United
States. It was in existence before it. ... A state, though
subject in certain specified particulars, to the authority of
the government of the United States, is, in every other re¬
spect, totally independent of it. Every state in the

Union, in every instance where its sovereignty has not been
delegated to the United States, I consider to be as completely
sovereign as the United States is in respect to the powers
surrendered. . . . The United States are sovereign as to all

STATES’ RIGHTS FORTIFIED

143

the powers of government actually surrendered; each state
in the Union is sovereign as to all the powers reserved.”
He said that the court had no jurisdiction; that Congress
had not attempted to confer such jurisdiction on the court,
nor did the Constitution provide that states might be sued
by individuals. And in this he was but reiterating what
he and others had earlier declared. He had earlier said as
to any coercive power over states as states: “No man of
common sense can any longer contend for that" ; and to the
same effect had John Marshall, afterwards the famous Chief
Justice, expressed himself in the Virginia Convention: “I
hope no gentleman will think that a state will be called at
the bar of the Federal Court. It is not rational to suppose
that the sovereign power will be dragged before a court.”
And Maclaine, a most violent advocate of ratification, had
spoken in the North Carolina Convention to the same effect.
But Iredell was overruled, and judgment by default was
entered against the State of Georgia. Immediately on
March 5, 1794, a representative from Massachusetts pro¬
posed in Congress a constitutional amendment: “That the
judicial power of the United States shall not be construed
to extend to any suit commenced against a state by citizens
of another state.” And Congress speedily passed the pro¬
posed amendment, and it came at once to the states for rati¬
fication and was ratified. The command was so positive that
it was as if the states had raised a clenched fist at the court,
commanding: “Don’t you do that again!” In North Caro¬
lina, Davie agreed with Iredell, and the Republicans, now
backed by these, took strong ground, and Iredell’s dissenting
opinion became the very foundation stone of the states’ rights
doctrine. The states had every attribute of sovereignty not
specifically delegated to the common government which the
states had established between themselves, and among the
powers delegated there was no mention of the coercion of
a state. The Republicans were successful at the election ;

Judge

Marshall

The Consti¬
tution
amended

144

THE NEW CAPITAL

1794

Raleigh

Bloodworth

Senator

indeed so successful that only one Federal, Grove of
Fayetteville, was elected a representative in Congress.

The first Assembly at Raleigh

At last, on December 30, 1794, the State House at Raleigh
being then sufficiently complete, the Assembly met in the
permanent capital of the State. The State House, de¬
scribed as an ugly pile of brick and wood, without porch
or ornament, was built by Rhodes Atkins. The plan was
similar to that of the later edifice. But while there were
in the building rooms for the State officers, there were no
residences for the Governor and other State officers to
occupy. As yet there was no town, but a tavern or two
had been erected, and necessarily the members had to come
from their homes either on horseback or in private con¬
veyances ; theretofore, the Assembly had convened in towns
with some accommodations, and this must have been a very
uncomfortable experience. At this first memorable occu¬
pancy of the Capitol, 1794, Governor Spaight was re¬
elected, and Lenoir as Speaker of the Senate; but Timothy
Bloodworth, the positive Republican, was chosen by the
House. The Legislature ratified the proposed amendment
to the Constitution, which later became the Eleventh
Amendment. Then when the election was held for United
States Senator, to succeed Hawkins, Bloodworth was chosen
by a single vote over Alfred Moore. They were both
from the Cape Fear country; Moore distinguished in every
walk in life, and Bloodworth, although known as the black¬
smith politician, had the elements of a fine manhood in
him and drew the Republicans around him.

Importation of slaves restricted

And at this Assembly a noteworthy step was taken in
regard to slavery. In 1774 the people of Rowan had re¬
solved against the African slave trade, and the first Pro¬
vincial Congress, held that year, had agreed that “we will

The First Capitol. Completed 1794; destroyed by fire June 21, 1831
Insert — Canova’s statue of Washington

RESTRICTIONS ON SLAVE IMPORTATION

145

not import any slave or purchase any slave brought into
this province by others after the first day of November
next.” But that resolution seems to have fallen into in¬
nocuous desuetude, for in 1786 duties were levied on im¬
ported slaves brought in from Africa; and those brought in
from the Northern States where emancipation was in prog¬
ress were to be returned. Four years later the duties on
the importation of slaves were repealed ; but slaves brought
in from the Northern States were still to be returned. Now,
at this first session at Raleigh, a very stringent act was
passed prohibiting any one from bringing into this State
any slave or indentured servant of color; unless the person
should take an oath that he was coming into the State to
settle and be a citizen, and that he was not bringing the
servant of color into the State' for sale. And at this same
session, owners were prohibited from allowing slaves to
have their own time, and meetings of negroes were pro¬
hibited and greater supervision of them was required by pa¬
trolmen ; and there was another act passed requiring the jury
and court on the trial of a slave to render verdict and sen¬
tence agreeably to the laws of the country. There was
evidently, however, apprehension in regard to the negroes,
for at the next session, it was forbidden for any owner
coming to settle to bring with him from the southern islands
any negroes over the age of fifteen ; and if any free person
of color should come into the State, he was required to
give bond for his good behavior.

The improvement of local conditions was also in the
minds of the Assemblymen, and an act was passed author¬
izing the county courts to establish fairs in their counties
‘‘so as to afford an opportunity and give encouragement to
industry by collecting the inhabitants for the purpose of
exchanging, bartering and selling all such articles as they
wish to dispose of.”

1794

Local fairs

146

THE NEW CAPITAL

Episcopal

church

In 1794 the Protestant Episcopal Church was organized
in the State. On the 5th of June, 1789, two clergymen,
Rev. Charles Pettigrew and Rev. Janies L. Wilson, and
two laymen met at Tarboro, and acceded to the Constitution
of the Protestant Episcopal Church as adopted at Philadel¬
phia in that year. It was proposed to hold a second con¬
vention that November, but the effort failed, and in No¬
vember, 1790, the next convention was held, there being
four clergymen and four laymen present. There was no
other convention held until November, 1793, when there
were only three clergymen and three laymen in attendance.
In May, 1794, there were eight members in the State in¬
cluding Mr. Miller, who had taken orders as a Lutheran
minister, but only four of them and only four of the laity
attended the convention which met at Tarboro. Rev.
Charles Pettigrew was chosen Bishop ; but he never went
to be ordained. In none of these conventions did the
southern half of the State have any representative. Craven,
Martin, Edgecombe, Pitt, Granville, Hertford and North¬
ampton and “near the Yadkin,” were the residences of
the ministers.

Jay’s treaty

There were many matters in controversy between the
United States and Great Britain and Great Britain had been
slow to give them consideration, but at length, in 1794, con¬
ditions seemed to be propitious, and Washington appointed
Chief Justice Jay as Envoy Extraordinary for the purpose
of concluding a treaty. Although perhaps not entirely sat¬
isfactory to Washington, he approved the treaty and it
was ratified. In August, 1795, Sam Johnston wrote: “The
stipulations restraining the vessels of the United States
from carrying any molasses, sugar, coffee, or cotton either
from the islands belonging to Great Britain or from the

TREATY DENOUNCED

147

United States to any part of the world were highly excep¬
tionable; and that the British ought to have made provision

for paying for the slaves they had taken from our citizens.”

The treaty was fiercely denounced by others, and Jay fell
into public odium. The effect at the South was to strengthen
the Republicans, and they again controlled the Assembly of
this State.

CHAPTER X

1795

Friction With France

Ashe Governor. — Stone Judge. — Canals to be cut. — Changes in
the law. — All children to inherit.— Matters of fact for the jury. —
Alterations in court procedure. — Manumission limited. — The
Quakers and slavery. — Joshua Evans. — Life at Raleigh. — The
emctions. — Public attitude towards France and Great Britain. —
Adams President. — The land frauds. — Plot to burn State House.
— France hostile. — Collisions. — Washington at head of army. —
Patriotism prevails. — The pestilence. — War imminent. — Davie
Governor. — Franklin Senator. — The Kentucky resolutions. —
Taylor Judge. — The Court of Patents. — Moore Judge. — Davie’s
vigor. — Preparations. — Willis and Locke. — Jefferson’s “Scission.”
— Davie goes to France. — Leaves messages for the Assembly. —
Joseph Gales establishes the Register. — Democracy prevails. —
Williams Governor. — Black gowns and court formalities aban¬
doned. — The Court of Conference. — Death of Washington. —
Washington, Ashe and Greene counties.

Ashe Governor

When the Assembly convened it at once chose for Gov¬
ernor Ashe of New Hanover, who some twelve days later
appeared and took the oath of office. Fike Spaight, he was
a native of the State. He had been on the bench some
eighteen years, but while thus removed from political ac¬
tion, he was well known to have ever been a stalwart Anti-
Federalist. David Stone of Bertie succeeded him on the
bench. Stone was but twenty-five years of age and had
been at the bar only five years. A graduate of Princeton,
and a man of fine intelligence and attainments, he had
studied law under Davie and was much in sympathy with
the high ideals of that elegant gentleman. But his political
association was with the Anti-Federals.

Governor Ashe quickly sent a message to the Assembly in
which he referred to the action of that body requiring State
officers to reside in Raleigh six months during the year,
saying that he proposed to do that ; but suggested that a
Governor whose term was only one year could not build a
house to live in only for six months. Thereupon the Legis-

REFORMS IN JUDICIARY

149

lature directed that a house should be provided for the Gov¬
ernor by the Treasurer, either by leasing or by building.

As the previous Legislature had sought to provide do¬
mestic industries by establishing county fairs, so this one
hoped to advance the general welfare by stimulating the
cutting of canals. It was proposed that persons should
drain their low lands by ditches or canals passing through
the lands of others, and that “whereas it has been demon¬
strated by the experience of the most improved and well
cultivated countries the opening of communications by
cutting canals has been productive of great wealth and
commerce/’ the Legislature authorized the formation of
companies to cut canals for transportation and to drain
swamps.

The Assembly, despite the political conditions, addressed
itself to some amendment of the law. In 1784 entails had
been abolished, but preference had been given to the males
in exclusion of the females : now all distinctions among
children were removed and sisters were put on a level with
their brothers. And further curing some of the defects of
administration, the judges were forbidden, in charging the
jury, to express any opinion as to whether a fact was fully
or sufficiently proved, “such matter being the true office
and province of the jury,” and two peremptory challenges
were allowed to each side in every case. Indeed, during
Governor Ashe’s term, court procedure was much over¬
hauled ; and there were enactments, regulating the method
of procedure by grand juries; of issuing process; author¬
izing executors and administrators in certain cases to
convey land, and otherwise ordaining beneficial alterations
in court matters.

There was another change in the law brought about by
apprehensions lest the free negroes might induce the blacks
to give trouble. Slaves were no longer to be emancipated,
except for meritorious services, so adjudged and allowed
bv the countv courts.

Pi'ogressive

measures

Canals

All children
to inherit

Court pro¬
cedure

FRICTION WITH FRANCE

150

The Quakers* attitude toward slavery

Indeed, African slavery now began to give concern. The
institution was fixed ; property in slaves had for generations
been an inherited right, and in addition to the private rights,
there were involved public considerations of great interest,
for free negroes were a menace. About the time of the
Revolution the Quakers in North Carolina, as well as some
of the Methodists, had begun to consider the subject of
slavery. Mr. Asbury was much in favor of having the
slaves emancipated, and some of the Quakers were of the
same mind. In 1772 the Quakers had addressed the As¬
sembly against the importation of slaves, and ten years
later they had made progress ‘‘in clearing the Society of

W GGKS •

Southern slavery,” and in securing the rights of the manumitted.

Quakers .

In 1795, the Legislature having passed an act requiring
all free negroes to give bond for good behavior, the next
“Yearly Meeting” drew a petition urging the Assembly to
allow owners to emancipate their slaves and asking that
those emancipated should be protected as freemen, for it

1790 was asserted that some negroes manumitted had been seized

and sold into slavery. Joshua Evans, a traveling Quaker
preacher, then on his way to Georgia, happened to be in
Raleigh when this petition was presented to the Assembly.
At that time the little hamlet was barely three years old.

At Raleigh A tavern had been erected in the forest and a few resi¬
dences, where some of the members found board. At the
tavern there were about “forty men of note.” Notwith¬
standing Evans was urging abolition of slavery, the mem¬
bers received him kindly. “A number of them invited me
freely to come into their rooms and sit with them, and that
they should be pleased if I would do so; all this furnishing
me with opportunities to touch on their cruel laws and the
hardships to which the poor blacks were subjected in that
government. Many of them kindly invited me to come and
see them if I should come near their dwellings.” And

DIFFERENT COLOR IN POLITICS

151

when he came to settle, the tavern keeper would take no
pay for his board. These details indicate no resentment at
his views. But there were serious objections to acting fa¬
vorably on the petition. The agitation by the Quakers in
Albemarle had already led to disastrous results. Negroes
had been led to. expect liberation. The idea of emancipa- Evi1 results
tion was openly held out to them. Their minds were alien¬
ated from service. Runaways were protected, harbored and
encouraged. “Arsons are committed.” The grand jury
at Edenton, therefore, made a presentment of the Quakers
in Eastern North Carolina “as the authors of the common
mischief in their quarter,” and based on the allegations
above quoted. So at the following session, the Assembly
passed an even more stringent law against emancipation.

But, ignoring the law, the Quakers persisted in urging in-

Weeks :
Southern

Qiiskcrs,

dividuals to set their slaves free, merely by a release of 221, 222
ownership, and the Legislature found it necessary to re¬
quire that some provision should be made for old slaves
that were not cared for. Society hqd to be protected.

The election

Washington’s term was now expiring and John Adams,
the Vice-President, desired to succeed him. Jefferson, who
had retired from the Cabinet in 1793, was at the head of the
opposition. Massachusetts and Virginia were once more
the contestants, and sectional bitterness was fed by personal
and political antagonisms. Four years earlier, the division
of the people was in some measure based on apprehensions
regarding the form and powers of the government. Now
a different color was given to public matters. France and
Great Britain had their respective friends, and each of
these powers was seeking to exert an influence in the
United States. There was much sympathy for France ; and
Jefferson was regarded as the especial friend of the French
Republic ; while the Paris horrors easily led the Federalists
to stigmatize the opponents of Adams as Jacobins. Davie,

1796

152

FRICTION WITH FRANCE

17J6

November,

1797

Plot to burn
Capitol

writing to Iredell in November, said: “Uncommon pains
have been taken by the Jacobin party to insure the election
of Jefferson”; but at the north these efforts were without
avail. Judge Patterson of the Supreme Court wrote De¬
cember i : “The contest will be severe. From New Jersey
to New Hampshire, the votes, being 58, will be for Mr.
Adams.” And so it happened, except Pennsylvania the
North was solid for Adams. Maryland likewise gave
Adams 7 votes. Pennsylvania went with the South for
Jefferson. In North Carolina one district was carried by
Adams, and Adams was elected by a single vote above the
requisite majority. The Congressional delegation remained
Republican with the exception of Grove. The Assembly
was Anti-Federal and chose the same Speaker as its pred¬
ecessor.

The land frauds

In 1797 Governor Ashe discovered improprieties in is¬
suing grants and he Galled the matter to the attention of
the Council of State ; but it was not at first supposed that
there were any frauds, for the officers were of the highest
reputation. However, the Legislature, when it met in No¬
vember, appointed a Board of Inquiry. There was a land
office at Nashville, Tennessee, under Major John Arm¬
strong. In the Raleigh office, William Tyrrell, the clerk,
would issue grants calling for certain corners and covering
a specified acreage, while the lines when run would em¬
brace from ten to a hundred times as many acres as men¬
tioned ; and there were other fraudulent methods devised.
When these discoveries were made, Tyrrell fled. For safe
keeping the books containing those entries were moved into
the Comptroller’s office. In the succeeding April, 1798,
Judge Tatum and John McNairey at Nashville dispatched
a messenger to Governor Ashe conveying information of a
plot to carry off these books, and to burn the State House.
It seems that the plot was hatched by Glasgow, the Secre-

GLASGOW A FALLEN ANGEL

153

tary of State. The Governor in calling the Council to¬
gether wrote : “An angel has fallen,” so astonished was he
that Glasgow should be involved. James Glasgow of Dobbs
County had been an early patriot, and had been Secretary of
State for twenty years; and for years been Deputy Grand
Master of the Masonic order, which embraced in its mem¬
bership nearly every man of standing in the State. When
the Council met, in his written statement the Governor said :
“The scheme was concerted in the house of a person who
seems to be in the character of a fallen angel.” The effort
to carry off the papers was frustrated, and that to burn the
State House failed through the measures taken by the
Governor.

France hostile

While these startling incidents were claiming attention,
some notable changes occurred. Judge Stone retired from
the bench and sought political honors. He announced him¬
self for Congress in the Albemarle district and, although
of Anti-Federal association, was warmly supported by the
leading Federalists. Indeed, in the progress of unexpected
events, the old party lines were much broken down. The
President could not close his eyes to the audacity of the
French government, then in the throes of revolution and
under the Directory, nor could he brook their insults. He
took measures looking to war. Indeed, actual hostilities
had begun on the ocean and collisions had occurred. Con¬
gress at once strengthened the naval force, provided for the
appointment of a Secretary of Navy, and authorized our
merchantmen to arm. Presently we had captured many
French ships and France was despoiling our commerce.
Congress likewise provided for a provisional army of regu¬
lars, and Washington was called from his retirement to
the command. In July, 1798, Davie was appointed by the
President Brigadier General in this new army, to command
the North Carolina contingent. No longer could there be

1798

War

imminent

Secretary of
the Navy

Washington
in command

Davie,

Brigadier

Genera]

154

FRICTION WITH FRANCE

Alien and
sedition law

November,

1798

Iredell, II,

536-538

The yellow
fever

any divisions among patriots. And Congress in the furore
of the occasion passed bills known as the Alien and Sedi¬
tion Laws, authorizing the President to deport aliens, and
to imprison any one who defamed the government, Congress
or the President. In the meanwhile, Talleyrand, the French
Premier, had proceeded so far as to have the American
commissioners in France informed that before they would
be heard they must pay 1,200,000 francs; and when the
commissioners had returned, the sentiment “Millions for
defense, not one cent for tribute,” thoroughly permeated the
hearts of the people. Such was the inflamed condition
and temper of the times during the summer and fall of
1798.

In the State

At the Congressional election the Federals carried four
districts ; and while there was no particular change in the
personnel of the Assembly, the majority was in line with
the administration. Indeed when in November, Sam John¬
ston, now again in the Senate, came to Raleigh, he wrote
home : “Davie is talked of for Governor, and will meet
with no opposition. I was much surprised to find even
Governor Ashe so perfectly anti-Gallican ; but it is the
fashion, and no one pretends to be otherwise.”

The change was quickly heralded abroad. The good
news flew. Charles Lee in Virginia wrote : “The change
in North Carolina is most pleasing,” and William Rawle,
the great Philadelphia lawyer, wrote to Iredell: “Your ac¬
count of the election is a consolation in the midst of our
misfortunes.” Philadelphia was indeed in the midst of
misfortune. The yellow fever had stricken the city heavier
than ever before. It was more malignant than in 1793.
The only safety was in flight. Charles Lee wrote : “The
pestilence now rages with increased fatality. In New York
City it is terrible also. I think Congress ought not to hold
its session in Philadelphia next winter.” Nor was the pesti-

FRANKLIN SUCCEEDS MARTIN

155

lence confined to those cities. It invaded every seaport and
North Carolina did not escape. It struck Wilmington and
other seaboard towns disastrously.

In the Assembly

When the Assembly met, the Senate was strongly under
Federal influence ; the House was not so. There was, how¬
ever, no change made in the speakers of the houses. Gov¬
ernor Ashe’s term was now expiring, and war was flagrant ;
so Davie, the preeminent soldier of the day, and eminent
for his talents and character, was called to the helm. But
already there was clamor against the Alien and Sedition
Acts, which Jefferson with great astuteness intensified, pro¬
curing the Legislature of Kentucky to adopt resolutions that
challenged the attention of the country. Martin had voted
for those acts in Congress, and had become “wonderfully
Federal,” so the Republican leaders rallied all their strength
and defeated him. He was replaced by Jesse Franklin of
Surry, not so scholarly as Martin, not so eloquent as many
others, but of solid worth, typifying the best North Caro¬
lina characteristics — integrity and honesty of purpose,
united with intelligence, broad views and patriotism. He
was a staunch Republican. The Kentucky resolutions were
communicated to the House by Governor Davie. The
House received them and sent them to the Senate. The
Senate heard them read “with great impatience,” and “or¬
dered them to lie on the table.” “I believe,” wrote Gov¬
ernor Johnston, “in the temper they were in they might
easily have been prevailed on to have thrown them into the
fire, which was proposed in whispers by several near us.”
Then the House, by a respectable majority, adopted an
address to the President which the Senate passed unani¬
mously, not so high in praise “of his great abilities and in¬
tegrity” as Johnston wished. This was, however, followed
by a resolve by the House urging the delegation in Con-

Davie

Martin de¬
feated

Franklin

Senator

Kentucky

resolutions

Iredell, II,
542

156

FRICTION WITH FRANCE

Iredell, II,
542

House
Journal, 75,
77

Judge

Taylor

Davie and
Moore

gress to seek to repeal the Alien and Sedition Acts, which
was rejected by the Senate 31 to 8; but notwithstanding
the Senate would not concur, the House adopted the re¬
solves and ordered them forwarded to the Senators and
Representatives in Congress. The Republicans while rea1
sonably complacent would not utterly abdicate their
principles.

Judge Williams’s health had now become such that he
could not attend his courts and, as he did not resign, the
Assembly provided for an additional judge, John Louis
Taylor being elected to the bench. Thus was introduced
into our judiciary one of its chief est ornaments. Taylor
was born in London, of Irish parentage, and while a lad
of ten years his brother brought him to New Bern. After
graduating at William and Mary College, he had studied
law and settled at Fayetteville. He soon married a sister
of William Gaston, and between these two distinguished
men there existed the most affectionate intercourse.

Court of Patents

Because of the discovery of the land frauds, a commis¬
sion was appointed to investigate all the facts, and a Court
of Patents was established with power to annul fraudulent
grants. To succeed Glasgow, William White, a nephew of
Governor Caswell, was elected Secretary of State, and a
bond of ten thousand pounds was required for that office.
Governor Sam Johnston had in view to create a court of ap¬
peals, but he was then ahead of the times, and he failed in
his purpose. To succeed Judge Stone, elected to Congress,
Alfred Moore was chosen to the bench.

It was a notable circumstance that Davie and Moore were
now simultaneously made recipients of public favor. They
were highly distinguished among the illustrious characters
of that period. Indeed one of their contemporaries re¬
corded that “they shone as brilliant meteors in the firma-

BRIGHT LEGAL LIGHTS

15 7

liient.” Chief Justice Taylor ascribed to Moore “a pro¬
found knowledge of the law, and when Attorney-General, he
had performed his onerous duties with vigilance and zeal ;
but his energy was seasoned with humanity, leaving the in¬
nocent nothing to fear, and the guilty but little to hope.”
However, on the bench, Moore did not give entire satisfac¬
tion. He was captious and disregarded precedents. Per¬
haps he saw deeper than some of his predecessors or
thought that he was better fitted to make precedents than
they were. But he was not to remain long as a state judge
for on the death of Judge Iredell he was transferred to the
U. S. Supreme Court.

War preparation

Davie, entering on the office of Governor December 7,
1798, addressed himself to his duties with vigor and intel¬
ligence. His first attention was given to military prepara¬
tion. The organization of the militia was perfected and he
had the sea coast fortifications examined with a view to de¬
fense. General Brown of the Cape Fear district reported
that in 1794, Mr. Martignor had been sent by the Federal
Government to construct a fort at Smithville, and he had
demolished the old fort Johnston and had replaced it by
a heavy sand battery. General Brown had Major McRee
now to submit a new plan of defense. Likewise reports
were made about Ocracoke. Davie represented to the Fed¬
eral Government that the South had no arms nor ammu¬
nition and he was active in preparation. But not neglect¬
ful of civil affairs, he was earnest in his purpose to have
Glasgow tried and he was interested in the progress of the
work of establishing the boundary between the State and
Tennessee. While assiduously engaged in these duties, the
President appointed him one of a new commission he pro¬
posed to send to France, and Davie accepted the appoint¬
ment ; but nevertheless he continued to press forward the
business of his office.

1799

Davie, Com¬
missioner to
France

FRICTION WITH FRANCE

Iredell, II,
577

Jefferson’s
Correspond¬
ence, IV,
247

Secession

1799

The Legislature, anxious to remedy the wrongs done
by the frauds of its officers in Tennessee, directed Governor
Davie to obtain the papers of the office of Martin Arm¬
strong, then in the possession of Tennessee, and under that
authority Governor Davie on the first of March, 1799,
commissioned Gen. John Willis of Robeson County and
Francis Locke of Salisbury to go to Tennessee and if pos¬
sible obtain the papers for the use of the State. Willis and
Locke were well qualified for the mission. The former was
a gentleman of the highest respectability and character and a
lawyer of fine attainments. The latter was of equal stand¬
ing in the State. It, however, does not appear that their
mission availed.

It was not until August that the commission made its re¬
port on the Glasgow frauds and the Court of Patents did
not meet at all. While these afifairs were claiming Davie’s
attention, he was concerned at learning that in Virginia
there was such dissatisfaction that some of the leaders
there were talking of “seceding from the Union,” while
others boldly asserted the policy and practicability of “sev¬
ering the Union,” alleging that Pennsylvania would join
them, that Maryland would be compelled to ; that the sub¬
mission and assistance of North Carolina was counted on
as a matter of course. Indeed, the subject was put up to
Jefferson, who called it “Scission,” but while he expressly
affirmed the right to secede, he did not deem it expedient.

Davie goes abroad

In the meantime, the President deemed that conditions
had so far improved that it was proper and expedient for
the commission he had appointed to depart to France. It
was necessary for Davie to leave the State. The Assembly
had directed that the Governor should keep his office open
at Raleigh the entire year; and if he himself were going
to be absent that he should so. advertise in a newspaper, but
his office should be kept open by his private secretary.

FIRST PRINTING PRESS IN RALEIGH

159

Davie seems to have arranged his official matters in con¬
formity with these directions. It does not appear that he
resigned; nor did General Smith, the Speaker of the Sen
ate, become Governor in his absence. On the contrary he
prepared seven separate messages or communications for
the Assembly, on various subjects, which he delivered to his
private secretary to be presented when it should convene.
All of these messages but one were dated September 10;
the other, dated November 10, advised the Legislature of
his leaving the State on the duties assigned him by the
President. On September 22 he left Halifax, and on No¬
vember 3 sailed from Newport, Rhode Island. There was
no official notice taken of his absence from his office. His
communications were received and treated as if he were
present.

Joseph Gales

During the year, Raleigh received as a citizen its first
editor and saw established its first printing press. Joseph
Gales had been an editor, publisher and book seller at
Sheffield, England, along with Montgomery, afterwards
known as the poet. In England, as one of the effects of
the French Revolution, democratic societies had sprung up
in many of the counties, and Gales was in sympathy with
them. For some cause, an order was issued for the ar¬
rest of Gales, and being advised of it, at his wife’s entreaty
he fled to Holland, where his wife joined him, and a year
later they came to Philadelphia, reaching there in 1795.
Buying a newspaper in Philadelphia, and being able to re¬
port the proceedings in Congress in shorthand, he soon
took high rank as a newspaper man. His sympathies were
with the Anti-Federals or the Republicans, as Jefferson
called those who cooperated with him. Because of the
yellow fever that had appeared in consecutive years at Phil¬
adelphia, Gales determined to seek another location and
some of the North Carolina delegation prevailed on him

1799

i6o

FRICTION WITH FRANCE

Williams,

Governor

Nov., 1799

Black gowns
abandoned

One judge
to hold court

Acts 1799,
ch. 4

to locate at Raleigh. Here in 1799 he began the publica¬
tion of the Register which his fine abilities soon made the
leading paper in the State, greatly strengthening his party
and giving it a more democratic tone. But Hodge, whose
office was at Fayetteville, issued a paper dated Raleigh,
shortly before the appearance of the Register.

Democracy prevails

When the Assembly met the war feeling aroused by
France had subsided and the discontent over the Alien and
Sedition Acts had become intensified by the arrest of editors
and others disagreeable to the President. The tide was
running against Federalism. The same speakers were
chosen and Benjamin Williams, defeated by Davie the year
before, was elected Governor. Mr. Willianis was a large
and successful planter of Moore County and closely con¬
nected with some of the leading families of the eastern
counties. He was a man of fine intelligence and stood
among the first of the progressive agriculturists of the
State. The Legislature, now to conform to a democratic
sentiment, abolished the practice of having sheriffs to pre¬
cede the judges to and from the courthouse with wands,
and having the doorkeeper to precede the speakers with
maces, and the practice these officials had to array them¬
selves in black gowns was likewise abandoned. These an¬
cient forms were repugnant to the new democratic
sentiment.

To remedy some obvious inconveniences, there being four
judges, the State was now divided into four ridings and one
judge was allowed to hold a Superior Court in each riding;
but there was to be rotation. And another interesting
change was made in the judicial department that was some¬
what in line with Governor Johnston’s proposition to estab¬
lish a court of appeals. The judges were to meet at
Raleioh in Tune and December and determine any questions
of law not determined in the circuit. They were to discuss

NEW COUNTIES ERECTED

161

these points of law among themselves, but the practice did
not obtain of having attorneys to argue before them. By
the same act, the judges were to hold a court to try those
persons indicted for land frauds. However, the operation
of this act was limited to two years.

Death of Washington

On December 14, at Mount Vernon, the great Washing¬
ton went to his reward. There was a universal manifesta¬
tion of sorrow. The Legislature being in session immedi¬
ately named a county in his remembrance ; but in the same
bill a new county was erected and named for one of the
principal Republican leaders, Governor Sam Ashe. At the
same time the name of Glasgow was expunged from the list
of counties, and Greene was substituted in honor of General
Greene. At this session, further to show affection for
Washington, Governor Williams was directed to take steps
to procure two full length portraits of him who “was first
in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his country¬
men.” Governor Williams ascertained through Represent¬
ative Grove that Gilbert Stuart would paint a portrait of
Washington for $600 and the frame would cost $200.
Such a portrait was procured and still adorns the Hall of
Representatives, but it was painted by Sully.

The judges
to confer

CHAPTER XI

The New Century

Social conditions. — Caldwell at the University. — Smith’s dona¬
tion. — The academies and schools. — Medical Society. — Agricul¬
tural. — The State buys the cotton gin right. — Transportation. —
River improvements. — Horse racing. — Halifax cotton factory. —
Willis’s mail to Tennessee. — Wolves. — Women’s work. — The
religious situation. — Infidelity. — Asbury’s journeys. — The revival.
— The great meetings. — Elder Burkett. — The jerks. — State affairs.
— Death of Iredell. — Moore succeeds him. — Johnston. — Glas¬
gow’s trial. — Haywood. — The newspapers. — Hall replaces Judge
Williams. — Stone Senator. — The electoral college. — Jefferson
President.

1800

Williams

Governor

Conditions in 1800

The new century opened with the public mind still agi¬
tated because of recent events. Glasgow had not been
brought to trial. A special court had been created to hear
the case. The people were mourning for Washington. Davie
had not yet reached Paris, but the expectation of peace
that had led to the sending of the commission had given
confidence that there would be no war ; and the Alien and
Sedition Acts were being denounced. In the State the
people were returning to the Republican party.

The white population had increased in the decade 18
per cent; the free blacks had increased to 7,000, being about
40 per cent, while the slaves increased 33 per cent. The
total population was now 468,103.

Education

There had in recent years been more attention given to
education. Joseph Caldwell, a graduate of Princeton, had
in 1796 been called to the University. Gen. Benj. Smith
had given to this institution 20,000 acres of Tennessee lands,
and others had made liberal donations in cash, while
Charles Gerrard added in his will a bequest of a valuable
tract of 2,560 acres, and the faculty and student body, hav-

Salem Academy. Opened in 1772; corner stone of this building laid in 1803

NOTABLE ACADEMIES

ing gone through a season of turmoil, were both now on a
secure foundation.

Acts had been passed incorporating academies at Eden-
ton, Kinston, New Bern, Warrenton, Greenville, Wilming¬
ton, in Franklin, in Richmond, Duplin, Currituck, two in
Anson, Onslow, Tarboro, Lumberton, Murfreesboro,
in Bladen, Randolph, Montgomery, at Salisbury, Smithville,
Guilford, Fayetteville, Raleigh, Rockingham and Hyco.
There were besides numerous private schools taught by the
Presbyterian ministers and others throughout the State ;
some being of particular merit. In Wilkes there was main¬
tained for thirty years a school, which was ever mentioned
for high excellence, and at Wilmington where the noted
Rev. Robert Tate had opened a classical school in 1760, Rev.
William Bingham in 1785 began his great career as a
teacher. About 1800 the Innes Academy was built, the
first teacher being Dr. Hailing, who later was succeeded
by John Rogers, earlier a midshipman in the naval service,
and later, when established at Hillsboro, a doctor of medi¬
cine, his degree being obtained at Baltimore. The teacher
at New Bern for twenty years was Thomas P. Irving, a
graduate of Princeton.

Williamsboro, the home of Judge John Williams, a jurist
whose superior merit was early recognized, was “a neigh¬
borhood of cultured people.” John Hicks was the teacher
there.

At Warrenton there was a fine academy for at least fif¬
teen years under the care of Marcus George, a graduate
of Trinity College, Dublin, and then under others of supe¬
rior merit, while a little later '‘The Mordecai Female Sem¬
inary” became an institution of great value. And the Salem
Female Academy likewise attracted pupils from various
parts of the State, every year becoming more and more
highlv esteemed. The Caswell Academy was taught by
Rev. Hugh Shaw, with Bartlett Yancey as his assistant:

Cape Fear

Chronicles,

665

Coon :

Schools alnd
Academies.
II, 17f.

Smith : Hist.
Ed., p. 118

164

THE NEW CENTURY

and the graduates of the University were now finding con¬
genial employment in teaching.

Hall’s Clio Nursery and Academy of Science in Iredell
County, for decades was the principal factor in the educa-
Nmc.hpE38 tion of the western counties, eventually giving place to
Davidson College. Hall’s English Grammar was largely
used as a textbook in this and in the neighboring states.

When the Raleigh Academy was started in 1802, German
Guthrie, a teacher of note and experience was employed;
and after some changes, in 1810, Rev. William McPheeters
was called as pastor of the town and principal of the school ;
and he remained so for twenty years. That academy was
“of two stories, 40x24 feet, twelve feet pitch, two doors
and eight windows on the first floor ; and painted inside and
out." Five years later a new building for the female de¬
partment was erected. At Smithfield the academy was
about the same size. That at Warrenton was larger; while
those at Oxford and at Tarboro were still larger, two stories,
60x24 feet.

Agriculture

The profession of the medical gentlemen was advanced by
the incorporation of the State Medical Society, while in
agriculture, there was displayed activity and progress.
Among the leading planters were Benjamin Smith, for five
terms Speaker of the Senate; Benjamin Williams, the Gov¬
ernor, and Gen. H. W. Harrington, of Richmond County,
described by General Smith as the first farmer of the State,
when asking him to furnish “among other seed Siberian,
annual and perennial Vetch, Smyrna Wheat, Winter Oats
and Spelts”; and they talked about “Timothy beans” and
“Black-eyed peas,” and “some Superior” ; and rice and
cotton ; and Smith asks Harrington to deliver him 2,000
bushels of corn at Georgetown; and says: “Notwithstand¬
ing the great cry about cotton, I think the best farming we

NEW DAY FOR COTTON

can go in would be to sow a crop of wheat and, immedi¬
ately after it is off, put in corn.” However, he was planting
cotton “in hills four feet equidistant,” and was solicitous
about the gins. And certainly there were others, in
Edgecombe particularly, but generally in every county, quite
as progressive and eager for improvement. Indeed the
State at once purchased from Eli Whitney and his partner
the right to use, make and sell their patented cotton gin in
the State, and the difficulty in preparing the staple for
market now being removed a great demand sprang up for ^ state
cotton and a new day for cotton and for the South was cot

ushered in.

Transportation

Nor was the Assembly indifferent to transportation. The
roads were bad, the farms isolated, and at least 7,000 hogs¬
heads of tobacco were hauled from the State to Petersburg .
alone, while in the eastern counties, remarked General
Washington, barrels of turpentine were rolled in the same
style. But water transportation first claimed attention.
“Thirty-four thousand people on the Catawba are now de¬
nied transportation facilities,” said the Assembly ; and
therefore provision was made for the improvement of that
river. Likewise in 1796, bills were passed for improving
the transportation of the Roanoke, for cutting a canal to pavement
the river Pungo, near Plymouth ; to improve the Cape Fear,
the Deep and the Haw, to facilitate the navigation of the
Yadkin and 'the Pee Dee, to improve the Tar, the Meherrin,
the Hyco, and the Great Contentnea. Apparently the entire
river system was calling for attention and public thought
was aroused on the subject of water transportation; while
the completion of the Dismal Swamp Canal was looked
forward to with great interest.

THE NEW CENTURY

1 66

Horse racing

In these years there were also some choice spirits who
were addicted to horseflesh. Fine stock was valued. Rac¬
ing was interesting. Betting was allowed. One of the
fastest horses in the State, perhaps in any state, was jointly
owned by a group of Cape Fear gentlemen and trained at
Hyrneham, on Rocky Point, by DeKeyser, an Austrian
officer; another was Hyder Ali, the patriot of India being
such a favorite that Davie called a son after him, and Mr.
Williams his great horse. At a later date, in 1823, the
Edenton Gazette said: “We stated in our last as our belief
that Betsy Richards, who beat Cock of the Rock with so
much ease, was raised and owned by Colonel Johnson, of
Virginia. This is not correct — Betsy Richards belongs to
William Amis, Esq., who owns her dame and sire, the cele¬
brated Sir Archy. Flying Cinders, who beat in two heats,
with great ease, the Long Island mare Slow and Easy, is an
Archy from North Carolina but owned by Mr. William
Wynne, of Virginia. So that it appears that Henry, Betsy
Richards, John Richards and Flying Cinders, the best
coursers of the day, are all North Carolina horses and not
Virginia. (The breed of Virginia horses and Virginia
presidents gave out at the same time.)” And under the
heading, “Sports of the Turf,” the Post of May 5, 1823,
had this item: “The Halifax (N. C.) races commenced on
Wednesday 1 6, of last month. It is rumored, says the
Edenton Gazette, that John Richards, four years old, a horse
of great bottom, will be taken to the Long Island races, to
commence in May.” In a suit brought by Williams against
Stephen Cabarrus, who held stakes, $500, the race between
Sentinel and Hyder Ali is well told. But while betting
was allowed, the Legislature deemed it prudent to enact
that no bet on a horse race should be valid unless in writ¬
ing, under seal, and with witnesses. And the Legislature
further forbade all games of betting, faro, and billiards.

MOVEMENT WESTWARD

1 67

But the Assembly was not averse to lotteries. Lotteries
were authorized for schools and other purposes, and one
for “The Halifax Cotton Manufactory,” which, if built, an¬
tedated all others in the State by a decade.

Emigration

There was some tendency to move to Tennessee, where
many had lands doubtless granted for Revolutionary serv¬
ices. General Willis was thinking of moving. Similarly, a
letter to him in 1800 reads: “I tell you I still am fully deter¬
mined to make an excursion next spring towards the
Nachez and Mississippi, as I think it the duty of every man
of family to endeavor to establish such settlement as will
be of lasting advantage to his progeny and this part of the
world.” About that time Willis established a mail line
from Fayetteville to Tennessee. A license was issued by
Duncan McRae, the United States Internal Revenue Col¬
lector, for nine dollars for “a four wheeled carriage called a
coache, owned by General John Willis and having a top and
on springs and to be drawn by four horses, for the con¬
veyance of more than one person, for the year ending 30th
September, 1802.” This also carried the mail. Later
Willis located in Tennessee.

That the State was not entirely removed from its pris¬
tine wilderness is evidenced by the bills to destroy wolves
and panthers in Onslow, Moore, Montgomery, Iredell, Ber¬
tie and in many other counties. In New Hanover the
wolves were not unknown until the railroad was built many
years later, and then they abandoned their ancestral homes.
They evidently were distrustful of the engines breathing
fire and smoke.

Women’s work

In their homes, while the men were busy with outdoor
work, the women were likewise fully engaged. A record
is to this effect: “I was born in Nixonton the 14th of

Lotteries

Mail coaches

Wolves and
panthers

THE NEW CENTURY

1 68

March, 1789, one mile from Hall’s Creek; and in a little
rise of ground from the bridge stood the big oak where
the first settlers held the Assemblies. My mother had a
great deal of spinning, warping, weaving and quilting to
do, and clothes to make for the negroes. I commenced at
five years old to help her. Quilting, I believe, was the first
thing I commenced doing. After a while I could hand the
threads to put in the stays to weave; and I learnt to sew
on the coarse shirts.” Such was a part of the ordinary work
in the homes in North Carolina. The spinning jenny and
the hand loom were on every plantation and on many farms,
making linen, woolen and cotton cloth, and the mistress had
to have the clothes made for the family including the
negroes.

Tlie religious situation

The condition of religion in the sparsely inhabited set¬
tlements was deplorable. Of people there were few, and
besides these natural conditions a wave of infidelity had
swept over the country and many of those who were leaders
of thought had turned away from the Christian doctrine
and had set up instead a rule of reason. It was somewhat,
due to the French Revolution, but Paine’s writings were
largely read, and Paine it was who had first stirred the
people to stand for independence. “The whole subject of
religion was investigated anew. The arguments against the
Bible were set forth in formidable array : Paine’s Age of
Reason passed from hand to hand, and the infidel produc¬
tions of France flooded the country: the strongest holds of
religion were shaken ; and in many places, the arguments
for reason, as paramount to revelation, gained a temporary
victory. It was while infidelity was striding throughout
„ . , the land that Kerr, the first executive of the University,

Sketches who had been a Presbyterian minister and had preached

at Fayetteville for two years, became an infidel, and Holmes,
his assistant, did the same and taught “there is no such

PREVALENCE OF INFIDELITY

169

thing as virtue.” Kerr was dismissed in 1796, and Holmes
three years later. Kerr subsequently taught school again
at Fayetteville, and was appointed by Jefferson a judge in
the Territory of Mississippi. Dr. Caldwell, the President
of the University, is quoted as writing in 1797: “In North
Carolina, particularly in that part that lies east of us, every
one believes that the first step he ought to take to rise
into respectability is to disavow, as often and as publicly
as he can, all regard for the leading doctrines of the Scrip¬
tures.” While this is surely overdrawn, yet it gives ex¬
pression to the prevailing tone of society. In many minds
reason had displaced confidence in revelation. It was so
easy to disbelieve in company with others. This general
condition is somewhat depicted in Mr. Asbury’s journal at
this period.

Glimpses of conditions

Rev. Francis Asbury had for twenty years and more been
traveling throughout the states as a Methodist preacher,
but about the opening of the century was appointed a super¬
intendent with general oversight and authority, and later
was made a bishop. He spent his life in visiting all the
circuits from Maine, through Ohio and Kentucky and along
the seaboard to Georgia. He passed through North Caro¬
lina more than a dozen times, and he and his companions
did a great work in carrying Methodism into the remotest
neighborhoods and supplying the needs of the religious life
in many communities.

The Church of England had ceased to be an organized
influence ; the Presbyterians occupied the central counties,
interspersed with the Baptists, who branched out from the
great central source on Sandy Creek where Elder Stearns
had thoroughly established them ; and on the waters of the
Catawba likewise were German Lutherans.

THE NEW CENTURY

170

N. C. Hist.
Bap. Papers,
II, No. 2

Asbury

In the eastern and northern counties while all denomina¬
tions were represented the Baptists were by far the most
numerous.

The Kehukee Association,, long established, extended
from Currituck to the Haywood or Crocker meeting house
near Warrenton.

Of Bishop Asbury this should be remarked : he cared for
the human soul whether in a black or white body; and his
colaborers urged the emancipation of the negroes. Particu¬
larly was he interested in what had taken place in Fay¬
etteville. A negro, Evans, coming to Fayetteville, estab¬
lished a Methodist church in that town, at first attended only
by negroes, then by the whites, who were attracted by his
preaching. And similarly, later at Wilmington, a Metho¬
dist church was started by the negroes, and then attended
by the whites. Wherever Asbury went he was heard by
the negroes of the neighborhood. He records :

Edenton, December, 1796. “I journeyed all through the
damp weather, and reached Pettigrew’s about six o’clock.
Here I received a letter from Mr. Wesley, in which he di¬
rects me to act as general assistant. I preached in Edenton
to a gay, inattentive people. I was much pleased with Mr.
Pettigrew : I heard him preach and received the Lord’s
Supper at his hands.”

Of New Bern he wrote: “This is a growing place. Our
society here, of white and colored members, consists of one
hundred, . . . should piety, health and trade attend

this New Bern it will be a very capital place in half a cen¬
tury from this.”

At Wilmington, he found : “This town has suffered by
two dreadful fires ; but the people are rebuilding swiftly.
The people were very attentive.” On another occasion at
Wilmington, Sunday: “The bell went round to give notice
and I preached to a large congregation. When I had done,
behold, F. Hill came into the room powdered off, with a
number of fine ladies and gentlemen. I heard him out : I

ASBURY’S OBSERVATIONS

171

verily believe his sermon was his own, it was so much like
his conversation.”

On February 26, 1800: “When we came into North Caro¬
lina, we found that on the Pee Dee, Yadkin and Deep rivers,
the snow had fallen fifteen and eighteen inches deep and
continued nearly a month on the ground, and had swelled
the rivers and spoiled the public roads.

“We had no small race through Chatham County; we
were lost three times before we came to Clark’s ferry on
Haw River, and had to send a boy a mile for the ferryman.”

March 4: “A clear, but very cold day. We were treated
with great respect at the University by the president, S Raleigh
Caldwell, and the students, citizens and many of the country
people.”

Two days later: “We came to Raleigh, the seat of gov¬
ernment. I preached in the State House. Notwithstand¬
ing this day was very cold and snowy, we had many people
to hear.” - - * -

There was no Episcopal minister in that part of the State,

Mr. Asbury narrates, for February 26, 1801, at Wilmington,
he “preached for the first time in our house ; we were Wllminston
crowded. One of the respectables came in the name of the
respectables to request that I would preach in the ancient,
venerable brick church. At four we had a large and decent
congregation.” On a subsequent visit, he said: “We have
878 Africans and a few whites in fellowship. . . The Asbury, in,

Africans hire their own time of their masters, labor and 93
grow wealthy ; they have built houses on the church lots. I
hope to be able to establish a school for their children.”

Again writing in 1806: “We had about 1,500 hearers in
our house of worship — 66 by 33 feet, galleried all around.

There may be five thousand souls in Wilmington, one-fourth
of which number, it may be, were present.”

Of New Bern, he said (1802) : “New Bern is a growing. New Bern
trading town. There are seven hundred or a thousand
houses already built, and the number is yearly increasing,

172

THE NEW CENTURY

among which are some respectable brick edifices : the new
courthouse, truly so, neat and elegant ; another famous
house, said to be designed for the Masonic and theatrical
gentlemen ; it might make a most excellent church. The
population may amount to 3,500 or 4,000 souls.”

The first
camp meet¬
ing

Foote’s
Sketches,
376, 382

The revival

But with the opening of the century a most remarkable
revival began. It is said to have begun at a funeral, where
spirituous liquors were freely offered along with provisions,
as was the custom in those days. Rev. James McCready,
being a young licentiate, was called on to ask a blessing on
the refreshments, and he refused. His stand begat an in¬
terest, and his preaching attracted attention all through
the Haw River country. Excitement began and spread
throughout all that section. McCready moved to Kentucky
and his ministrations there had a similar influence. At one
of his meetings, in June, 1800, there was a wonderful ex¬
citement. “Multitudes were struck under awful conviction.
Cries of the distressed filled the whole house.” From this
place it spread throughout Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio and
ultimately over the whole South and West. The accounts
of these meetings are surprising, how the people were af¬
fected, physically as well as mentally. The excitement
grew in North Carolina. In October, 1801, a great meeting
was held at Hawfields, in Orange. It continued five days
without intermission, religious exercises lasting all day and
far into the night. This is regarded as the first camp meet¬
ing in North Carolina. They soon became common, log
cabins being built at the places where they were to be held.
At a meeting in March, 1802, in Iredell County besides
riding carriages, there were 262 wagons on the ground.
The services lasted five days and there were between 8,000
and 10,000 people in attendance. There were four wor¬
shiping assemblies. There were present 14 Presbyterian

RELIGIOUS MANIFESTATIONS

1 73

ministers, 3 Methodist, 2 Baptist, 1 Episcopalian, 1 Dutch
Calvinist and 2 German Lutherans.

In the northeast among the Baptists there was the same
experience, Elder Burkett, the Baptist missionary, having re¬
turned from Kentucky and Tennessee. Thousands left their
homes for days to attend camp meetings. At Murfrees¬
boro, four thousand stood out in the rain for hours, while
Burkett addressed them.

In the Cape Fear country it was the same. The inhab¬
itants poured out to the camp meetings. A wave of deep
religious interest swept throughout the country and the peo¬
ple responded with amazing alacrity. Thousands congregated
in camps where services were held morning, noon and night
for days together. Presbyterians, Baptists and Methodists
and families long since not associated with any organization
whatever flocked together and fell under the influence of
the prevailing spirit. Many extravagances attended some of
these meetings. The ecstasy of religious fervor knew no
limits and its manifestations were often singular and start¬
ling as acts of devotion.

The jerks

In North Carolina the revival was not at first attended
by bodily movements. But after some months these mani¬
festations appeared among the Presbyterians in the central
section of the State. In a general way they were called the
jerks, but they took many varying shapes. They spread west
of the Yadkin and southward into South Carolina; but in
these states they did not approach the excesses of Ohio and
Kentucky. They were not so powerful in their operations in
the eastern counties. Rev. Samuel McCorkle, writing Jan¬
uary 8, 1802, says of a meeting three days earlier, where
there were some 2,000 people: “Just then rose a speaker
to give a short parting exhortation, but wonderful to tell,
as if by an electric shock, a large number in every direc¬
tion, men, women, children, white and black, fell and cried

Moore :
Pioneer
Methodists,
446

Foote’s

Sketches

409

174

THE NEW CENTURY

Foote’s

Sketches,

410

for mercy; while others appeared, in every quarter, either
praying for the fallen, or exhorting bystanders to repent
and believe. This, to me perfectly new and sudden sight, I
viewed with horror.” But Mr. McCorkle’s horror later
vanished when he became accustomed to the jerks that
prevailed at every meeting. One account of this singular
exhibition is: “I saw numbers exercised in this way at a
camp meeting held in Lincoln County. Sometimes their
heads would be jerked backward and forward with such
violence that it would cause them to utter involuntarily a
sharp, quick sound similar to the yelp of a dog; and the hair
of the women to crack like a whip. Sometimes their arms,
with clenched fists, would be jerked in alternate directions
with such force as seemed sufficient almost to separate them
from the body. Sometimes all their limbs would be affected,
and they would be thrown into almost every imaginable
position, and it was as impossible to hold them as to hold
a wild horse. When a woman was exercised in this way,
other women would join hands around her and keep her
within the circle they formed ; but the men were left without
constraint to jerk at large through the congregation, over
benches, over logs and even over fences. I have seen
persons exercised in such a way that they would go all over
the floor with a quick, dancing motion, and with such rapid¬
ity that their feet would rattle upon the floor like drum¬
sticks.” One minister who years later was much venerated
gave this personal experience : “After a prayer in the house,
he walked out. He was seized in a most surprising manner.
Suddenly he began leaping about, first forward, then side¬
ways, and sometimes standing still, would swing backward
and forward, ‘see-saw fashion.’ This motion of the body
was both involuntary and irresistible at the commencement ;
and afterwards there was scarcely a disposition to resist.
The people in the house came running to his relief and
carried him in their arms to the dwelling. The fit lasted
about an hour, during which time, if the attendants let go

EFFECTS OF REVIVAL

175

their hold, he would jerk about the room as he had done in
the field.” He had several returns of the jerks, when in the
pulpit, and when not.

These bodily exercises prevailed for some years in all
the meetings held in the central counties, but by degrees they
lost their hold on the public mind as being a part of reli¬
gious experience, for persons who had no sense of religion
were frequently subject to the same fits. And after a while
the preachers not only discountenanced them, but censured
them ; and long before the devotion to religion ceased these
bodily performances became confined to only a few neigh¬
borhoods in the State.

Separated from its objectionable experiences the revival
during these early years of the century was most salutary
in its effects, reforming the life of the people, and instilling
and emphasizing religious and moral principles, and promot¬
ing domestic happiness.

State affairs

Judge Iredell died on October 20, 1799, at his home in
Edenton, just as he had completed his 49th year, still in the
prime of his extraordinary powers and in the height of his
great usefulness. He took rank among the very foremost
of the illustrious men who have given character to North
Carolina. His correspondence having been preserved and
published by Griffith J. McRee, himself of distinguished
attainments and abilities, has illuminated an interesting pe¬
riod of our history, while its excellence is highly creditable
to the social conditions it portrays. To succeed him on the
bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, Presi¬
dent Adams selected Judge Alfred Moore, who was nomi¬
nated, confirmed and appointed on December 10, 1799.

Judge Moore’s resignation having created a vacancy after
the Legislature had adjourned, Governor Williams, with the
concurrence of his Council, tendered the position to Sam
Johnston, and, in urging him to accept, dwelt on the creation

Foote’s

Sketches,

411

Death of
Iredell

Judge Sam
Johnston

176

THE NEW CENTURY

1800

of the new court to be organized at Raleigh, which it was
hoped might at length develop into a court of appeals such
as Governor Johnston desired. “It may be the beginning,’’
said the Governor, “of a radical change in the judicial
system.”

Governor Johnston’s acceptance brought to the bench the
most eminent citizen of the State, and a sound lawyer.

The Glasgow trial

The judges, among them John Haywood, who was es¬
teemed the greatest criminal lawyer of his time and was
certainly very learned, were to hold the court for the trial
of Glasgow, to which the people were looking forward with
intense interest. They were to meet in June for the great
trial. In May Judge Haywood held the Superior Court
at Halifax and returned to his home in Franklin County.
A few days later he was persuaded by a fee of $1,000 to
resign and undertake Glasgow’s defense. In his resigna¬
tion he mentioned to the Governor that for two years it had
been commonly understood that he must retire from the
bench. He indicated that because of the inadequate com¬
pensation the step was necessary. The other judges held
the court. Spruce McCay was the senior judge and pre¬
sided, his associates being Taylor and Johnston; a court of
the highest merit, whose decisions while offering certain
justice to the culprits would assuredly receive the assent
of the State. And now all eyes were turned to the scene.
Seldom has a trial so greatly absorbed public attention —
the chief defendant was a public character whose long career
had until this period been marked with particular excellence
and now, singularly enough, defended by one who had with
unusual luster worn the judicial ermine, while the issues
were of the highest concern to the people of the State.

The web of evidence woven was too strong to be broken
even by the great lawyer for the defense. Glasgow was
convicted and was fined two thousand pounds, while the

STATE PRINTING IN POLITICS

177

negro who had attempted to burn the State House suffered
the severest penalty of the law ; he was executed. The
other officials thought to have been involved in the frauds
escaped punishment.

Judge Haywood’s action in resigning to defend Glasgow
was considered as a stain, and it bore hard upon him. At
the following elections, he was a candidate both for the
Assembly and as an elector; and he failed' in each instance.
Indeed, a lawyer writing from Franklin County asserted
that he “would not poll fifty votes in that county.” Despite
his strong family connections and his deserved reputation
for profound learning he lost public favor and made ‘a ter¬
rible sacrifice without avail. Later, a great fee carried him
to Tennessee, where he located and became the Chief Justice
of that State, and the author of a valuable history of Ten¬
nessee and of other publications.

The newspapers

The publication of the Register at Raleigh led Hodge and
his nephew, William Boylan, who were publishing the
Minerva and Advertiser at Fayetteville, to move that paper
to the capital, and presently the little village became the seat
of a newspaper warfare that for a century with some inter¬
missions continued to enlist the sympathies of interested
partisans and friends. Except during the year 1789 when
A. Hall at Wilmington was the printer to the State, Hodge
had done that work for years, and he was well prepared to
execute it, for he printed books, almanacs and other publi¬
cations at Halifax, where likewise he had a printing office.

During the summer the Republicans began to talk of
sustaining the Register by giving the printing to Mr. Gales.
This the Federals denounced as using the State patronage
to help a party organ, and why should a change be made
when Hodge was a good Federalist? But when the war
fever abated, the Federalists had lost control of the State,

and Gales’s friends were successful in the Assembly, al-
12

1801

1 78

THE NEW CENTURY

though the Federalists elected five representatives in .Con¬
gress, and Adams secured four of the electoral votes of the
State. When the Assembly met, the complexion of the
Senate being changed, General Smith was not reelected
Speaker, Gen. Joseph Riddick of Gates being his successor.
In the House, Cabarrus was retained, and Williams re¬
mained Governor.

Two judges were to be chosen, one in place of Haywood,
and Johnston’s appointment having been only temporary.
There were many aspirants. For four days the balloting
continued amid great interest, then Johnston was chosen
to retain his place, and the next day, December 13, 1800,
John Hall of Warren was elected. While such an array of
talent as the other candidates afforded was highly credita¬
ble to the State, the result was happy. Johnston was an
ornament to the bench, and Hall proved an excellent judge.
His opinions are models of pure diction and perspicacity;
short, clear, sound, learned and logical, they have long
been appreciated by the profession.

Bloodworth’s term in the Senate was about to expire.
At the election of a successor, Stone, Davie, Bloodworth and
Locke were voted for; Stone was chosen, and so was trans¬
ferred from the House of Representatives to the Senate.
His rise in political affairs was phenomenal. A man of
talent, he was fortunate in being fully appreciated. Blood-
worth, never equal to the high duties of Senator, was
subsequently appointed Collector of Customs at Wilmineton,
a position much more suited to his talents than Senator.

In the electoral college

Aaron Burr of New York, a man of fine attainments, the
rival of Alexander Hamilton, but with an ambition that
led to devious paths, was the running mate of Jefferson in
the Presidential election. New England and the Northern
States, except New York, stood fast against Virginia; but
Adams lost votes at the South, and the Democratic candi-

JEFFERSON UNITES HIS PARTY

179

dates received five more votes than at the previous election,
and won.

It happened, however, that Burr received the same vote
as Jefferson, so it became necessary for the House of Repre¬
sentatives to elect one of them President. In that body,
in such an election, each state has but a single vote, the pro¬
ceeding being an election by the states, and a majority of
all the states is necessary to an election. While eight states
voted for Jefferson, six voted for Burr, and the Repre¬
sentatives from two being equally divided, they could not
vote at all. A week passed in fruitless ballotings, but on
the 36th ballot, Jefferson received a majority and became
President, Burr being the Vice-President.

The new President, not forgetful of the anxious years he
had passed and of the narrow margin by which he at last
succeeded, like an adroit politician, took measures to
strengthen his party. He soon proclaimed, “we are all
Federalists ; we are all Republicans” ; and he wanted it un¬
derstood that we were all Americans and patriots. He re¬
tained in office many Federalists and offered desirable posi¬
tions to others. He was astute to reconcile those who might
be helpful to his administration.

CHAPTER XII

Republicans in Power

Macon Speaker. — Appointments tendered Davie, Steele and
Hawkins. — The Federalists sustain the Minerva. — The Federal
Court. — The “midnight judges.” — Dominie A. Hall circuit judge.
— Court held at Bloomsbury. — Potter judge. — The Court of Con¬
ference. — Women heir to husbands in certain cases. — The new
Judiciary Act repealed. — Chief Justice Marshall. — His views. —
Death of Charles Johnson. — Duel between Stanly and Spaight. —
A drastic law enacted. — Negro insurrections. — Governor Wil¬
liams urges general education. — Graham’s plan. — Colonel Ashe
elected Governor. — Dies. — Turner Governor. — The Tuscarora
reservation to belong to the State. — The Federalists lose popu¬
larity. — Davie and Alston. — Davie leaves the State. — Both houses
of Congress presided over by North Carolinians. — Turner urges
education. — Dudley’s measure. — O’Farrell’s Bill. — The House
more conservative than the Senate. — Louisiana purchased. — New
England alarmed. — Considers a northern confederacy. — The im¬
portance of the territory. — Robert Williams. — Emigration.

Speaker Macon

Willie Jones having died in 1801 his mantle had fallen
on the shoulders of Nathaniel Macon, the representative
from the Warren district. Besides now for the first time
the speakership of the Federal House of Representatives
was accorded to the South, and Macon was elected Speaker.
As such, he was brought nearer than ever to the President,
and there were close and cordial relations between them.
He was very much of a politician, and thought it best to
appoint to office men in line with Republican policies, and
he cooperated with the President in tendering appointments
to Davie and Steele. Davie had returned from France in
December, 1800. He had not yielded to the solicitations
of his friends to contest the seat in Congress with Willis
Alston, but in January, 1801, he accepted employment from
Governor Williams to establish the line between North and
South Carolina.

MIDNIGHT JUDGES

181

In June Jefferson and Macon offered Davie and Benjamin
Hawkins very considerable employment, on a commission to
negotiate treaties with the southwest tribes of Indians.
Hawkins accepted ; but Davie already had other engage¬
ments. However, in a letter to Steele, in August, Davie
related the circumstances, and said : “My Federal friends
were generally violently opposed to my acceptance, while
those who are attached to the principles of the present ad¬
ministration discovered great anxiety that I should accept
the appointment.” He himself apparently saw nothing to
forbid it, but he declined because of other engagements.
Indeed, one of the matters then uppermost in his thoughts
was to secure the future of his party. He opened up a
correspondence with Steele and others for forming plans to
that end. The result was that the Minerva at Raleigh was
to be sustained by voluntary subscriptions made by a num¬
ber of gentlemen, one of the objects being to counteract
“the wild and visionary projects of Democracy and estab¬
lish the practical principles of Federalism.”

Federal Court

But while Jefferson was seeking to build up his party, he
was not complacent regarding the action of the Adams ad¬
ministration. He regarded the Alien and Sedition Acts as
unconstitutional and manifested his opinion by releasing
men who had been imprisoned under them. The Judiciary
Act had hurriedly been amended by providing for the ap¬
pointment of fifteen circuit judges and other judges as well,
and in the expiring hours of his administration Adams had
appointed many of these judges, known as “midnight
judges.” Among them was William H. Hill, formerly
district attorney, and later a member of Congress from the
Wilmington district and one of the best educated and most
influential of the Federal leaders of the State. This act was
now to be repealed. But before its repeal, under its re¬
quirements, President Jefferson appointed Dominie A. Hall

Davie

Dodd: Life
of Macon,
178, 179

REPUBLICANS IN POWER

1 8 2

Acts 1792,
ch. 1

Circuit
Court at
Bloomsbury

At Raleigh

of South Carolina to be the presiding judge of the circuit
court of the Fifth District, that included North Carolina,
and Hall exhibited his commission at the district court at
Raleigh. When the act was repealed Hall was appointed
to be judge of the district court of Louisiana.

North Carolina in 1790 had been constituted “a district,”
and the circuit and district courts were to be held at New
Bern, Judge Sitgreaves being the district judge. The dis¬
trict courts were to be held at New Bern, Wilmington and
Edenton. At the November term of 1792 the circuit court
was not held.

Under the peculiar situation in 1802, President Jefferson
in May appointed Henry Potter district judge; and on the
same day appointed Edward Harris of North Carolina
judge of the circuit court, and in June they held the last
circuit court under the Adams system in the State. On
July 1 the whole system fell. The law under which the
circuit court judges were appointed being repealed, they
all were legislated out; but Henry Potter, having been ap¬
pointed to the district court in the place of Judge Sitgreaves
who had died, continued as district judge. In June, 1793,
Judge Patterson attended at New Bern and the circuit court
was held there, the last; for by act of March 3, 1793, the
circuit court was “to be held at Wake courthouse until
some convenient accommodation can be had in the city of
Raleigh,” so on November 30, 1793, the court was held in
the courtroom of Wake courthouse, described “as a log
building on the hillside in front” of the Boylan homestead
in Bloomsbury. The circuit court continued to meet in
Bloomsbury until June 1, 1797, when it was opened by
Judge Sitgreaves in the courthouse in the city of Raleigh.
However, Judge Samuel Chase of Maryland, who had been
appointed the year before, did not attend, and no court was
held; but in November, 1797, Judge James Wilson did at¬
tend and the first circuit court was held in the courthouse at
Raleigh. This was on the courthouse lot on Fayetteville

REPUBLICANS ASCENDANT

Street, “of wood, rectangular, of the shape of an old-
fashioned meeting house.” It was used until 1835.

The Assembly

When the Assembly met it was Republican to the core and 1801
the same officers were reelected.

The Assembly was pleased with the result of the act re¬
quiring the judges to confer on undetermined questions
arising on the circuit which had had a beneficial operation,
and as it was about to expire, the act was now extended for
three years longer, and the Assembly gave the court the Conference
name of “The Court of Conference.”

There was at this session a notable change in the law of
inheritance, again favorable to the women; the widow was
declared the heir of the husband who had no relative who
might claim as heir. This operated to prevent escheat.

The agitation against the Judiciary Act with its corps of
new judges had been pressed so vigorously by the Republi¬
can leaders, that the Assembly passed a resolution instruct¬
ing the Senators and recommending the Representatives, to
vote for its repeal ; while the Alien and Sedition Act having
been limited to two years had already passed away. These
instructions presented a question which the Federal leaders ch. Justice
unwisely emphasized into an issue to their discomfiture. Marsha11
On March 8, 1802, Jefferson had the pleasure of signing the
bill repealing the new Judiciary Act and Ihe old system
was now restored, the circuit courts being held by a jus¬
tice of the Supreme Court and the district judge. The
North Carolina circuit was selected by the Chief Justice,

John Marshall, who had been in Adams’s Cabinet and had
been transferred from the Cabinet to the court. He pre¬
sided as chief justice at the February term, 1801, of the
court, but continued to act as Secretary of State until March
3, 1801. He had been a participant in the debates in the Ernst's Pe-
Virginia Convention that adopted the Constitution, and made giniac°n-

0 r _ ’ vention, 394

a very elaborate exposition of the provisions of the proposed

184

REPUBLICANS IN POWER

Marshall’s

influence

Winston :
Hist, of
Hertford, 83

constitution concerning the judiciary. His view was that
announced by Iredell; Marshall’s general opinion was that
the Constitution should be reasonably interpreted, having
in view the objects for which it was adopted. The dis¬
position of some Federalist judges to go to an extreme limit
had already been curbed by the eleventh amendment ; while,
on the other hand, Federalist anxiety and dread of the pos¬
sible action of the Republicans was found to be without
foundation.

The Chief Justice held the circuit courts in North Caro¬
lina, and he was so highly esteemed and respected that the
sharp divergence between the two parties largely subsided.
Party spirit was allayed and the masses gave their confi¬
dence to the administration. In particular was this so in
North Carolina where the great Chief Justice exerted
a beneficial and elevating influence.

During the early part of 1802 Charles Johnson, the Rep¬
resentative in Congress from the Chowan district, died, and
at the August election Gen. Thomas Wynne of Hertford
was elected to the vacant seat. General Wynne, ‘‘able,
wealthy and benevolent,” had for ten years served as Sena¬
tor from Hertford County, and had been a Jefferson elector
and was a staunch Republican. He took his seat December
7, 1802.

Stanly- Spaiglit duel

Governor Spaight, who had been the Senator from
Craven, was again a candidate as a Republican. During the
canvass John Stanly, who was then in Congress, took the
stump to defeat Spaight, although Representatives in Con¬
gress were not to be elected that year. There were frequent
discussions between these great leaders, which became per¬
sonal and bitter. Stanly charged Spaight with dodging,
under the plea of ill health, when the Alien and Sedition
Act was before Congress. Spaight was elected. He re¬
plied to Stanly's charge in a handbill which caused Stanly

REACTION TO DUELING

185

to send a challenge. The meeting took place the same day,
Sunday afternoon, on the outskirts of New Bern, September
5, 1802. On the fourth fire Governor Spaight was mortally
wounded and died the next day. Spaight was then about
50 years of age, a man full of honors and usefulness ;
Stanly was but 27. Criminal proceedings were instituted
against Stanly — but he made such representations to Gov¬
ernor Williams that the Governor pardoned him. To fill
the vacancy caused by Spaight’s death, at a by-election,
William Blackledge was chosen Senator.

The Legislature, shocked at this unfortunate affair, by
which the State was deprived of one of its most esteemed
citizens, immediately passed an act making “ineligible to any
office of trust, honor or profit, any one sending, accepting or
bearing a challenge, and he shall be liable to be indicted,
despite any pardon or reprieve; and in case of a duel, and
either party is killed, the survivor shall suffer death and all
aiding and abetting shall likewise suffer death.” This dras¬
tic legislation doubtless had some effect, but still in time
there were those who risked life on the field and among
them were three other Stanlvs.

Negro insurrections

In September, 1800, there had been a well-prepared
plan for an insurrection at Richmond, Virginia. A slave,
Gabriel Prosser, calling himself “Bonaparte,” was at its
head. Eleven hundred negroes were to assemble six miles
from the city, and being arranged in three bodies were to
march that night and take possession. Success was to be
followed bv a call to arms of all negroes on the continent.
All male white and elderly women were to be slaughtered,
the young white women saved for wives. The plan fell
through, and Gabriel was captured three weeks later on
board a vessel down the James. This attempted rising
caused much apprehension and excitement. Perhaps the
ne^ro insurrection in San Domingo may have had some in-

Duels made
criminal

REPUBLICANS IN POWER

1 86

Sprunt
Mon., XIV,
83, 84

Battle’s
Raleigh ad¬
dress

Moore, II,
438

Graham’s

plan

fluence on the minds of these usually amiable and submis¬
sive slaves. At any rate, serious combinations were dis¬
covered among them in Hertford and Washington counties,
and there were many rumors of negro risings throughout
the northeastern counties which often created a wild panic.

An actual rising in June, 1802, caused great alarm.
Frank Sumners was at the head of it. This discovery
created apprehensions from Tar River to the Atlantic. Vol¬
unteer companies were organized for patrolling and for
arresting suspected persons. At one time 100 men were
locked up in Martin County. Similarly, about the same
time, there was great excitement in Franklin County and
throughout the middle section of the State, and many arrests
were made. The Legislature in consequence, passed a law,
looking to the suppression of negro insurrections ; but the
period of unrest apparently passed away without leaving
any deplorable results to regret.

Ineffectual movements for education

Governor Williams in his last message to the Assembly
called attention to both internal improvements and public
education. “Our inland navigation and the still greater
importance of providing thorough, adequate and suitable
means for a general diffusion of learning throughout the
State . . . a far more estimable end . . . that our

posterity will be enabled at all times and on all occasions,
duly to appreciate and properly understand and defend
their natural, civil and political rights ; in Ane, that with en¬
lightened minds, and the consequent love of freedom, they
will never cease to be free.” This was the Arst suggestion
of general education, but the suggestion fell on unaccus¬
tomed ears and it was then not heeded.

In August, 1802, General Joseph Graham, one of the he¬
roes of the Revolution, proposed an elaborate plan for a
military academy, the State to make provision for the sup¬
port of the students, one student being allowed for each of

SCHOOL PROJECT FAILS

187

the 80 militia regiments of the State. The course of in¬
struction was to be such as to fit the students to be officers
of the militia. Nor was this proposition acted on by the
Assembly. Had the plan been adopted, it doubtless would
have been highly beneficial in its efifects.

Death of Colonel Ashe

This being the close of Governor Williams’s term, Col.
John B. Ashe was elected his successor, but when the Com¬
mittee waited on him at his residence at Halifax, he was
found to be ill ; and in a few days, he died, at the age of
54, much lamented. He had been one of the best officers of
the Continental army and, later, was leader in the Conti¬
nental Congress. Senator James Turner of Warren was
then elected Governor, taking his seat on the first day of
December.

The Tuscarora lands

The Tuscarora Indians had been given a reservation
on the Roanoke River in 1715, when a large number of them
moved to New York, their original region, becoming the
sixth nation there. In 1766, they had leased for fifty years
a part of their land in Bertie County to Robert Jones, the
father of Willie Jones; and now the remaining Indians
wished to lease or dispose of the rest of their land and go
north. The agent of the State arranged for such a lease,
and the Assembly ratified the agreement, one of the condi¬
tions being that the lease was to expire in 1816, along with
the first one ; and then the entire reservation was to become
the property of the State. As this arrangement had to be in
the way of a treaty with the tribe, which could be made only
bv the general government, President Jefferson appointed
Davie a commissioner on the part of the United States, and
the treaty was duly executed at Raleigh, December 4, 1802,
and submitted to the United States Senate February 13,

Turner,

Governor

REPUBLICANS IN POWER

1 88

1803. By this treaty the Tuscarora tribe of Indians ceased
to have any connection with North Carolina.

The defeat of Federal leaders

At the election of August, 1803, Congressmen were to be
chosen. The result proved the bad policy of the Feder¬
alist leaders in making an issue with the Assemblymen in
the matter of recommending the Representatives to vote
for the repeal of the Judiciary Act. The Federal Repre¬
sentatives in Congress had antagonized the Assembly, and
Archibald Henderson, Steele’s brother-in-law, made a
speech voicing the determination of his three Federalist as¬
sociates to ignore the recommendation of the people’s rep¬
resentatives in the Legislature. It sounded the death knell
of those members. The result in its effects on the life of

Davie de- Davie was lamentable. Two years earlier he had declined

f G3/tG(i • .

to contest the seat in Congress with Willis Alston ; but this
year, Mr. Jacocks, a Republican, was in the field against
Alston ; and there seemed to be no doubt that Davie, polling
all of the Federalist strength, could come in between them.
He yielded to the solicitations of his friends and announced
himself. Mr. Macon, now the Speaker of the House, and
close to the President, and at the head of the party in the
State, at once interfered. He succeeded in influencing Mr.
Jacocks to withdraw. Davie made no speeches, but the
campaign against him took a personal cast, and according
to tradition, which, however, cannot always be relied on,
his aristocratic bearing was dwelt on to his prejudice.

Willis Alston himself was a gentleman and a man of such
intellectual force that some years later he was the chairman
of the very important Committee of Ways and Means in the
House of Representatives.

Davie fell a sacrifice to his party. He keenly felt the
blow. Iredell, Judge Sitgreaves, Allen Jones, Willie Jones
and John B. Ashe had died, and Judge Samuel Johnston had
retired from the bench and the Federalists were exiled from

A PATRIOT SELF-EXPATRIATED

189

public places of honor; and Davie was bereft of his wife,
leaving him with a number of young children to care for.
Two years later, having arranged his North Carolina busi¬
ness, he retired to his plantation, Tivoli, on the Catawba
in South Carolina, but he continued to correspond with his
North Carolina friends and he put his daughter in school
at Salem and his sons were educated at the University, of
which he was more largely than any one else, the founder,
and where his name and fame are perpetuated.

North Carolinians preside in Congress

Macon had served so acceptably as Speaker that at the
meeting of the Congress in October, 1803, he was reelected;
while in the Senate on March 10, 1804, Jesse Franklin had
become so highly esteemed that he was chosen president
pro tern, of that body, to preside whenever the Vice-Presi¬
dent was absent, and for a year these highest posts of honor
in the two bodies were held by these North Carolinians.

The House not favorable to education

When the Assembly met Governor Turner followed the
example of his predecessor, declaring: “Too much atten¬
tion cannot be paid to the education of youth, by pro¬
moting the establishment of schools in every part of the
State.” The subject was interesting to others, Christopher
Dudley, the Senator from Onslow, introduced a bill pro¬
viding for a seminary of learning in each district and ap¬
propriating for their use one-half of all moneys arising from
escheats in that district. This bill passed the Senate but
failed in the House. Then Senator O’Farrell introduced a
bill to establish a uniform and general system of education
throughout the State, but while the bill required that acad¬
emies should be established in each county, the only source
of funds mentioned was donations. This also failed in the
House.

Davie moves
to South
Carolina

1803

190

REPUBLICANS IN POWER

Presidential

electors

There was always a chance for some divergence between
the Senators and the Representatives in the House of Com¬
mons although both were to be freeholders. The Senators
were elected only by freeholders ; while for members of the
House any freeman who had paid his taxes could vote.
The electorate for the latter was therefore different and was
virtually based on manhood suffrage. Even free negroes
could vote. Senators had to own three hundred acres of
land, while the qualification of a member of the House
was only fifty acres. The Senate therefore might well have
been the more conservative body; but in the matter of pub¬
lic education it was the House that rejected the proposed
measures. Evidently the less- enlightened people consti¬
tuted the opposition, and it was so likewise as to other
measures proposing improvements.

It was the duty of the Legislature to appoint electors,
and following the North Carolina practice, it passed an act
providing for their election by districts.

The purchase of Louisiana

The year 1803 was marked by an event of great impor¬
tance. Spain held Florida from the Georgia line to the
Mississippi just below Natchez and also Louisiana, extend¬
ing from the Gulf of Mexico northward to Red River, then
west to 1 ooth degree of longitude, then north to the British
dominions. Save a few scattered settlements this vast terri¬
tory was unoccupied and unexplored. Jefferson, without
the sanction of Congress and, in his own opinion, without
constitutional warrant, purchased this wilderness for the
United States. Spain had conveyed Louisiana to France,
the actual possession passing at New Orleans November
30, 1803. On Jefferson’s purchase, the actual possession
was delivered by France at New Orleans on December 20,
1803, France holding the actual possession less than a
month. The delivery was to William Claiborne and Wil-

NEW ENGLAND SCARE SUBSIDES

191

liatn Wilkinson “in the name of the Congress of the
United States.”

The Federalists of New England were alarmed, con¬
ceiving that there would be created states toward the south
that would endanger their welfare in the Union. Some of
them formed the project of dissolving the Union and form¬
ing a northern confederacy. They claimed that the interests
of the northern states required a northern confederacy.
This project was extensively discussed by the members of
Congress from Massachusetts and Connecticut and a meet¬
ing was arranged to be held at Boston in the autumn of
1804. But better counsels prevailed and New England ac¬
quiesced in this purchase. The settlers in Kentucky and
Tennessee and along the Ohio had free a-ccess to the Mis¬
sissippi River and an outlet to the markets of the world
through New Orleans; and the purchase provided the means
of indefinite expansion to the westward free from any in¬
terference by foreign powers. In this view, the acquisi¬
tion of that vast territory was the most important event in
the history of the country except the Declaration of Inde¬
pendence and the formation of the Union. It had its polit¬
ical effect in strengthening Jefferson in the esteem of the
masses ; but the Federalist leaders did not abate their an¬
tagonism.

Robert Williams of Rockingham County was now charged
with the responsible duties of a commissioner to ascertain
the rights of persons claiming land in the Mississippi Ter¬
ritory; and in 1805 he became Governor of that territory,
administering its affairs for four years. Later he settled
at Monroe, Louisiana.

With the opening of this western territory, there began
a movement of population from North Carolina to the west
and northwest, at first hardly observable but gradually in¬
creasing in volume until it reached its culmination in the
decade ending 1840 when the whites did not increase three
per cent and the quarter of a million of blacks showed no
increase at all.

A northern

confederacy

proposed

Papers Am.
Hist. Assn.,
I, 252

Cooley: In.
Hist. Soc.
Pam., No. 3

Effect on

North

Carolina

CHAPTER XIII

Turner's Administration

Jefferson again elected. — Macon’s influence. — Fears propa¬
ganda against slavery. — Does not favor public schools. — Turner’s
efforts in vain. — Cotton and negroes. — Result of cotton gin. —
Cotton mills. — South Carolina reopens slave trade. — Severely
reprobated in North Carolina. — Proposes a constitutional amend¬
ment.- — The problems. — “Persons of color.” — The State Repub¬
lican.- — Stokes elected Senator. — Declines. — Only one Senator. —
The Supreme Court. — The Granville Claim. — Progressive meas¬
ures. — The currency. — The Bank of the United States. — The only
specie foreign coins. — Bank of Cape Fear at Wilmington and
Bank of New Bern. — The State Bank. — Records may be kept in
United States currency. — Absence of transportation facilities. —
The east dominates. — A convention voted down. — Turner Sen¬
ator. — Alexander Governor. — Superior courts held in each
county. — Franklin Senator. — Stone and Lowrie judges. — Women
allowed benefit of clergy.

The election

At the presidential election Connecticut and Delaware
alone voted solidly against Jefferson. In Maryland he lost
two votes ; every other electoral vote was cast for him and
George Clinton of New York, who was a near kinsman of
the North Carolina Clintons of Sampson County. By the
casting vote of Speaker Macon a constitutional amendment
had been submitted to the states, which they adopted, requir¬
ing the electors to vote for the President distinct from the
Vice-President, so although each Jefferson and Clinton re¬
ceived 162 votes a contest like that between Jefferson and
Burr did not arise.

Macon’s influence

The cry of “party” in North Carolina as elsewhere was
now largely hushed. The field was clear for the wise and
progressive men of the State to improve conditions. But
unhappily the leaders were much in love with Macon, who
was even less inclined to progress than Willie Jones had
been. The fundamental basis of Macon’s political creed

AN UNPROGRESSIVE STATESMAN

193

seems to have been that the function of government was
simply to afford protection to individual rights, leaving other
matters to the people themselves. In his view it was not for
the State to engage in works of internal improvement or
to educate the people, but merely to maintain an economical,
honest, efficient government. In Congress he was, first,
for observing the limitations of the Constitution; then for
economy ; and as he had seen many appropriations for im¬
proved facilities wasted, the projects proving abortive, he
held that if anything was worth doing, individuals and pri¬
vate capital would be found to do it.

In particular, he early realized that the propaganda
against African slavery was a menace. As to that he was
seer and prophet. It may be said that he did his own
thinking and, though not a disorganize^ he never suppressed
his intelligence while according to others the right to follow
their own judgment. Although his career in Congress re¬
flected honor on the State it was unfortunate that his states¬
manship as to community matters was not broader, having
for its object to elevate the masses and improve social con¬
ditions. On the other hand, his proudest boast was that
“there was no state in the Union more attached to law and
order than North Carolina.”

Illiteracy

Despite the efforts made to maintain academies and pri¬
vate schools, the mass of the people was growing up illit¬
erate, and Macon held that it was not a function of govern¬
ment to provide educational facilities. He was not alone,
for in the Assembly were many of the first men of the State
and their nonaction was in line with his views.

In vain had Governor Turner emphasized the recom¬
mendation of Governor Williams, in vain had he called on
the Assembly to provide “that the children of the poorest
citizens might have access, at least, to necessary instruction.”

And, in his last message, in 1805, he said: “It is evident
13

194

TURNER’S ADMINISTRATION

that the situation in our State calls for legislative aid” ;
but his voice fell on unresponsive ears ; and so it continued,
each successive Governor, at every session, pressed the sub¬
ject, but without avail.

McCullock:
Commerce,
I. 532

South Caro¬
lina reopens
the slave
trade

1803

Cotton and negroes

The introduction of the gin had already given an impetus
to the cultivation of cotton, which, however, was much
more observable in South Carolina and Georgia than in
North Carolina. Indeed North Carolina was not much
affected by it. In 1792 the entire cotton crop of the South
was only 138,328 pounds, ten years later it had risen to
27,500,000 pounds, and in 1805 to 40,330,000 pounds; but
North Carolina’s crop was only one-tenth of that quantity.
The price was highly remunerative, being about 30 cents,
and in 1798 as much as 40 cents, but after that high water
mark there was a recession.

In England there had long been some cotton mills,
and about 1790 some were erected in Massachusetts; but
these were not similar to the mills later built. Machinery
was for carding and spinning only. The looms were like
those in the homes of the people, hand looms ; and it was
not until 1816 that the power looms were introduced.

Nevertheless while only hand looms were in use the de¬
mand for cotton was now so constant that its culture went
forward with leaps and bounds ; and under its stimulus,
South Carolina in 1803 repealed the prohibition that State, in
common with all other states, had enacted against the
importation of negroes.

In Charleston, it is narrated that every one invested every
dollar he could command in imported negroes, and nothing
else was bought. Although the slave trade was not open
longer than four years, there must have been brought into
Charleston forty thousand negroes. In 1800 Georgia and
South Carolina had but 205,000, and ten years later they
had 301,000, at least forty thousand more than the natural

PROTEST AGAINST SLAVE TRADE

195

increase. This opening of the slave trade was severely
reprobated in North Carolina. When the Assembly met in
November, 1804, Senator William P. Little of Warren in¬
troduced a resolution instructing the North Carolina Sena¬
tors and Representatives in Congress to propose an amend¬
ment to the Constitution prohibiting the slave trade. Gen.
Benjamin Smith from the committee to whom the resolution
was referred reported it back favorably ; and it was adopted ;
and it was ordered to be communicated to the executive of
every state.

North Carolina at that time was not indifferent to the
negro question in the various shapes in which the subject
of the African race was presented; one-third of the popula¬
tion were negroes, and the country was but sparsely set¬
tled. There were influences exerted for emancipation, but
it was not desirable that the number of free negroes should
be increased while the agitation for emancipation unsettled
the negroes held in slavery and led to apprehensions. And
this is to be observed that in all the references to negroes
at that period they were not mentioned as Africans or as
negroes, but as “persons of color” ; such was the usual des¬
ignation in all the laws for many years. And as “persons of
color,” when free, they were “freemen” and were allowed
to vote. At the session of 1804 there was a proposition
that passed the Senate, to prohibit free negroes from voting.
It, however, failed to pass the House. A proposition of a
different tenor prohibiting slaves from hiring their own
time was adopted, while the strong declaration against the
slave trade indicates the attitude of the State as unfavor¬
able to the unnecessary extension of slavery. The situation,
even in those years, was difficult and embarrassing.

North Caro¬
lina protests

Persons of
color

The State with Jefferson

The Assembly was thoroughly Republican. The former
officers were reelected, including Governor Turner; and a
resolution receiving in the Senate, where Federalism was

196

TURNER’S ADMINISTRATION

Senate

Journal,

1804

always stronger than in the House, 32 votes to only 8 in
the negative, was adopted, expressing the highest confi¬
dence in the administration and applauding the purchase of
Louisiana. Indeed, at the election of presidential electors
every district was for Jefferson.

Senator Franklin’s term was now expiring, and he de
dined to be a candidate for reelection. Speaker Cabarrus
and Gen. Benjamin Smith both declined to be candidates.
After several ballots, Gen. Montfort Stokes was elected
Senator. But he did not desire the appointment and de¬
clined it. However, the Assembly was not advised of his
declination before it adjourned; and during the year there
was but one Senator from the State, Judge Stone.

The Supreme Court

At this session of the Assembly the Court of Conference
was retained as a permanent court of record, and the judges
were required to reduce their opinions to writing and to
deliver them in open court ; and it was provided that a single
judge could hold a Superior Court.

The next year the name of the court was changed to
“The Supreme Court,” and the desire of Governor Sam
Johnston was on the eve of accomplishment.

The Granville claim

In 1804 there had been instituted in the circuit court of the
LTnlted States, at Raleigh, a suit of great magnitude. It was
brought by the heirs of Earl Granville against Josiah Collins
and Nathan Allen, and a similar suit against William R.
Davie. The basis of the action was the claim set up under
Granville’s title to the upper part of the State and extending
to the Mississippi River — all the land which in Colonial days
had been held by Granville and which he had not granted to
settlers. Linder the terms of the Treaty of Peace it would
seem that the Granville right and title had been preserved.
But the State contended that by its Constitution, declaring

GRANVILLE CLAIMANTS LOSE

1 97

the boundaries and limits of the State and asserting the sov¬
ereignty of the State therein, it ha*d put an end to all the
rights of the Crown in that domain, and of the Granville
right likewise. In its scope this case was doubtless the most
important ever before a court in the State, and it excited
a great deal of public interest. Mr. John London of Wil¬
mington was the agent of the Earl of Coventry, successor
by devise to Earl Granville. He employed William Gaston
and Edward Harris for the plaintiff. The defendants were
represented by Judge Duncan Cameron, M. Woodsford,
Blake Baker. The title of the case was “Doe on the demise
of George William Coventry and others against Josiah
Collins and Nathaniel Allen; ejectment.” The plea of the
defendants was “common rule,” “not guilty.” On June 18,
1804, Chief Justice Marshall and Henry Potter sitting, a
jury was empaneled, one of the jurors being Joseph Gales.
Evidence was introduced, and a demurrer to evidence be¬
ing tendered and joined, the jury was thereupon discharged.
At the December term, it was moved on behalf of the de¬
fendants that the demurrer to evidence be discharged. This
motion being opposed by plaintiff’s counsel, on argument it
was ordered : “The court will consider further thereon till
next term of court.” At the next term, when the case
was reached, the entry is : “The motion made in this cause
at the last term to discharge the demurrer to evidence being
further argued, it was ordered by his Honor, Judge Potter,
who filed a long and elaborate opinion, (his Honor the Chief
Justice utterly declining to give any opinion thereon) that
the said demurrer be discharged, and that a jury be again
empaneled to try the issue of fact joined between the
plaintiff and defendant in this cause. To which said opin¬
ion and order, counsel for the plaintiff in behalf of the said
plaintiff did then and there in open court except. . . .

The jury find the defendant not guilty of the trespass and
ejectment stated in plaintiff’s declaration. Bill of excep¬
tions filed and ordered to be made part of the record.” The

H. G.

Connor in
Univ. Pa.
Law Review,
Oct., 1914

TURNER’S ADMINISTRATION

198

case went by appeal to the Supreme Court of United States,
but was not prosecuted ; and some years later was dropped.
Such was the termination of this important litigation.

Before the session of 1804 had closed academies were in¬
measures1™ corporated for Greene County, in Moore, at Hyco, and
Smithville and steps were taken to open Fishing Creek, to
cut a navigable canal through the Dismal Swamp from
Camden to Gates, to improve the Yadkin, Little River and
Ocracoke Inlet, and for cutting navigable canals from the
Roanoke to the Meherrin and from Bennetts Creek to the
Nansemond.

The Bank
of U. S.

The currency

Prior to the introduction of banks the ordinary currency
had been foreign silver pieces, particularly the coins struck
off by Spain and its dependencies. The United States coin¬
age laws authorized the mint to strike off both silver and
gold coins ; but no silver had been found in this country and
only a little gold, while the disturbed condition of com¬
merce incident to the European war had resulted in cutting
off our supply of silver. Indeed, the world’s supply of
silver had become so limited that that metal was scarce
and had appreciated more than three per cent, with the effect
of leading to the exportation of our silver dollars, and re¬
ducing our circulation. To stop this, the coinage of the
dollar piece was forbidden, and only fractional currency was
in use. To meet the conditions paper money had to be re¬
sorted to.

A bank had been established by Congress, the Bank of
the United States, that was allowed to open offices in the
several states to handle the government collections ; but no
trace of its usefulness is preserved so far as North Caro¬
lina is concerned. A community without banking facilities
would now be in a deplorable plight, and at this period to
transact financial business the State had to rely on the facil¬
ities offered by the merchants, particularly those of the

FINANCIAL RELIEF

199

seaports. The currency of account was pounds and shil- •
lings, while the currency of the United States was dollars
and cents ; and there being virtually no United States coin
in the marts of commerce, foreign coins were the only specie
in use. But in 1804 the Legislature manifested a com¬
mendable spirit of progress or rather reflected the spirit
that was beginning to pervade the people. Reciting that the
commerce of Wilmington and Fayetteville needed banking
facilities, the Bank of Cape Fear was incorporated to be
opened at Wilmington with a branch at Fayetteville and
with a provision that the State could subscribe for 250
shares of the stock; and another act incorporated the New
Bern Marine Insurance Company and also the New Bern
Bank. These banks were allowed to issue their own notes
as currency, not in excess of three times their capital, and
otherwise limited. This was one of the first movements
looking to the association of capital in community opera¬
tions. It betokened growth, development, a breaking away
from the past, new things in the life of the communities;
and the next year the Legislature chartered the State Bank
of North Carolina, which it was hoped would absorb the
other banks. But at the following session the charter of
the State Bank was repealed : yet only to be reformed and
revived at the session of 1810. By that act, the mother
bank was to be at Raleigh, with members at Edenton, New
Bern, Wilmington, Fayetteville, Tarboro and Salisbury. The
State was to take $250,000 of stock; and notes could be
issued not in excess of $4,8op,ooo over deposits. No other
bank was to be established ; and it was hoped that this new
institution would absorb the banks of Cape Fear and of
New Bern. It was modeled somewhat after the Scotch
banks, but was not particularly authorized to pay interest
on deposits, which was one of the peculiarities of the Scotch
banks. The advantage to the people and to the State of
these new financial institutions was immense. There was
now some hope of substantial improvement.

The curren¬
cy

State banks

1804

1809

200

TURNER’S ADMINISTRATION

Dollars
and cents

In 1809 it was found convenient for accounts and records
to be kept in dollars and cents, instead of pounds and shil¬
lings ; and the Legislature enacted that “hereafter the cur¬
rency of the United States shall be recognized as the lawful
currency of this State, and it may be lawful for the records
to be kept in dollars and cents,” but it was not obligatory.
However, this step tended to eliminate one of the subsist¬
ing differences between North Carolina and the United
States ; the people were getting to have the same unit of
value and to think in dollars and cents.

1805

Conv. Jour¬
nal, 87

The east opposed to progress

Among the palpable and potent drawbacks to progress in
the State was the absence of transportation facilities. The
Legislature had sought to mitigate this evil by having road
laws, by providing that the highways should be kept open,
and by constant legislation in regard to inland navigation.
At the session of December, 1805, the committee to whom
was referred the Governor’s message relating to “inland
navigation, public roads and the education of youth,” re¬
ported that “they are of the opinion that although the situ¬
ation of the State requires legislative aid, yet for the want
of sufficient funds, an interference at this time would be in¬
expedient,” and the House concurred in the report.

Thirty years later in the State Convention, Wellborn,
then well advanced in years, attributed the indifference of
the Assembly to internal improvements to the preponderat¬
ing voice of the east in the legislative halls. He said that
thirty years earlier he had brought the subject of eastern
control before the Legislature, but without avail. They
had replied: “Nature has supplied us with the means of
reaching a good market and we will not be taxed for your
benefit.”

The key to the situation was the dominancy of the east,
and that was secured by the provisions of the Constitution
that could not be changed. December, 1807, Mr. Terrell

HOUSE BUILT FOR THE GOVERNOR

201

offered a resolution that it is expedient to provide by law
for calling a convention to revise and amend the Constitu¬
tion. The House was not of his mind; the vote was only
21 affirmative and 99 in the negative. The effort was
hopeless.

During Turner’s administration the Legislature passed
an act requiring the Governor to reside in Raleigh the en¬
tire year, and a frame house was erected for him on the
southwest corner of Fayetteville and Hargett streets.

Governor Alexander

At the session of 1805, there being a vacancy in the Sen¬
ate, Governor Turner was elected to fill it; and Nathaniel
Alexander was chosen Governor, and “Alexander Martin,
LL.D.,” was elected to preside over the Senate. Governor
Alexander had hardly been inaugurated before he notified
Speaker Martin that he was unable to attend to his duties as
Governor; and thereupon the Senate elected Joseph Rid¬
dick speaker pro tern., while Speaker Martin discharged the
duties of Governor. But that situation did not long con¬
tinue, for soon Governor Alexander was back in his office.

Superior Courts in every county

The year 1806 marked a particular change in the judicial
system. The State was divided into six circuits, and a
Superior Court was to be held twice a year in each county ;
before that the Superior courts had been held in districts
composed of several counties ; and it was burdensome for
the suitors to attend them. Now, one judge rode a cir¬
cuit, and courts were held in every county. That required
an increase of two judges. Senator Stone’s term as Senator
was drawing to its close and Jesse Franklin, who had two
years earlier declined to be a candidate to succeed himself,
now contested Stone’s reelection and again became a Sena¬
tor. Senator Stone and David Lowrie were elected the addi¬
tional judges. Stone thereupon resigned from the Senate

1807

1806

202

TURNER’S ADMINISTRATION

Women
allowed
benefit of
clergy

5 N. C.
Reports, 112

February 17, 1807, and took his seat on the bench. After
that, all of the judges being members of the Supreme Court,
there might have been six in attendance ; but any two consti¬
tuted a quorum for the transaction of business.

A novel question now came before the courts. Elizabeth
Gray was convicted of grand larceny, and there was a doubt
whether a woman was entitled to the benefit of clergy. The
court in conference held that there was no reason why fe¬
males should not be equally entitled as males ; and the Leg¬
islature, to settle the matter, passed an act to that effect
December, 1806; but in the same enactment it was provided
that persons who robbed houses in the daytime should be
excluded from the benefit.

CHAPTER XIV

Steps Toward War

Macon loses speakership. — Refuses Cabinet appointments. —
Jefferson’s measures for peace. — The embargo. — The Assembly
invites Jefferson to stand for a third term. — New England
against the embargo. — Stone Governor. — Gaston. — The Assembly
sustains the administration. — Henderson and Wlright judges. —
Gaston Speaker. — War preparations. — Jacob Henry urges reli¬
gious tolerance. — Embargo gives place to nonintercourse. —
Macon's statesmanship. — Stone’s message. — The press. — Gates
for progress. — Seaton. — France and Great Britain seize our ships.
— Smith Governor. — At Washington. — Hawkins Governor. —
Steele Speaker. — Henry Clay. — The Federalists for England. —
William R. King. — Electors to be chosen by Assembly.— Public
indignation. — Domestic commerce. — 'Wilmington, New Bern. — •
A regiment raised. — Polk Colonel. — Physical phenomena. — The
Declaration of War. — Political differences. — The Republicans
hold the Assembly — Stone Senator. — Stay law. — Steamboats. —
Death of Mrs. Alston.

Macon

Mr. Macon had had a distinguished career as Speaker of
the House. He had been a strong leader for states’ rights
under the Constitution and for the Southern interests and
for suppressing the agitation born of the continuance of
slavery at the South. He ever had an independent mind;
and likewise, he had some eccentricities.

In 1802 Macon, on intimate terms with the President, had
advised him to purchase Florida. Two years later, the
President asked for an appropriation of two million
dollars to make the purchase. Randolph, the chairman of
the Committee of Ways and Means, Macon’s appointee and
Macon’s friend, would not cooperate. The President
turned to Varnum of Massachusetts, Macon’s competitor in
the House, and Varnum got it for him. There were other
causes of divergence. At length, when the Congress of
1807 was expiring, the Republicans still being in control,
Macon realized that he would not be again chosen Speaker.
He was out of tune with those who had looked up to him
from the floor of the House for six years. To avoid being

1807

Dodd :
Macon, 201

204

STEPS TOWARD WAR

Dodd:
Macon, 219

Ibid., 216

Impressment

1808

The

embargo

present when the Juggernaut car was to parade, he remained
at his home in Warren, until Congress had been in session
a month and Varnum, his old competitor, had grown ac¬
customed to the Speaker’s chair, and even then it was some
considerable time before he manifested interest in the de¬
bates. While he was Speaker Virginia and North Carolina
had a dominating influence on the general policies of the
country — now Massachusetts ruled the House. But Macon
was of such consequence that the President had no wish to
ignore him, and indeed they had ever had much in common
and Jefferson was under lasting obligations to North Caro¬
lina. Twice the President offered him a seat in the Cabinet;
and twice he put aside the proffered honor.

All Europe was at war, on land and water. New Eng¬
land’s ship-building industries had become extensive and
the sails of her vessels whitened every sea. Her enter¬
prising mariners were absorbing the carrying trade and
giving comfort to Britain’s enemies. Britain claimed the
services of all her subjects and took them where she found
them, especially her seamen on board American vessels.
Jefferson, not a warrior, but of the closet and, desiring to
preserve peace, sought to induce Britain to desist by peace¬
ful measures. An act was passed in April, 1806, prohib¬
iting the importation of British goods; however, Jefferson,
as well, proposed measures of defense.

At first Macon, on the floor, was not in accord with the ad¬
ministration, but later when an embargo was proposed, and
an army was to be raised, he fell into line. By the Embargo
Act of December 22, 1807, no vessel was to be cleared for
any foreign port whatever. Commerce ceased. Hushed
were the busy wharves. The merchants closed their doors.
The seamen’s vocation was gone. Industry was stagnant.
Only the manufactures of New England and Pennsylvania
found a ready sale. The products of the plantation had no
purchasers. The Southern planters were hit hard. It was
at that time, however, that the making of salt was renewed

PERIOD OF UNREST

205

along the coast, and the looms at home were busy supplying
clothing. But privations and loss and suffering were borne
because they were in the interest of peace; and while there
were some divisions the mass of the people sustained the
President.

At the election, the Republicans held their own. When
the Assembly met, Joshua G. Wright, who had represented
the borough of Wilmington for many years, became the
Speaker of the House ; and although Governor Alexander
sought reelection, Williams was chosen. The conditions
were so serious that disregarding the example Washington
had set, the Assembly, in an address to Jefferson, invited
him to allow his name to be presented for a third term. In
the House Gaston opposed this resolution, but it was
adopted by a vote of 83 to 35. Jefferson, however, did not
assent.

At the next session of Congress matters of great interest
were in the minds of the members : was it to be peace or
war? Jefferson not being a candidate, there were several
factions, proposing Monroe, Madison, Gallatin and others.
Macon had joined none of them. Madison was brought for¬
ward, with Clinton of New York for the vice-presidency.
Jefferson’s peace policy was approved by the masses; New
England, suffering from the embargo, alone did not concur.
Madison swept the other states, but the embargo was deeply
felt, while preparation for war was necessarily made. Such
were the conditions when the Legislature of the State as¬
sembled. Stone was elected Governor, his retirement from
the bench causing a vacancy. Then Judge Spruce McCay
had died, and although the Governor had given a tem¬
porary appointment to Blake Baker, that vacancy was also
to be filled.

The former speakers were retained. In the House, Gas¬
ton now in his second term, was the member of the first
consequence. His superiority was evident. The respect
accorded him was notable. It was not merely his superior

Benj.

Williams

Governor

The

presidency

Stone

Governor

Gaston

206

STEPS TOWARD WAR

Biog. W.W.
Seaton, 23

The

Republicans

1808

Gaston

Speaker

intelligence,- but his personality that distinguished him. A
description of some local theatricals at Raleigh about that
time runs this way : “There sat the learned, genial Gaston,
who was equally happy in a sentimental song and convivial
chorus, or in racy anecdote; unbending from his usual staid
reserve was Nathaniel Macon, whose name has stood as
a sort of proverb for honesty, while greater still in 'his
charming gentleness, was the wise, benevolent, Chief Jus¬
tice Marshall, who undisguisedly wept over the woes of
Jane - Shore or laughed with boyish glee until the tears
fairly rolled down his cheeks.”

Gaston had the accomplishments as well as the intellect
and learning. On the floor of the House he was, in ordi¬
nary business, largely the ruling spirit. One of his memor¬
able achievements was the reform of the laws of descents,
his report being admirable, but he was not in line with the
Jeffersonians. The Senate passed resolutions strongly sus¬
taining the embargo. In the House, Gaston offered a sub¬
stitute, patriotic, but of a different tenor. For several days
the debate continued. The House stood 79 to 29 against
Gaston. In the Senate the vote had been 37 to 15. These
figures well indicated the woeful minority of the Federals
and the overwhelming attachment of the people to the ad¬
ministration. Still, while patriotic ardor ran high, when
replying to the call for troops, Gen. Benjamin Smith having
proposed that the State would arm them and furnish ar¬
tillery, the House declined, contenting itself with declaring
that the State’s quota would be ready.

To succeed the lamented McCay, his brother-in-law,
Leonard Henderson, likewise a man of distinguished abili¬
ties, was elected, and to replace Stone, Joshua G. Wright, the
Speaker of the House, was chosen. A man of very superior
excellence in the profession, Wright resigned as a member
of the House, thinking that the constitutional separation of
the judicial and legislative departments required his resigna¬
tion. Immediately, the members of the House unanimously

WARLIKE PREPARATIONS

207

chose Gaston for Speaker. It was a compliment that re¬
flected as much honor on the body as on Gaston. Gaston
differed from many other men distinguished for high in¬
telligence, learning and character, as the diamond differs
from other gems of great value.

On March 30, 1808, Congress, in view of the aggressions
of Great Britain and France, had authorized the President
to call for a detachment of 100,000 militia, and Governor
Stone informed the Legislature that the Secretary of War
had notified him that North Carolina’s quota would be 8,071
and steps should be taken to officer and equip that force
for service.

The State had quite a number of heavy cannon and Gen¬
eral Smith was directed to propose to the War Department
to exchange some of these for brass field pieces. Later
the War Department declined, saying it had no authority to
make the exchange.

Beligious tolerance

In 1808, Jacob Henry was elected to the House from
Carteret. He was a Hebrew and did not accept the New
Testament. It is possible that he was a member of a dis¬
tinguished Philadelphia family, Gratz, one of whom, Re¬
becca Gratz, somewhat later became the original of Rebecca
in Ivanhoe. During that session he contracted the ill will
of another member; and being elected again in 1809, this
member objected to his qualifying under the Constitution.
Henry addressed the House in his own behalf, his speech
being on the general subject of religious tolerance, but he
laid stress on the legal proposition that the provision of the
Constitution was not applicable to the Representatives ; the
right of a constituency to choose their representative was
not to be abridged. On that he won. This speech was so
superior that for several generations parts of it were em¬
bodied in books of elocution used in the academies of the
country.

208

STEPS TOWARD WAR

Noninter¬

course

Macon’s

attitude

The Embargo Act was continued in operation until just as
Jefferson was surrendering his office to Madison, when with
the sanction of Congress, he substituted for it noninter¬
course with Great Britain and France, as these two coun¬
tries alone were at the bottom of our commercial troubles;
and, indeed, presently it was suspended as to Great Britain
by Madison, but a few months later was renewed. It was
during this period that Macon participated most largely in
these important matters. As chairman of the Committee on
Foreign Affairs, he held a dominating position. He ever
worked to avoid war, but he could not brook the attitude
of France and of England.

By the act interdicting intercourse with Great Britain and
France passed March i, 1809, both that act and the Embargo
Act were to cease to operate at the end of the next session
of Congress. Subjects of such vital interest were left for
the newly chosen Representatives to consider.

Congress was called together in May and sat for a month,
but legislation was deferred until the November session.
Then Macon demonstrated his statesmanship. His bill ex¬
cluded both the ships of war and ships of commerce of
Great Britain and France from our ports. French and
English goods were to be brought into this country only in
American vessels loaded at English and French ports. The
President was to remove' these restrictions as to either
country whenever that country repealed its unfriendly reg¬
ulations regarding our commerce. The bill was short of
war and held out the olive branch. It passed the House,
but in the Senate it was emasculated. When it came back
to the House Macon denounced the Senate amendments
as “a total dereliction of national honor, a base submission
to the oppressions of the belligerents, a disgraceful aban¬
donment of our policy of resistance.” The House stood
with Macon ; the Senate would not yield. The bill was
lost. The House now passed against Macon’s vote an
act reestablishing intercourse with both countries, but if

STONE’S RECOMMENDATIONS

209

either should repeal its unfriendly regulations, then inter¬
course with the other was to be interdicted by proclamation
of the President.

Stone’s message

When the Assembly met in November, Governor Stone in
a message of extreme verbosity and attenuated composition,
descanted on almost every phase of state life that could
claim the attention of the Assembly. He dwelt on the subject
of education, of schools, of improved roads and inland
navigation and, in view of the high cost of goods and the
low value of farm products, he urged that manufacturing
should be fostered by legislation. And since the case brought 1809
by Granville’s heirs had been determined in the circuit court
against the interest of the citizens interested and was on
appeal to the Supreme Court where he apprehended that the
decision would be confirmed, he suggested that the State
should provide a fund to reimburse those who might lose
their holdings under the State’s title. He called attention
to the depreciation of the currency through the over-issue of
bank notes and urged some measures of relief. Later he
communicated that the line between the State and South
Carolina had been fixed, subject to ratification by the re¬
spective legislatures.

The press

While there were annually elections and canvasses with
speeches on the hustings, the press, then as since, was
the great medium of disseminating information.

Hodge, who had presses at several points, died in August,

1805, and William Boylan, his nephew and partner, con- 1809
tinued the business, keeping a large book store in Raleigh,
and, well trained by his competent uncle, proving a worthy
antagonist of Joseph Gales. Gales, likewise had a book
store, as he had had in England, and was a publisher of

books. Among his publications were several editions of a
14

210

STEPS TOWARD WAR

Seaton

and

Gales

National

Intelligencer

reprint of Haywood’s Manual, and in 1804 a well- written
novel, Matilda Berkeley, his wife being the author, giving
a view of society and high life in England. Gales had
worn well, and had established himself in the respect and
confidence of his political friends. In fact he was a leader
of the Republicans, but one whom they were slow to follow
in his progressive views. There was a divergence between
him and Macon as to the functions of government, and the
politicians in the Assembly adhered to Macon.

Asserting that every other state had established a state
bank, Gales had urged North Carolina to establish one, and
eventually was successful. He was an advocate for home
manufactures, urging the citizens of Raleigh to build a
factory, and he offered prizes for the best cloth made in
the State. He advocated the establishment of an insurance
company, and strongly favored public improvements. In¬
deed, he was ever in line with those who were utilizing
the instrumentalities of advanced civilization to foster the
conveniences of life and to promote the prosperity of the
community. His propositions to abolish imprisonment for
debt, to establish a penitentiary, and to mitigate the severe
penal code found a supporter in Governor Smith, who
urged these measures, but without avail.

In 1807, W. W. Seaton, a young Virginian of distin¬
guished connections, purchased Hodge’s North Carolina
Journal at Halifax, and turned it into a Republican paper
with the effect of strengthening the Republican party in
that section. Two years later he joined at Raleigh Gales,
whose daughter he married. In the meantime Gales’s son,
Joseph, had become a partner in the publication of the
Intelligencer at Washington City; and in October, 1812,
Seaton joined the younger Gales at Washington; and the
two Raleigh men, Seaton and Gales, published the National
Intelligencer that in the decades to come exerted the highest
power known to the press in this country.

AMERICAN SHIPPING SUFFERS

211

In 1810, Federal papers were printed at Raleigh, Wil¬
mington, New Bern, Edenton, and Fayetteville; and at
Raleigh, New Bern and Elizabeth City were Republican
papers ; while the Star , published by Henderson at Raleigh,
and the Journal at Halifax, were considered neutral. The
Federalists had the advantage in the number of publications.

Macon’s bill

In Congress, Macon, being averse to war, hoped to avoid
it. He now brought forward a measure that he thought
might have a beneficial effect.

Representative McBryde, from the Moore district, wrote
July 27, 1810: “We have been engaged for some time
in the discussion of a commercial bill reported by a com¬
mittee of which Mr. Macon was chairman. Its principal
objects are to repeal the nonintercourse law, to interdict
the vessels of Great Britain and France from our ports and
harbors, to confine our vessels to a direct trade, and to
prohibit the indirect or circular trade. There are nearly
forty Federal members in the House, of whom only five
voted for the bill on its second reading. (John Stanly and
McBryde were among the number.) It was only carried
by a majority of seventeen. The war men are violently
opposed to it. They say it is submission. The eastern men
(who were opposed to any drastic measures) say that
England will retaliate the measure by corresponding re¬
strictions.” So the year wore on, with the country in a dis¬
turbed condition, and apprehension of war being in the
minds of the people. Great Britain and France, holding
the states in contempt because of our weakness, were
seizing American ships on the high seas ; first and last,
Great Britain captured over 900, and France over 550. If
Jefferson had been lenient towards the French, Madison was
equally undemonstrative against the British. But Ameri¬
can spirit was not indifferent. Manhood asserted its sway.
Still in North Carolina the people followed Macon and

July, 1810

Hoyt :
Murphey,
I, 35

Our ships
taken

212

STEPS TOWARD WAR

1810

Biog. Hist.,
IX, 404

continued to stand with the administration. At the election
for Congress in 1808 John Stanly, a Federalist, had beaten
Blackledge in the New Bern district; but in 1810, Gaston
being the Federalist candidate, Blackledge regained his
seat by a majority of 500 votes.

Smith progressive

When the Assembly met in November, 1810, Gen. Ben¬
jamin Smith was chosen Governor over Stone. At the
moment, war seemed inevitable. But Governor Smith cen¬
tered his thoughts on State affairs and brought forward
matters of a remedial character for consideration. He
recommended the adoption of a penitentiary system, and
appealed for a reform of the too sanguinary code of the
State; recommended domestic manufactures, and insisted
that too much attention could not be paid to the all-
important subject of education. “A certain degree of educa¬
tion should be placed within the reach of every child in
the State. ... I am persuaded,” he said, “that a plan
may be formed upon economical principles which will extend
this boon to the poor of every neighborhood, and at an
expense trifling beyond expectation when compared with the
incalculable benefits from such a philanthropic system”; and
he continued to urge the establishment of public schools,
from public considerations. But as yet the Legislature was
not ready to break away from the past, and public educa¬
tion was a novelty.

At Washington

Naturally all eyes were turned on Washington, where the
great issues were to be decided. Difficult indeed was the
situation; with England and France disregarding our rights;
treating our country contemptuously, considering us too
weak to repel insults ; and our counsels divided, a war party
and peace men not agreeing on measures.

APPREHENSIONS OF DISTRESS

213

In January, 1811, McBryde wrote: “The great point to
which our attention is turned at present is the bank and a
nonimportation bill. This measure (the refusal to re¬
charter the bank) will be attended by alarming conse¬
quences. You can have no idea of the consternation that
prevails in all the large towns. It is confidently affirmed
that it will withdraw more than twenty millions of circulat¬
ing paper, for some time at least, and that it will, of course,
bankrupt thousands.”

As to the nonimportation proposition, he said: “If this
law passes our produce must sink to nothing. There will
be no money to buy, and no man can tell who to trust. . . .
The northern merchants will press immediately for their
debts. In short, I look for nothing but confusion and
distress.”

On the bank question Alston, McBryde, Pearson, Stan¬
ford and Stanly stood for rechartering. But in the House
it failed by a single vote, and in the Senate a similar bill
failed only by the casting vote of the Vice-President.

At the next session the Assembly reelected its former
speaker; but William Hawkins, the Speaker of the House,
was chosen Governor, and to take his place, the House fol¬
lowed the fine example set in 1809. It elected Speaker one
of the minority, John Steele, the representative of the bor¬
ough of Salisbury. Steele was worthy of the honor.

Governor Hawkins was nearly twenty years the junior
of General Smith, whom he succeeded, being just thirty-four
when elected Governor; but he had much practical experi¬
ence in affairs. Of him, it has been said, “He was brave
when bravery was needed, but the ‘small, sweet courtesies
of life’ shone brightly in his daily intercourse.”

As the measures in Congress involved the weal or woe
of the country, party spirit was running high. The drift
of opinion was for war. Henry Clay of Kentucky had
served a session in the Senate of 1806; and again in 1810,
and was now a Representative. He was of the war party,

Dodd, 269

1811

Hawkins

Governor

Clay for
war

214

STEPS TOWARD WAR

Car. Fed.
Rep., Jan
11, 1812

W. R. King

and was urgent for war with Great Britain. As such he
was elected Speaker of the House when it met in November,
i8ii. The current ran against Madison, who was being
overborne in his peace policy. The Federalists had always
favored England rather than France, and they were very
reluctant to break with Great Britain. Their sentiment
found expression in the Carolina Federal Republican that
had been established at New Bern in 1809. It was argued
that war with Great Britain might result in the bombard¬
ment of every town on the seacoast. “But, even if in
mercy, she should not bombard our towns but content her¬
self with sweeping every American sail from the ocean and
blockading all our ports, this would bring on a scene of
disaster hardly to be described.”

Nor were the Republican congressmen from the State a
unit in supporting the administration. But at this session
a new member, young and virile, appeared in the delegation
to strengthen the war party, William R. King of Sampson.
His father was a patriot of the Revolution, a gentleman of
fortune and character. Educated at the University, trained
as a lawyer by the eminent William Duffy of Fayetteville,
and associated with the thoughtful men of the Cape Fear,
he threw his weight on the side of resisting British aggres¬
sion. It was badly needed, for the North Carolina delega¬
tion was no longer Republican. Blackledge, Macon, Me-
shack Franklin, the sterling brother of Senator Franklin,
stood almost alone when King raised his voice for war.
Richard Stanford of Person, who had followed Randolph
in his vagaries, made a strong speech against war, and
King hotly replied: “Sir, the demon of avarice which be¬
numbs every warm emotion of the soul, has not yet gained
the ascendancy in the South. . . . Sir, I will not yield

an inch of ground when, by so doing, I destroy an essential
right of my country, or sap the foundations of that inde¬
pendence cemented bv the blood of our fathers. We were
told by a gentleman from Virginia (Randolph) a few days

COMMERCE OF STATE PORTS

215

since that we have sufficient cause for war. I ask you then,
why do we hesitate ? Shall we always yield ? The adoption
of this resolution is the touchstone, by it we rise or fall.”
He concluded by denouncing the policy of his colleagues,
“who still advocated compromise and peace.” This was the
beginning of a career that gave King a high place among
the most distinguished public men contributed by North
Carolina to our country.

The increasing opposition to the administration measures
made the leaders in the Assembly apprehensive lest Madison
might lose some votes in the electoral college, and to avert
that the act of 1802, providing for the election of electors
by districts, was repealed, and the following Legislature was
authorized to choose the electors.

This action was roundly denounced by the Federalists.
“A sacred privilege has been forcibly torn from the people
by the arbitrary will of a desperate majority. . . . Thirteen
years ago such an assumption of power would have produced
rebellion and bloodshed.” At the spring term of the courts
some of the grand jurors made presentment of the act as a
grievance. Iredell County began it, and requested the court
to order their presentment published; and the court so or¬
dered. Then Cumberland, Richmond, Rowan, Pitt, Franklin,
Greene, Caswell and Montgomery followed suit. And John¬
ston, also; but Judge Lowrie declined to order the publi¬
cation. Feeling ran high in the State.

As the embargo and nonintercourse acts did not apply to
domestic commerce, so the trade of our ports with those
to the north was not affected. At Wilmington, which was
the shipping point for produce brought from the interior
to Fayetteville, it was continued as usual. And so, at New
Bern and the other sound ports ; and about two-thirds of our
commerce went through Ocracoke. On January 11, 1812,
the Federal Republican mentions as entering New Bern —
one vessel from New York, one from Charleston, and two
from Beaufort, and as clearing, four for New York, one for

Dodd : Life
of Macon,
p. 276

The grand
juries

Commerce

2l6

STEPS TOWARD WAR

New Bern

1812

Physical

phenomena

Charleston, one for Bermuda, and one for Antigua. And
so it continued.

In that period, however, to supply salt, works were es¬
tablished here and there along the coast. Those on the
sound near Wilmington proved highly remunerative ; and
notwithstanding some cessation after the war, the product in
1815 was more than thirty thousand bushels.

The trade of New Bern was very important, only ex¬
ceeded by that of Wilmington, which included the imports
destined for the back country through Fayetteville. In the
spring of 1812 corn was selling at New Bern at 40 to
45 cents; cotton at 10 to 12 cents; flour $7.00 a barrel;
bacon 10 cents and tobacco 3 cents. And at that time there
were offered for sale for cash or barter for corn, 54 bags
of coffee at 16 cents, 18 barrels of Muscavado sugar at 12
cents; 10 barrels loaf sugar at 21 cents; 20 boxes choco¬
late 22 to 30 cents; 10 hogsheads molasses at 58 cents a
gallon and 2 pipes of cognac brandy at $3.00 a gallon.
They also had at New Bern a living elephant and a beauti¬
ful African leopard; and a piano was offered for sale.
Often half a dozen vessels arrived during the day, and an
equal number cleared ; chiefly the trade was with New York.

Preparation

In February, 1812, in preparation for war, a regiment was
to be raised in the State, and William Polk, a veteran of the
Revolution and resident of Raleigh, was appointed colonel
of the regiment; James Welborn of Wilkes, lieutenant-
colonel ; A. F. McNeil of Wilmington, second lieutenant-
colonel ; Benjamin White of Craven, first major, and
Thomas Taylor of Granville, second major.

The year 1812 opened with ominous signs of war. Often
had physical phenomena been associated with great human
events. Three suns seen in the heavens preceded the final
outbreak that was closed by Charles the First losing his
head ; and three suns were observed one afternoon in North

SIGNS IN HEAVEN AND EARTH

2iy

Carolina just before President Lincoln called for troops in
April, 1861.

There was a very severe earthquake on the morning of
December 23, especially violent towards Charleston; then
on February 7, 1812, at four in the morning New Bern
was greatly disturbed by a violent rocking for two minutes ;
and again at eleven that night there was another of nearly
equal force; and two weeks later Mecklenburg County was
visited by a disturbance of great violence.

And it was in January, 1812, that a veracious newspaper
writer endowed with a fine imagination described with
great particularity, “great smoke issuing from Spears
Mountain, great noise; a volcano had burst forth on the
French Broad ; still continues to burn with great violence,
throwing out lava, etc.,- with most tremendous noise in
Buncombe,” of which President Jefferson made a historic
note not complimentary to North Carolina.

In Congress the question of war was the great issue.
Speaker Clay was insistent, Madison yielded, and on June 1,
he sent to Congress a message for war with Great Britain.
Pennsylvania, a manufacturing state, and the agricultural
states of the South gave 62 votes for the declaration and 32
against it. The mercantile states at the North gave 17 for
the war, and 32 against it. The sentiment of the sections
was evident; New England was opposed, and not all of
the Southern Republicans were in favor of the measure.
The declaration was made by the President on June 19.

Six months after Hawkins became Governor, on the
23d of June, an express messenger brought him the in¬
formation of the declaration, and his service as Governor
covered the entire period of the war. After the declaration
a new issue was brought into discussion in the State. Be¬
fore that there had been apprehensions : now war had come.
Not merely were there the normal differences between the
Federals and Republicans, the outs and the ins, the war men
and the peace men, those who favored England and those

The

declaration
of war

June

1812

2l8

STEPS TOWARD WAR

The Anti-
Electorals

DeWitt

Clinton

still in rebellion against the old mother country; but there
was another potent political war cry. The Republicans to
secure the election of Madison had taken from the people
their right to vote. The people were disfranchised. By
the act of December, 1811, the presidential electors were
to be chosen by the Assembly. Gaston petitioned the Gov¬
ernor to convene the Assembly in special session to undo
this arbitrary evil, but it was too late. The presentments
made by the grand jurors only voiced the indignation that
inflamed the popular heart. At the election in August
James Mebane, the Senator from Orange who had intro¬
duced the measure, was opposed by Archibald D. Murphey,
who now entered on a political career. Murphey was a
Republican, and still proposed to stand by Madison; but
he was a leader in the Republican opposition to this meas¬
ure, and he had many in cooperation. Most of those who
had supported the measure in the Assembly were now op- ’
posed by “Anti-Electoral’’ Republicans aided by the Fed-
erals, and fell by the wayside. The result was disastrous to
them. Many were retired, Mebane was defeated two to
one. Sixty Federals were elected, among them Gaston,
Steele, Stanly, and other old-time leaders ; but the Repub¬
licans still held the Assembly.

When the Assembly met Hawkins was reelected Gov¬
ernor. General Riddick, who had long been Speaker of
the Senate, had died during the year. He was replaced
by George Outlaw of Bertie, a gentleman of “great seren¬
ity and address,” so endowed as to be ever popular, and he
was highly esteemed as the Moderator of the Chowan
Baptist Association ; while in the House, William Miller
of Warren was chosen to preside. George Clinton of New
York was the Vice-President elected four years earlier
with Madison; DeWitt Clinton of New York had deserted
Madison and was taken up by the Federals as their candi¬
date for President. In the Legislature the vote for Madi-

A TRAGEDY OF THE SEA

219

son electors was 130; for DeWitt Clinton only 60; the Re¬
publicans had more than two to one.

The Assembly, responsive to the popular demand, how¬
ever, by a large majority in both branches passed a reso¬
lution to lay off the State into fifteen districts, and likewise
proposed to Congress an amendment to the Constitution to
establish a uniform mode of choosing electors by districts,
and on February 15, 1813, that resolution was being dis¬
cussed by the United States Senate ; but the better opinion
of that generation seems to' have been that the organic law
should not unnecessarily be altered. The Constitution was
not to be lightly changed.

David Stone, as a war man, was chosen Senator to suc¬
ceed Jesse Franklin, who had defeated him six years earlier,
although Stone later . declared that he had not desired the
position.

A stay law was passed forbidding the issue of executions
until 1814 in cases where security was given; and it was
a busy session, there being 129 acts passed.

Steamboats were now in use at the North. Stevens & Co.,
Stevens having been a former partner of Fulton, were
engaged in building them and trying to obtain the exclusive
right to use them on available waters. They applied at this
session of the Assembly for the exclusive privilege of using
them in North Carolina. Their application was granted for
twenty years, “provided they would put on one every two
years.” That in twenty years would have required ten
boats, and the condition was not attractive, so it does not
appear that it was accepted.

The tragedy of Mrs. Alston

While the Assembly was in session there occurred a
horrible murder on our coast. In December, 1812, Aaron
Burr sent a pilot boat, the Patriot , from New York to
Charleston to bring his daughter, Theodosia, wife of Gov-

1813

The

aftermath

Biog. Hist.,
IV, 426

Steamboats

1812

220

STEPS TOWARD WAR

ernor Alston of South Carolina (grandson of Gen. John
Ashe) to New York.

Timothy Green, an intimate friend of Governor Alston’s
family, sailed in the pilot boat for the purpose of accom¬
panying Mrs. Alston on her voyage. From the time they
sailed from Charleston December 30, no tidings whatever
was heard of the vessel or of any one on board. Seven
years passed before the mystery was cleared up. In the
Raleigh Register, June 30, 1820, was this announcement:
“A gentleman recently from New Orleans has communicated
to a friend of the family of the late Mr. Greene that two
of the pirates lately sentenced to suffer death at New
Orleans confessed that they composed part of the crew
of the above pilot boat, Patriot; that after being at sea
two or three days, and near the shore, they rose upon the
captain and passengers, and confined them’ below — when
they stood close in shore, and after plundering the passengers
of a considerable sum of money and plate, belonging mostly
to Mrs. Alston, they launched the boat and scuttled the ves¬
sel, which soon filled and went down, with the unfortunate
inmates confined below. This dreadful tragedy was per¬
formed in the dead of night. The wretches succeeded in
reaching the shore with the boat, and had thus far escaped
detection and punishment for this horrible crime.”

In 1820, and earlier and later, there were many trials for
piracy at New Orleans. Pirates infested the Gulf of Mex¬
ico. These men mentioned above were taken as pirates for
deeds then recently committed and, after conviction, told
of the murder of Mrs. Alston. Of her death they perhaps
would never have known had they not had personal knowl¬
edge. Before that she was supposed to have perished in
some other way. The story bears the earmarks of truth.

Fifty years later, in 1869, Dr. William G. Pool at¬
tended a sick woman at Kitty Hawk on the banks near Nags
Head, and in compensation for his services she gave him
a painting then hanging in her room. It was the picture of

MEMENTO OF TRAGEDY

221

a lady on polished mahogany, twelve inches in length and
enclosed in a frame richly gilded. With reluctance she said
that many years before a vessel with sails set had been
wrecked on the beach, no person being aboard, and that
some one who found this picture in the cabin had preserved
it. A photograph of this picture was submitted to Mrs.
Wheeler, the wife of Col. John H. Wheeler, the historian,
who on comparing it with a miniature of Theodosia Burr,
found them so similar that she, a daughter of Sully, and
herself an artist, recognized it as a portrait of Mrs. Alston.

Pool, Lit. on

Albemarle,

CHAPTER XV

1813

The War Opens

The militia. — Military conditions. — The Stanly-Henry duel. —
The British fleet arrives in Chesapeake. — The Snap Dragon. —
The first prize. — Judge Harris dies. — Federal leaders. — Gaston’s
position. — The Federalists gain. — Macon inconsistent. — Davie de¬
clines to serve. — Beaufort blockaded. — New Bern alarmed. —
The British at Ocracoke. — Preparations for defense. — The militia.
— At Raleigh. — The ladies active. — General Jones. — Governor
Hawkins — Great activity. — Munitions supplied — Beaufort garri¬
soned, Wilmington and all the country stirred. — The fleet sails
away. — The enterprise of the people. — The Clarendon Steamboat
Company. — Stages to Portsmouth. — Lincoln’s cotton mill and iron
manufactures. — Gaston’s speech. — Conditions. — The Frolic and
the Wasp. — Coast defenses. — The Snap Dragon. — Blakely. — The
Wasp. — Reverses on land. — The Federals exult. — Chippewa. —
Lundy’s Lane. — Benjamin Forsyth. — The State adopts his son
and Ulna Blakely. — Fort Mimms. — General Graham. — North Caro¬
lina troops at Norfolk. — The British fleet. — Stone’s retirement.
— Miller Governor, Cameron Judge, and Locke elected Senator.

The militia

For military purposes each county was divided into militia
districts, every district having its own militia company,
which with the Others formed the county regiment. The
regiments of several adjoining counties formed a brigade.
The Legislature elected the generals and field officers and
the organization, supervised by the Adjutant-General, was
carefully kept up. Besides there were in many counties
organized and disciplined military companies, generally
cavalry, ready for active service on emergency. The militia
companies and regiments were required by law to meet and
muster every year. The militia districts were the only
units of county organization. So when the committees of
safety were to be chosen on the outbreak of the Revolu¬
tion, they were elected by military districts. On muster
days all persons liable to military service had to meet, be
enrolled and muster. General Davie wrote a volume on
military tactics, which was adopted and in use and doubt-

MILITIA ORGANIZED

223

less at the musters there was drilling, so that the militia had
some slight acquaintance with military discipline and com¬
mands. The militia therefore was in some measure an or¬
ganized military force. It is to be mentioned that the free
negroes were required to attend musters until relieved of
that duty. On different occasions because of threatened
negro insurrections, the militia of several counties were
called out. When the tocsin of war sounded in 1812 the
militia regiments of several counties were embodied and
saw active service.

Conditions for defense

After the war fever of 1798 had subsided but little had
been done to improve the fortifications on the coast, but
when the irritation with France and England became pro¬
nounced the militia was organized ; and General Smith, who
had a large number of negroes, entered in 1805 into a
contract with the government to erect a sepia stone case¬
mate fort on the site of the old Fort Johnston, under the di¬
rection of army engineers. The fort in 1805 was under
the command of Lieut. John Fergus of Bladen County,
and in that year Capt. Joseph Gardner Swift, the first grad¬
uate of West Point, was sent to have the fortifications com-

pleted. Other points also had received some attention ;
the militia had been organized by Adjt. Gen. Edward
Pasteur of New Bern; and on his resignation in June, 1808,

Calvin Jones of Wake County became Adjutant General and
addressed himself to his duties with zeal and energy, and
he continued this acceptable service until the war opened
in 1812. In December of that year he was commissioned
Major-General, having under him the 5th and 17th brigades, December
covering eight counties assigned to the Edgecombe and 1812
Wake brigades. Now, although North Carolina was not
then invaded, there was a call for volunteers. There were
51,000 militia men on the roll, but only 7,000 were asked
for, the President to supply them with arms. Volunteers

224

THE WAR OPENS

were being organized into detachments to respond to orders,
and volunteer companies were forming in every county. In
the meantime Fort Johnston had been garrisoned by a
company of the First Regiment of U. S. Artillery.

Biog. Hist.,
II, 165

The British
arrive

Henry duel

About the middle of February, 1813, New Bern was in
the shadow of grief cast over the community by the trag¬
ical ending of an unimportant incident. Thomas Stanly and
Lewis Henry had been classmates at college, long friends
and intimates, and now law students at New Bern. At a
supper given by Gaston, Stanly playfully tossed a morsel of
cake across the table which, falling in Henry’s cup of tea,
splashed his vest. A lady at Henry’s side made a remark
that aggravated the incident. An insult was suggested ; a
hasty reply given and a challenge followed. Young Stanly
consulted his elder brother, Hon. John Stanly, who advised
the meeting. The meeting took place on Sunday, Feb¬
ruary 14, within the border of Virginia. At the first dis¬
charge, Stanly was instantly killed. He was in his 23d
year and was just about to apply for admission to the bar.
Certainly the affair should be attributed to John Stanly who
himself had killed Spaight. . After Stanly had fallen every
measure was taken which humanity or friendship could
dictate. Up to the day of his death, this tragedy was ever a
blight on Henry’s peace of mind. While New Bern was
agitated over this lamentable affair came the disquieting
news that the apprehensions of the Federalist leaders were
not without foundation. A British fleet entered the capes
and anchored in Lynnhaven Bay. There were about a dozen
ships of war. The cruisers had taken quite a fleet of mer¬
chantmen in Chesapeake Bay, and among them several New
Bern vessels bound to New York.

But New Bern was not without reprisals.

EXPLOITS OF A PRIVATEER

22 5

Snap Dragon

The merchants of New Bern, always as enterprising as
they were patriotic, had in the Revolution successfully
preyed on British commerce, much to their advantage.
Now, no sooner had war been declared than Otway Burns,
a native of Beaufort and captain of a merchantman plying
between New Bern and Portland, Maine, arranged through
a joint stock company for the purchase of a larger and
swifter vessel, which he fully equipped as a privateer and
took out letters and began operations. He sailed down
into the Spanish Main, and took several small prizes and
towards the end of February, 1813, while the British fleet
was at Lynnhaven Bay, there entered New Bern the sloop
Fillis — Miller prize-master, a prize to the privateer schooner
Snap Dragon , taken the 18th of January in the Caribbean
Sea. The Snap Dragon was bound to Carthagena to victual
for another cruise, “all well and good spirits aboard." And
then on April 10, 1813, the Snap Dragon itself came to
New Bern, Edward Pasteur being the master.

On Monday, March 29, Judge Edward Harris of New
Bern died in the court at Lumberton. In 1801 he had
served for one month as the circuit judge of the United
States, then in 1811 on the death of the lamented Joshua G.
Wright, judge of the Superior Court, he had been ap¬
pointed to that vacancy. “It seems that he left home under
the impression that he would not survive the circuit, and a
complete suit of burial clothes was found in his trunk.”
At that period the judges and attorneys, for the want of
other conveyances, traveled in their own gigs, that being
before the introduction of buggies.

Notwithstanding the declaration of war and the call of the
country to arms, the Federalist leaders were active against
the administration. Congress was to convene early in May
and Governor Hawkins issued a proclamation ordering the
election of Representatives to be held on the 30th of April
15

February

1813

Fed. Rep.,
Feb. 27,
1813

Death of

Judge

Harris

Hoyt :
Murphey,
I, 68

Congression¬
al election

226

THE WAR OPENS

Gaston’s

victory

instead of waiting until August. Gaston’s position may be
taken as that of all the Federalist candidates. “Convinced
that we had well-founded causes of complaint against each
of the great belligerents of Europe, I nevertheless could
not but view the selection of Great Britain for our enemy,
while the relations of friendship were courted with France,
as an act of extravagance and rashness, astonishing and
unaccountable. It is forbidden by our interests. From
the honor and fair character of the nation, nothing could
be more abhorrent. If the declaration of war is to be la¬
mented, there is little consolation to be found in the manner
of its prosecution. I avow myself the earnest and anxious
friend of peace. The difference between the United States
and our enemy is now understood to be confined to a single
point, the right of search for British seamen. I will not
as a man and, as a Christian, I dare not, yield my consent
to shed blood or waste the treasure of my countrymen upon
an abstract question of doubtful right. At whatever risque
or cost, I am prepared to protect my country and every sec¬
tion of it from attack, but I am not disposed to aid in
schemes of foreign conquests,” etc. At the election, Black-
ledge who, however, did not canvass, received only 943
votes, while Gaston received 2,763, nearly five hundred
more than two years before, when he was beaten by five
hundred. In the Fayetteville district Rev. John Culpepper,
a Baptist minister, was elected over J. A. Cameron, both
Federals, while D. M. McFarland received the smallest vote.
Stanford, who had been a Republican, defeated Mebane,
who had introduced the bill taking from the people their
right to vote for electors, Stanford being against the war
and the war measures. William Kennedy, Federalist of
Tarboro, was elected by a very small majority. On the
whole, the Republicans held their own fairly well, but Mr.
Macon now began what appears to be an inconsistent
course, not supporting the war measures himself, and setting
an example that some of his friends followed.

HOSTILITIES

227

In March, 1813, the President appointed to be major
generals in the United States army, W. R. Davie and Wade
Hampton, and these appointments were immediately con¬
firmed by the Senate ; but Davie did not accept and re¬
mained at his home on the Catawba.

Hostilities

During Jefferson’s administration the construction of a
large number of small gunboats had been authorized and
there were several of these at Wilmington out of commis¬
sion; at New Bern there was at least one, named “No. 150.”
Early in May a rumor came from Beaufort that Beaufort
was blockaded by two British schooners, and May 21 the
•specie in the vaults of the New Bern branch of the Bank of
the State was removed in two wagons to Raleigh. “Since
the blockade of the Chesapeake,” said the Federal Repub¬
lican, “several vessels whose destination was the bay, have
come into Ocracoke or Beaufort, and have dispatched their
cargoes to Norfolk through the canal. . . . Beaufort

has a reasonable protection from its fort; Ocracoke has only
its shoal water, the revenue cutter and the militia. On May
21 a schooner arrived off" Ocracoke and was intent on sur¬
prising the cutter, but failed. ... On June 1 the
British armed schooner High-flyer was seen off the bar of
Beaufort, and Captain Burns sailed immediately with the
Snap Dragon 'and a noble crew’ for Beaufort. Should the
Snap Dragon be so fortunate as to fall in with High- flyer,
we have no doubt of her success.”

The proximity of the British fleet and the possibility of
attack had now been for four months in the minds of the
people on the seacoast. They had become accustomed to the
situation ; when suddenly unheralded, at daybreak on the
12th of July a fleet of nine ships, among them two brigs and
two schooners, anchored off Ocracoke bar, and nineteen
barges each carrying an 18 pounder carronade and forty

Davie

declines

New Bern

July

1813

228

THE WAR OPENS

Alarm at
New Bern

At Raleigh

men came inside the bar. In the channel lav in fancied

• j

security the privateers Anaconda and the Atlas , and the
revenue cutter, not so well armed. The barges at once at¬
tacked the two armed vessels, and after a spirited resistance
took them, but the greater part of the crews escaped to the
shore. The revenue cutter made sail. It was the expecta¬
tion of the British admiral to seize all the vessels and pro¬
ceed at once to capture New Bern; but although the two
brigs and two schooners came inside and pursuit was made,
the cutter was successful in making her escape, and reached
New Bern. There the inhabitants realized the peril. There
were bustling preparations for battle, and the flight of the
women and children ensued. A committee of safety was
appointed to aid the militia officers in preparing for defense.
Heavy cannon were mounted and breastworks were erected
at different points in the town, and ammunition was col¬
lected from the county, and from Washington and Beau¬
fort. The militia from the adjoining counties flocked in in
great numbers. In a few hours 2,000 men were collecting.

Altogether the British had some thirty barges, arid it was
reported that they had landed a thousand men at Ports¬
mouth and Ocracoke. They collected hundreds of cattle
and sheep which they sent off to the Chesapeake. But
foiled in their hope of surprising New Bern, they made no
further invasion.

On the 16th, four days after the British landing, the news
reached Raleigh. On Sunday, the 18th, Gen. Calvin Jones
with his aides and Captain Clark’s Company of Raleigh
Guards, took the road for New Bern. The ladies of Ra¬
leigh were helpful in preparing them for the hasty march, in
a few hours making for them 100 knapsacks. The next
morning, Governor Hawkins, along with Gen. Robert Wil-
Hams and Major Thomas Henderson, also hurried on, ac¬
companied by Captain Hawkins’s troop of cavalry. The
Governor had lost no time in making requisitions from the
eastern counties for troops, and on Wednesday Colonel

DEFENSE OF NEW BERN

229

Roper and Maj. Daniel L. Barringer led a hundred men
from Wake County to the front. The response to the call
to arms was quick. Detachments were now hurrying from
the interior to the sea coast, great activity pervaded the
country. The supply of munitions was limited. All the
powder and lead that could be found at Raleigh, Hillsboro
and Fayetteville and other places were collected. There
were some arms at Wilmington, and a part of these were
sent to New Bern. While the Governor had the purpose to
be in the front line of battle himself, he conferred the com¬
mand of the sea coast on Gen. Calvin Jones. General Jones
reached New Bern in two days and, fearing lest Beaufort
might be attacked, he sent a large detachment to garrison the
fortifications there, consisting of Fort Hampton, Fort Gas¬
ton and Fort Pigott.

While these preparations were made at New Bern, other
detachments had hurried to Wilmington. There similar
efforts were in progress to withstand the invader. Indeed,
a gale of patriotic ardor swept throughout the whole State,
and the people in unison were responding to their country’s
call ; but unknown to them, the danger had faded away.
After five days passed harmlessly at Ocracoke, the hostile
fleet bore away to the southward, and except for a flag of
truce sent back to Ocracoke with a notice that the entire
coast was declared in blockade, the doughty Admiral Cock-
burn troubled the State no more. However, a period of
uncertainty intervened, and for a month Governor Hawkins
was visiting the fortifications along the coast, and General
Jones was watching with vigilance for the return of the
enemy.

Enterprise of the people

But the alarms of war did not stifle the enterprise of the
people. On June 6, 1813, the Clarendon Steamboat Com¬
pany was formed for the Cape Fear River. In a few

The State
aroused

June

1813

230

THE WAR OPENS

Steamboat

Iron mills

Biog. Hist.,
IV, 310-311

1813

Gaston’s

attitude

hours $12,000 was subscribed at Wilmington and $10,000
at Fayetteville ; and farther northward a line of stages was
put on from Elizabeth City to Portsmouth, Va., yet the
Public Safety Committee at Wilmington presented a me¬
morial to the Governor urging preparations for defense,
and the Governor appointed John H. Bryan Quartermaster-
General and Gabriel Holmes, Inspector-General of the de¬
tached militia of the State.

The first cotton mill

Lincoln County has the distinction of starting up the
first cotton mill that was successful south of the Potomac
and it also was early in iron manufacture. John Fulen-
wider, an educated engineer of Wales, having located in
Lincoln County, began there the development of the iron
industry, erecting furnaces and rolling mills and operating
the first nail machine ever used in America. During the
war of 1812-14 he supplied cannon balls for the use of the
army. In the same vicinity John Hoke, associated with a
neighbor, Michael Schenck, erected in 1813 the first cotton
mill and operated it successfully, and it was continued by
their families until the War Between the States. Among
the descendants of John Hoke were Michael Hoke, General
Hoke and Chief Justice Hoke.

While perils were threatening New Bern, Hannah Gaston,
the wife of William Gaston, died on July 13, leaving several
infant children, but Gaston was at his post at Washing¬
ton. Speaking on Webster’s resolution on July 19, he said:
‘‘It will not be deemed egotism, I trust, to add that bap¬
tised an American in the blood of a murdered father;
bound to my native land by every moral and natural tie that
can fasten on the heart of man ; with not one motive of in¬
terest, of passion, or prejudice to seduce the loyalty of my
affections ; never can I separate myself from the cause of
my country, however that cause may have been betrayed by
those to whose care it was confided.”

s s irg” - . . . . . . . . . . . . "" «■■»» «■ . . . — li a a

1. The Fries Cotton Mill at Salem

2. Michael Schenck-Hoke Cotton Mill at Lincolnton, 1813

3. Spinning Wheel and Loom

0 0 l*"" . i" 7i hi ~ . i~ . . - Q (T)

WASP AND FROLIC

231

The year 1814 opened with the war still flagrant. The
British fleet had possession of the Chesapeake Bay and
threatened every point on the coast. Still the situation did
not interrupt the accustomed life of the people. In
February the stay law expired, and no hardships seemed to
result. The academies that dotted nearly every county in
the State were not closed. An orphan asylum had been
organized at Fayetteville and the North Carolina Bible So¬
ciety formed. In Lenoir County a military and literary
society had been incorporated, and Thespian associations
organized at Salisbury, Raleigh, and Fayetteville, and at
Wilmington the Thalian Society that continued its existence
many years. But the war had its incidents. In October,
1812, just off the coast of North Carolina an engagement
took place between 'the British ship Frolic and the American
sloop Wasp. The battle was so fierce that when the Ameri¬
can captors boarded the Frolic to haul down the British
flag, .they found no one on deck but the helmsman ; the sur¬
vivors had retired below. Preparations were made along
the coast for defense. At Wilmington a committee of
safety of which Robert Cochran was president, with the
concurrence of the military authorities and Governor Haw¬
kins, purchased Clark’s Island, four miles below the town,
taking title to the Governor of the State, and erecting forti¬
fications on it at a cost of over two thousand dollars. After
the war the Legislature directed the Governor to convey
the title to Cochran in trust to repay the persons who
originally furnished the funds expended. On the land,
generally, the military operations had been unfortunate and
inglorious, but notwithstanding Mr. Macon’s aversion to
naval operations, on the sea it was otherwise. The flag
was often borne to glorious victory. In these glories North
Carolina had her share.

1814

Social

conditions

The Wasp
takes the
Frolic

232

THE WAR OPENS

The Snap
Dragon

Johnson

Blakely

June, 1814

On the sea

Otway Burns made application for letters of marque
dated July i, 1813, specifying that the Snap Dragon was
147 tons, carried a crew of 75 men, 5 carriage guns and 50
muskets. In a subsequent voyage he carried 127 men.
She ranged from Newfoundland to South America. Dur¬
ing the first seven months of 1814 she captured 2 barks,
5 brigs, and 3 schooners, the cargoes being valued at one
million dollars ; and she took 250 prisoners. But at length
Captain Burns being laid up, the commission was given to
Lieutenant DeWhaley, who in an encounter with the British
man of war Leopard was with many of the crew slain and
the vessel surrendered. The Snap Dragon was conveyed to
England and the crew confined in Dartmoor prison.

Another naval officer of great renown was Capt. John¬
son Blakely. Born in Ireland, his father had brought him
to Wilmington while a boy. His parents having died, and
he having inherited some means, he was brought into court

to select a guardian. He selected his father’s friend, Col.

, «

Edward Jones, himself an Irishman, the distinguished
Attorney-General of the State. Colonel Jones had him
well educated at Flatbush, Long Island, and at the Univer¬
sity, and in 1800 secured his appointment in the naval
service. He served in an expedition against the Barbary
States and became an officer of recognized merit. Com¬
manding the Wasp in Tune, 1814, he appeared off the coast
of England and in a fierce engagement captured the British
sloop of war Reindeer. Burning his prize, in August he
fell in with the ship Avon, which he captured, but he was
driven off by the near approach of several other men of war.
He then, in two weeks, took fifteen British vessels. On one
of these prizes, he placed a crew and sent dispatches home,
which came safely, but that was the last known of the
Wasp. The gallant Blakely and his crew perished at sea.
In November the private armed schooner Saratoga arrived at

TIDE OF WAR TURNS

233

Wilmington from a cruise in the British Channel, and
brought papers with accounts of the battle between the
Wasp and Avon. The London papers made great com¬
plaints of the injury suffered from American privateers,
“which are so audacious as to take British vessels and prop¬
erty at their very doors.”

Failures on land

The campaign at the northwest had never been satisfac¬
torily conducted. General after general in that region had
ignominiously failed. It was during that period of despond¬
ency that Archibald Murphey wrote: “I pray God to give
us peace, and save us from further disgrace. We shall get
out of the war loaded with debt and taxes, defeat and dis¬
grace.” And some of the people became dispirited. The
war spirit gave place to peace sentiment. Opposition to
the administration strongly developed. Indeed, the Fed¬
erate in North Carolina were exulting in their hopes and
eagerly dispatched the news northward. Yancey at Wash¬
ington wrote to Ruffin : “The Federals here are in fine
spirits from the information they have received from their
friends in our State. They expect the whole State with
the exception of one or two members will be Federal.” At
length, however, in General Brown a more fortunate cam¬
paigner was found. Early in July, 1814, he brought on
the battle of Chippewa, routing the British, and, after other
advantageous movements, the battle of Lundy’s Lane,
within half a mile of Niagara Falls. Few encounters have
ever been more sanguinary. Both sides retired from the
field satisfied with the slaughter, but the tide was turned.
Brig. Gen. Winfield Scott was the hero of the campaign.
General Swift, in his History of New York, however,
awards the credit of that campaign to Capt. William Mc-
Ree of the Engineers, who, it was said, planned the details.
Captain McRee was of the Bladen and New Hanover
family, distinguished in several generations for intellectu¬
ality and manhood as for high personal character.

July, 1814

McRee

234

THE WAR OPENS

Niles
Reporter,
July 16,
1814

Biog. Hist.,
VII, 102

Ulna

Blakely

Another North Carolina army officer won fame, Benjamin
Forsyth of Stokes County. In 1809, having received a
commission as captain in the army, he was assigned to the
command of a company in the Rifle Regiment and was
serving at the north in 1812. In September, 1812, he em¬
barked with 100 men at Cape Vincent on the St. Lawrence
and fell down the river to Leeds, and destroyed the British
storehouse there and successfully returned, bringing a large
supply of captured military stores. In the following Feb¬
ruary, with two hundred men in ships, he left Ogdensburg
and proceeded up the river and, crossing over to Elizabeth¬
town, took 52 prisoners and a considerable quantity of
munitions, without the loss of a man. After various other
encounters he was commissioned Lieutenant Colonel, but un¬
happily fell in a skirmish near Odeltown. A plan had been
devised to draw the British into an ambuscade. Forsyth
was directed to attack and retreat, and thus draw the
enemy on, but in the encounter he fell, the only man in his
command who was killed. “He was a terror to the enemy,
and among the best partisan officers who ever lived.” He
left a son and four daughters. The Legislature directed
that the son, James* N. Forsyth, should be educated at the
expense of the State and be presented with a sword. Later
he became a midshipman, and unhappily he perished at
sea in the wreck of the Hornet in 1829 before he was
twenty-one years of age. The county of Forsyth was in
1849 named in honor of Col. Benjamin Forsyth. And sim¬
ilarly, the Legislature which had during his life directed
a sword to be presented to Blakely, now made another pro¬
vision ; the gallant seaman had left only one child, a daugh¬
ter, LTlna ; she too was adopted by the State ; an appropria¬
tion was made for her education, and, in lieu of the sword,
a set of silver plate was presented to her. She went with
her mother to St. Croix in the West Indies, where she mar¬
ried ; but soon after died.

JACKSON DEFEATS INDIANS

235

The Indians

The Indians had been stirred up by a fanatical prophet,
Tecumseh, who was killed in the great battle of Chip¬
pewa; and the Cherokees and Creeks in Alabama and Geor¬
gia now began hostilities, and the settlers, many from North
Carolina, took refuge in Fort Minims, on the Chattahoochee
River. The Indians having succeeded in taking this fort,
where there were 553 whites, massacred them, only five
or six escaping. This aroused the whole southern country
to action while the whites virtually abandoned Alabama.
The militia of Tennessee and Georgia and Louisiana and
Mississippi hurried forward. Andrew Jackson, a general
of militia in Tennessee, hastened to the scene and a thousand
North Carolinians from the western counties, under Gen.
Joseph Graham, rushed to his assistance. Jackson, how¬
ever, had defeated the Indians in a great battle at Horse
Shoe Bend before Graham reached him, but Graham’s North
Carolinians assisted in capturing those who were still in
arms. Jackson was quickly appointed Major General in the
army of the United States and given command at the South.
It was the beginning of his phenomenal career.

The Albemarle militia goes to Norfolk

Norfolk being again threatened in the fall of 1814, the
President made a requisition on North Carolina for a de¬
tachment of militia to be mustered into the service of the
United States and to hold Norfolk. Some fifteen hundred
of the militia were concentrated at Gates Courthouse. They
were from the Albemarle district, including the counties of
Halifax, Warren and Nash. Gen. Calvin Jones was the
quartermaster. The detachment assembled at Gates Court¬
house towards the end of September and, under the com¬
mand of Gen. Jeremiah Slade and unarmed, marched in
detachments to Norfolk, where they were mustered into
the service of the United States. There they remained for

Fort Minims

Graham’s

army

Andrew

Jackson

1813

Winborne :
county of
Hertford

236

THE WAR OPENS

Ruffin,
I, 154

Allen: Hist,
of Halifax,
71

Andrew

Joyner

weeks, ready and waiting for the enemy. They were spec¬
tators of the battle of Craney Island, where the British fleet
was driven back. They were not entirely disbanded until
the treaty of peace.

The second regiment

In addition to the first regiment that marched from Gates
Courthouse to Norfolk, a second regiment was organized
at Hillsboro, November 28, 1814, composed of companies
from Chatham, Person, Caswell, Rockingham, Guilford,
Randolph, Stokes, Surry and Wilkes, of which Col. Richard
Atkinson of Person was the lieutenant-colonel commanding,
and James Campbell was first major. This new regiment
reached Norfolk on December 27. The troops were pro¬
vided with thin tents and it was some weeks before they
were housed, and they suffered from the irregularity with
which they were supplied with wood and other necessaries.
These troops fell victims to disease. “At the Peach Orchard
where the first regiment was stationed, there were 61 deaths
by December 7, but in the second regiment while 276
were on the sick list, only 8 had so far died." The second
regiment was at camp about a mile out of the city. Captain
Young’s company was stationed at Craney Island.

After the capture of Washington City and the repulse of
the British at Baltimore, the British admiral apparently pro¬
posed the capture of Norfolk, but when he was ready, he
found the Americans also ready. He entered Elizabeth
River, opened a bombardment on Craney Island, but being
repulsed, sailed away.

The North Carolina troops soon afterwards returned to
the State. While the troops suffered from the dreadful
sickness which carried off so many of the First Regiment,
Hiey lost none in battle.

SENATOR STONE UNDER FIRE 237

Stone's retirement

Now occurred the tragic ending of a career that had been
exceptionally brilliant. Perhaps no other native had been
so favored by fortune as David Stone. In December, 1812,
he had been elected the second time as United States Senator
and necessarily he was expected to support the war meas¬
ures of the administration, a course, however, he declined to
follow. He seems to have fallen under the influence of
Massachusetts's disloyal leadership, and when the Assembly
met in November, 1813, so shocked and outraged were the
Republican members of the body, that resolutions were in¬
troduced reciting the several tergiversations imputed to
him ; that he had voted against the direct tax to support the
war, against the embargo, against prohibiting illicit inter¬
course and correspondence by the British Tories with the
Indian enemies under British dominance, and against the
appointment of Gallatin as Ambassador to Russia.

Senator Stone attended at Raleigh, and he later asserted
that his purpose was to resign and retire to private life, but
he found so much excitement prevailing that it forbade him
from entrusting the Assembly with the election of a new
Senator, so he held on. A joint committee of the two
houses on December 13, 1813, brought in a report stating isi3
his defection from the administration, although elected as
a supporter of the war, and closing with the resolution :

“That the said David Stone hath disappointed the reasonable
expectations and incurred the disapprobation of this Gen¬
eral Assembly.” This resolution was adopted by a small
majority in each house. Fourteen Senators protested Bi HUt
against it, among them Archibald D. Murphey, and in the IV> 422
House 42 protested, among them Duncan Cameron, James
Iredell, Maurice Moore, Paul Barringer and William Boy-
lan. The line between the Republicans and Federalists was
drawn. The Federalists in the State were following Massa¬
chusetts. When the Legislature was about to meet in

238

THE WAR OPENS

1814

Death of
Stone

Hoyt:
Murphey,
I, 77

November, 1814, Senator Stone placed his resignation in the
hands of Governor Hawkins, who laid it before the House
on December 5. Thus ended a phenomenal career. Gov¬
ernor Stone retired to a farm in the vicinity of Raleigh, and
four years later died there at the age of 44 years.

When the Assembly met in November, 1814, there were
several vacant positions open to the ambitious. Judge
Locke, after ten years service, had resigned from the bench
and Duncan Cameron had been appointed by the Governor
to fill the vacancy ; now the Legislature was to elect. Gov¬
ernor Hawkins’s term had expired and a new Governor
was to be chosen. And Senator Stone had at last resigned
in a dramatic way.

The usual custom of elections was now varied. The houses
having chosen their former speakers, agreed to ballot foi
a judge, but before the voting began, the proposition was
reconsidered and a caucus was held. Then a ^sub-caucus”
was held, at which it was agreed to elect Miller Governor,
and James Mebane Senator. Later, since Outlaw wished
to be Governor, in the interest of Miller it was proposed to
substitute Outlaw for Mebane in the Senate, but the caucus
was not strong enough. Cameron was elected judge, and
Locke U. S. Senator ; Miller, however, won the Governor’s
office. The first ballot stood, .Miller 95, Outlaw 10, and
Col. William Polk, a Federalist, 83. There was some inad¬
vertence in the count, and it was held “no election.” Mur¬
phey, a Senator, wrote that if the election had been post¬
poned a day, Outlaw would have been chosen, but for him¬
self, he could not vote for either of them. And singularly
enough, while Francis Locke was elected U. S Senator, he
never qualified. The seat remained vacant.

CHAPTER XVI

The Hartford Convention

1815

The Hartford Convention. — The Federal party falls into odium.

— The victory at New Orleans. — The Treaty of Peace. — Republi¬
cans in ascendancy. — The poor conditions in the State. — Emi¬
gration. — The Quakers. — No free schools. — Governor Miller’s mes¬
sage. — Murphey’s reports. — The Legislature acts. — The Statue of
Washington. — Macon Senator, Gaston in the House. — The Coloni¬
zation Society. — Branch Governor. — Internal Improvements. —

The New Bern Steamboat Company. — Public instruction. — Mur¬
phey’s plan.— Inland navigation. — Financial conditions. — The
Cherokee lands acquired. — Yadkin canal. — The penitentiary.

> ew England holds a convention

The war in Europe had ceased with the battle of Waterloo
and Great Britain’s hands were now free to conquer Amer¬
ica. Our peace commissioners had met those of Great
Britain, but our haughty foe sought to impose dishonorable
terms as if she had already won the war. When these re¬
quirements were communicated to Congress and made public
a wave of indignation and of patriotic ardor swept over
the country, except alone in New England; there disloyalty
prevailed. In 1814 the Legislature of Massachusetts rec¬
ommended that a convention of delegates from the New
England States should be held, and at once set the example
of appointing twelve delegates. The Legislatures of Rhode
Island and Connecticut followed by appointing their dele¬
gates, but Vermont and New Hampshire did not concur.
On November 24, 1814, Murphey wrote to Ruffin: “I be¬
lieve the government is on the brink of dissolution. New
England is determined on her course and I see nothing
that can arrest it. Augur no good from the votes of New
Hampshire and Vermont. All the northern states will con¬
federate and, having amended the Constitution, leave it
to us to unite with them or not. My spirits are depressed.
I see nothing but ruin and confusion before us.”

1814

Hoyt :
Murphey
Papers, I, 76

240

THE HARTFORD CONVENTION

The New England Convention met at Hartford on Dej
cember 15. There were twenty-six delegates in attendance,
among them one from Vermont and two from New Hamp¬
shire. They sat with closed doors, their proceedings being
veiled in secrecy. On January 4, 1815, they published a
report recommending seven amendments to the Constitution ;
that representation should be based on the white population ;
that the President should not be elected from the same state
two terms in succession; and, further, that the legislatures,
of the states represented in the Convention should adopt
measures to protect their citizens from certain acts of
Congress. The resolutions recommended were later adopted
by Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

The language used by the Convention admitted the con¬
struction that the Convention proposed to dissolve the
Union; but in any light, a combination was formed the
„ effect of which was to enfeeble the government in the hour

History of Gf cpre necessitv ' and to encourage the hopes and projects

U. S., Ill,

400 of the enemy. The Convention was the work of New

England Federalists and its action was so repugnant to
American principles that it turned the patriotic hearts of
the people from the Federal party. That party fell into
odium and eventually became moribund.

While the Hartford Convention was in progress a Treaty
of Peace was signed at Ghent on December 24, but nearly
two months passed before the news reached America.

Andrew

Jackson

The victory at New Orleans

In September some fifteen thousand British troops, no
longer needed in Europe, had been dispatched to take New
Orleans and Mobile. Andrew Jackson was in command
of that part of the Union. He was well sustained by the
Southern people. On the 8th of January he met the
enemy and was the victor. It was the most glorious battle
fought during the war. The repulse of the British veterans
was overwhelming. Now despondency gave place to high

THE WAR ENDS GLORIOUSLY

241

elation. Patriotic ardor stirred the breast of every true
American. However, a month later the news of the treaty
reached Washington. On February 1, the treaty having
been received, was ratified, and the good news flew through
the country. America had won the war. Blessed peace
had come! and what was called the Second War for Amer¬
ican Independence had ended in a blaze of glory.

Toward the end of the war feeling had not been favor¬
able to the administration. The flight of the President, the
capture of Washington City, the burning of the Capitol and
the inadequate provision made for defense were heavy
weights for the administration leaders to carry. Indeed,
Macon had not been a cordial supporter of war measures,
while the Federalists had been urgent in opposition. But
the war had terminated fortunately, and as the wave of
rejoicing swept over the country, the people turned again
to the support of the Administration. In North Carolina,
Republicans continued in control of the Assembly and re¬
gained several of the Congressional districts they had pre¬
viously lost. John R. Donnell, writing to Thomas Ruffin,
congratulated him “on the unexpected triumphs of our Re¬
publican friends in almost every part of the State in the
late Congressional canvass.” It was indeed the end of
the Federal party in the State; after this, the odium into
which the New England Federalists had fallen bore so heav¬
ily on their friends that their southern confreres generally
withdrew from them. Indeed, they became stigmatized as
“Blue Light Federalists,” the reference being to the allega¬
tion that when our naval vessels, the Macedonian and the
United States, were attempting to pass to sea at night from
New London, their escape was frustrated by means of blue
light signals, used by traitors to warn the blockading
British fleet.

Peace

The Federal¬
ists odious

Ruffin, I,
161

The Blue
Lights

242

THE HARTFORD CONVENTION

Conditions in 1815

A view of conditions in the State at this period, how¬
ever, presents a picture far from inspiring. As listed for
taxation by the proprietors, the general average of land
value was about $1.33 an acre. In Northampton and Hali¬
fax it was about $5.00. In the northern central counties,
from Orange, east and west, it was higher than in any other
section, while in some of the long settled eastern counties
it was very low, perhaps because of the uncleared swamps
and worthless savanna lands, as in New Hanover, where
it was only about sixty cents an acre. But the commissioners
to assess land for the United States direct taxes for the year
1815 estimated the average value at $2.60, almost twice as
much as that given in for State taxation. The valuation of
slaves in the counties shows that in Caswell, Person, Gran¬
ville, Nash, Franklin, and Warren the slaves were more
valuable than the land, and in Wilkes, Iredell, Rowan, Meck¬
lenburg, Lincoln, Burke and other western counties, the
slaves were valued at more than half that of the land.

Transportation

The handicap of the western counties was their inade¬
quate transportation facilities ; while the eastern ports were
deprived of the trade of the interior since the most accessible
markets for the west were in South Carolina and Virginia.
One of the first great turnpikes was from Morganton by
way of Kings Mountain to Charleston, S. C. ; others led
toward Petersburg, and further east Norfolk was the easiest
market. The general effect was to keep the value of the
The markets products of the west at a low point and to limit the trade
of the merchants of the east, who thus made no profit either
in handling the exported products or in supplying the in¬
terior with necessaries. The profits accrued to the mer¬
chants of Virginia and South Carolina, and it was con¬
sidered that they amounted to about half a million of dollars

WHEN LIVING CAME HIGH

243

each year. As a result of these conditions, there was but
little cash accumulated through enterprise and industry;
nor were there many channels open for the investment of
money. Indeed, the only investment, other than negroes
and lands, seems to have been bank stock.

No record was kept of coastwise shipments, but it appears
that the foreign exports of all the other North Carolina
ports were only about one-third those of Wilmington, for the
produce of the northeastern counties went chiefly to
Virginia. Towards the south it was different. Fayette¬
ville, at the head of water transportation on the Cape Fear,
was the center of a considerable trade, and was the most
populous, wealthiest and most important town in the State.
Domestic produce shipped by Fayetteville in 1816 included
2,337 hogsheads of tobacco; 8,252 bales of cotton; 11,813
bushels of wheat; 12,962 barrels of flour; 5,164 casks flax
seed; 29,761 gallons of spirits of turpentine, the whole ag¬
gregating $1,331,368. Wilmington’s export trade for six
months of the same year, included lumber, $157,290; naval
stores, $131,000; products of agriculture, $1,112,300.

Prices of merchandise were high. Dr. Battle, with the
books of a mercantile firm at Raleigh before him, wrote as
to values in 1815: “I have a guilty sensation, like that of
an eavesdropper, in seeing what the belles and beaux of that
period were accustomed to buy ; ribbons and combs, and
calicoes, silk handkerchiefs, teas and coffee and (shall I tell
on them?) brandy and rum. A dozen needles cost 25 cents,
a silk handkerchief, bandana, $1.25, a muslin handker¬
chief 70 cents ; a yard of broadcloth $7.00 ; a pound of pepper
70 cents; a pair of cotton hose $1.40; a dozen pewter plates
$4.50; a pound of hyson tea $2.50; a yard of linen 70 cents;
a pound of gunpowder $1.00, and a pound of shot 15 cents.
Nails were sold by number, fifty ten-penny nails for 15
cents. Brandy was cheaper, $1.60 a gallon, but loaf sugar
for sweeting the julep was 45 cents a pound.”

Fayetteville

Exports
Flax seed,
flour, etc.

Prices

244

THE HARTFORD CONVENTION

Southern

Quakers,

258

At that period there were looms in nearly every house and
flax was converted into linen, wool into jersey, and cotton
into cloth — the people dressing generally in homespun.
The pine, along with candles and oil lamps, furnished
lights. The food was the product of the farm and gardens
and in every community were potters, shoemakers, carpen¬
ters and others adept in the various handicrafts.

Emigration

From the time when the first migrations beyond the
mountains began there had been removals to the western
wilderness. While this call found response in the frontier
and central counties, it also led to a considerable movement
even from the sea coast region. A notable instance had
occurred in 1800. There were two original settlements of
Quakers in the State, one in the Albemarle section, and
one, later, from Pennsylvania and Maryland and even
Massachusetts in the western counties, with the center at
New Garden. Also a considerable number of Friends had
located in Jones County and the contiguous territory form¬
ing what was known as the Contentnea Quarter. In 1800
all of that Quaker settlement removed to Ohio, and from
that time onward there were movements from New Garden
and from Albemarle to the country north of the Ohio River.
While the spirit of enterprise and hope of advantage were
controlling motives, yet disapproval of slavery was likewise
a factor. Many of the Quakers, being opposed to slavery,
sought homes where it did not exist. But the loss of popu¬
lation by the removal of the Quakers was slight in com¬
parison to that occasioned by the exodus of others to the
new lands now open to entry. Thousands of the German
Lutherans, and some of the Guilford Quakers, moved north
of the Ohio, while the more eastern emigrants went south
and west. The movement was induced by the little cost
of entry and the speedy increase in value by the great stream
of immigrants rushing in to possess the lands. The white

DISCOURAGING CONDITIONS

245

population during the previous decade had increased but 12
per cent, whereas a normal increase would have been be¬
tween 16 and 20 per cent. Indeed the free blacks increased
through emancipation 45 per cent while there had been an
increase in slaves of 25 per cent, although many of the whites
going to the south carried their negroes with them.

As the transportation facilities throughout the State
were very poor the western counties found their most
convenient markets in South Carolina and Virginia. It
was to remedy this condition that continued efforts were
made to open the water-courses to transportation ; and turn¬
pikes were chartered here and there at the west, allowing
tolls to be charged for their use. Living conditions in the
interior must indeed have been discouraging, produce yield¬
ing but small returns for industry, while prices of necessa¬
ries brought from abroad were high.

Ko free schools

As yet the State had not engaged in public education ; and
although there was a multiplication of academies, the policy
of free schools had not been adopted. Indeed, while Massa¬
chusetts had early required her townships to maintain schools
at which indigents might be taught, these schools were
largely supported by the individual patrons. It does not
appear that even as late as 1815 there was in any state a
free school system maintained by state taxation. Connect¬
icut had in 1795 appropriated the proceeds of her lands in
Ohio for a school fund, but there was no state taxation
for education, nor had New York a system of free educa¬
tion in 1815. The next year, however, that state opened
free schools, the first ever sustained by general taxation.
In North Carolina the need for transportation being
pressing, conditions were unfavorable for taxation for
schools ; and despite the numerous academies conducted in
the counties, the number of illiterates increased. However,
the absence of free schools could not have influenced

At the west

Situation

elsewhere

246

THE HARTFORD CONVENTION

Dec., 1816

Miller urges
equality of
opportunity

wealthy, educated families to remove into the far wilderness
where there were no schools at all.

The Assembly

When the Assembly met Miller was continued as Gov¬
ernor and John Branch was chosen as Speaker of the Senate.
Governor Miller in his message said : “The progress which
has been made of late in the establishment of seminaries for
the educating of youth evinces a spirit and genius in the
people of this State for literary acquirements. But so long
as these establishments are left to depend for support on
individual exertion, their beneficial effects must necessarily
be partial. It is under the fostering hand of legislative
patronage alone that the temple of science can be thrown
open to all,” and he urged that some plan should be devised
by which “every member of the community, no matter
how circumscribed his situation, may have an opportunity
of experiencing the benefits of education. . . . The great
object of a republic, it seems to me, should be to keep all
the members of the community, as near as possible, on an
equality.” Thus he enforced his views for general educa¬
tion by the State. He also urged the improvement of roads,
cutting canals, and opening the navigation of the rivers.

Murphey’s report

And now Archibald D. Murphey, who united intellectu¬
ality with purpose in a higher degree than any of his con¬
temporaries, became more active than ever in matters that
bore on the improvement of conditions in the State.
Murphey had been well taught and had studied law under
Duffie, a gifted scholar; and he himself had directed the
law studies of Bartlett Yancey, Thomas Ruffin and others
who attained eminence in after life. He was studious, at¬
tentive to details and thorough in the consideration of sub¬
jects; moreover, he was endowed with a lively imagination

MURPHEY’S PROGRESSIVE MEASURES

247

and in his writings selected his words with unusual felicity.
He was bent on State improvement rather than on the
promotion of partisan measures, nor was he alone in such
purposes, for others were in sympathy.

Murphey in his report to the Assembly on Internal Im¬
provements said : “Within 25 years more than 200,000 of
our inhabitants have removed to the waters of the Ohio,
Tennessee and Mobile. Thousands of our wealthy and
respectable citizens are annually moving to the west in
quest of that wealth which a rich soil and a commodious
navigation never fail to create in a free state/’ He urged
that the opening of rivers, cutting of canals and making
turnpikes were of necessary importance. He declared that
at the end of five years the values of land, then estimated
at $53,000,000, would be doubled, and the products, esti¬
mated at $30,000,000, would reach ninety millions, “that our
citizens would then remain and our population in twenty
years would be one and a half millions.” While he advocated
improvement of all roads, he urged particularly cutting
a canal connecting the Yadkin and Cape Fear rivers. His
report was favorably received.

Legislative action

In response to these recommendations there was legis¬
lation to improve the Neuse, the Tar, Yadkin and Roanoke
rivers and other smaller streams. In this matter the As¬
sembly went to the limit of its ability and then, animated
with a desire to do what was practicable in regard to edu¬
cating the poorer children, it appointed a committee to re¬
port a plan and system of public instruction ; and it also
appointed a committee to report on the advisability of estab¬
lishing a penitentiary, but the House rejected the proposi¬
tion to hold a convention to amend the Constitution by 84
to 34. The Governor was directed to proclaim a day of
General Thanksgiving for the successful ending of
the late war, but commendation of the President was

The migra¬
tion

Murphey’s

vision

Efforts for
improvement

248

THE HARTFORD CONVENTION

Statue of
Washington

Jefferson’s
Letters, VI,
534

December,

1815

Macon,

Senator

withheld. An act was passed dividing the State into fifteen
districts for the election of presidential electors. As an
amendment of judicial procedure the judges were now
allowed to grant new trials in criminal cases. At this ses¬
sion, Governor Miller submitted to the Assembly the resolu¬
tions of Massachusetts and Connecticut, the result of the
Hartford Convention, to amend the Constitution in several
particulars, in which the Assembly refused to concur. And
in contrast with the New England spirit, North Carolina
again sought to manifest her devotion to the Union and to
inculcate among her citizens sentiments of reverence for
the founder of the republic by instructing the Governor to
have made a statue of Washington. Later the Governor
reported that he had asked the advice of Macon and all
of our public men. Macon in turn had requested Jefferson
to advise him. No one was probably more competent.
Jefferson’s reply was full and illustrates the extensive and
varied information of that remarkable man. He recom¬
mended that Canova be employed ; that the bust made by
Ceracchi should be the model, and he elucidated every prac¬
tical detail. His advice was followed, and the contract
with Canova was made.

In August, 1815, Macon ‘had as usual been returned to the
House, and when, on December 4, the House met, was in
his seat at Washington. Francis Locke, however, had
resigned as senator ; indeed he had never qualified ; and
the Assembly now cast about to fill the place made vacant
by Stone’s retirement. No one in the State was in the
same sphere as Nathaniel Macon and he was chosen.
He had for a quarter of a century been the leader of the
North Carolina delegation, and of his integrity, candor
and patriotism no one doubted. He had been one of the
very creators of the Republican party, and he had managed
its affairs when Speaker in difficult times with address and
power. He took his seat in the Senate, December 13, and
an election being immediately held for a successor in the

MACON IN THE SENATE

249

House of Representatives, his friend and neighbor, Weldon
N. Edwards, was elected and was sworn in February 7,
1816. Macon’s transfer to the Senate may not have been
agreeable to him at all points, as that body had then but
thirty-six members, but it relieved him from association
with Randolph and some others in the House with whom
he had had divergences that brought regret, and also re¬
lieved him from association with Clay and Calhoun and
others who, while training with the Republican party, had
liberal views of the Constitution that Macon could not
stomach, and, indeed, they derisively called him “Old Fogy.”
The escape was doubtless satisfactory to him.

Gaston in Congress

The withdrawal of Mr. Macon from the House, how¬
ever, did not leave the North Carolina delegation without
distinguished membership. Among others, Mr. Gaston re¬
mained. And Gaston was rated as the peer of Lowndes,
Clay, Calhoun and Webster: indeed, in some material re¬
spects, none of them equaled him. Being opposed to the
administration, his course led him away from Calhoun and
Clay, with both of whom he had some passages in debate.
In February, 1814, when the Loan Bill was before the
House, he reviewed the measures of the administration
with great power. Calhoun interposed, Gaston replied with
such directness that had not Calhoun smoothed the matter
a collision would have occurred.

Later, in January, 1816, as his term was near its close
Gaston spoke on the previous question, following a speech
Speaker Clay had made on the floor. It was one of the
notable speeches delivered in Congress. His reputation
was high and the galleries were crowded. Gaston had
carefully examined all the law and history, in England as
here, on the subject, and had prepared an elaborate and
powerful argument. Speaker Clay had spoken with the
confidence and assurance that at that period characterized

1816

Gaston’s re¬
ply to Clay

250

THE HARTFORD C0NVENTI0X

him. Gaston turning to the Speaker said: "If this hideous
rule could have been vindicated we should have received
that vindication from the gentleman who has just resumed
his seat. If his ingenuity .and zeal combined could form,
for the previous question, no other defense than that which
we have heard, the previous question cannot be defended.
If beneath his shield it found so slight a shelter, it must
fall a victim to the just though delayed vengeance of awak¬
ened and indignant freemen. If Hector cannot protect his
Troy, the doom of Troy is fixed by fate.” Clay was put
in such a sorry plight by the well considered speech of
Gaston that he became personally offended with him ; polit¬
ically, they were already adversaries.

Gaston a few weeks later retired from the national halls,
where Clay remained a great figure. They did not meet
again for many years, indeed not until they had both put
aside their old political associations and had become Whigs.
Then, during a visit of Gaston to Washington they met
Seaton 995 at Mr. Seaton’s table. They each gave a token of recogni¬
tion, but preserved a stately reserve until the host offered
the sentiment: “Friendships in marble, enmities in dust.”
They obeyed the injunction; cordial relations were estab¬
lished and their friendship continued through life.

The Colonization Society

Apprehensions of evil results that might attend emanci¬
pation operated to restrict the right of owners to free their
slaves. To remove fears of insurrection incited by free
negroes, a society was formed in 1816 to colonize the free
negroes, and, indeed, there was some hope that colonization
would open the way to general emancipation. Chief among
the promoters of this society was Judge Bushrod Wash¬
ington of Virginia, its first president; and Henry Clay was
an urgent advocate. Everywhere throughout the Union the
advent of the society was hailed with satisfaction, and
ninety-six subsidiary local societies were formed, chiefly at

MURPHEY’S IMPORTANT WORK

251

the South. There were many organized in North Carolina,
where the Quakers cordially cooperated. The settlement
in Africa was called Monrovia after President Monroe,
who rendered the enterprise much assistance.

Murphey strives for education

When the Assembly met in November, 1816, John,
Branch was Speaker of the Senate, Thomas Ruffin of the
House. On the election of Ruffin to a vacant judgeship,
James Iredell was chosen Speaker. This session deserves
to be considered as a memorable one in its influences on the
thoughts of the people. In the Senate, Romulus M. Saun-.
ders, chairman of the Committee on Propositions and Griev¬
ances, was perhaps the busiest member, but A. D. Murphey’s
work was by far the most important. He was chairman of
the committee to which was referred the subject of “free
school education,’’ of that having in charge inland naviga¬
tion, and that to consider the question of calling a conven¬
tion. On all these he made notable reports that are memo¬
rials of his high patriotism and correct logic ; of his wide
information, his clearness of thought and precision of state¬
ment. At this session John M. Walker, who had been
appointed on the committee to recommend a public school
system, submitted a report, saying, however, that there
had been no meeting of the committee. Likewise
Murphey submitted an elaborate report. But while both
were ordered to be printed neither was acted on. The sub¬
ject was left open. There was no adequate fund for the
purpose.

Murphey’s report went fully into the details of a
statewide system of public instruction.

In his report on inland navigation, Murphey said, “The
true foundations of national prosperity and of national glory
must be laid in a liberal system of internal improvements
and of public education : in a system which shall give en¬
couragement to the cultivation of the soil; which shall give

1816

Murphey’s
Papers, Vol.
II

Improvement
of water
routes

252

THE HARTFORD CONVENTION

Murphey’s
Papers, II,
19

Inequality
of represen¬
tation

Murphey’s
Papers, II,
45

force to the faculties of the mind and establish over the
heart the empire of a sound morality." In this report he
describes the effect of the Gulf Stream on the coast of the
State, mentions- that the inlet through which Raleigh’s ships
entered the sound had long been closed, and he recom¬
mended that another should be opened for Albemarle
Sound. He likewise urged the improvement of Ocracoke
Inlet, and of those of the Cape Fear, and the cutting of a
canal from the waters of the Pamlico and Neuse to Beau¬
fort. And he dwelt on the improvement of the river
courses. He recommended the appointment of a board to
have these matters in charge. He repeatedly urged the
construction of a canal connecting the Yadkin with the Cape
Fear.

Among his remarkable reports was that on the subject
of a convention. He showed that 37 counties with 152,586
whites had 1 1 1 members in the Assembly, while 25 counties
with 234,090 whites had only 74 members. A propor¬
tionate representation would reverse this, giving the 37
counties only 75 members. He declared that one-third
of the State governed the other two-thirds, and urged sub¬
mitting the question to the people.

The currency

The financial condition was not satisfactory. Specie was
scarce, and individuals had been issuing their own due bills
that passed to some extent as currency. The Legislature
asked the State Bank to increase its capital stock, so as to
provide additional circulation. The directors gave reasons
why that was not desirable. From this statement it appears
that about 1797, prior to the establishment of any bank,
the circulation in the State was about $300,000 of State
notes, and an equal amount of specie. In 1811, the circu¬
lating medium was about one million dollars, the bank notes,
although less than one-half, being depreciated. Now the
bank circulation was thought to be nine times greater, and

FINANCIAL CONDITIONS

253

any increase of bank issues would lead to depreciation. The
directors mentioned with some show of pride that when at
the North and elsewhere there had been a suspension of spe¬
cie payments the notes of the North Carolina banks were not
depreciated, but passed current everywhere throughout the
Union, and even at different commercial centers brought a
premium, and were in fact measurably a continental cur¬
rency. And indeed that very circumstance might well have
been a source of pride. In September, 1814, the banks at
the North had suspended specie payment, and their notes
depreciated. The New England and New York notes
fell ten per cent; the Baltimore notes 20 per cent; and
others 25 per cent. The stability of the North Carolina
bank notes presented a gratifying contrast. 'Specie pay¬
ments at the North were not resumed until the establish¬
ment of the United States Bank by Congress ; and now that
bank was about to open a branch in North Carolina, sup¬
plying more notes, which was an additional reason for not
further enlarging the paper circulation. The episode well
illustrates the enlightened judgment and business capacity
of the bankers of the State.

The Cherokees

In the autumn of 1806 deputations of the Cherokee
Indians laid before the President their desire to have a
division between the upper and lower towns, and prayed
that those of the upper towns might remain in their pos¬
session and practice agriculture and become civilized ; while
those of the lower towns desired to have other territory
assigned them across the Mississippi River. The President
answered in 1809 conformably to their wishes, and later
a treaty was made in which it was particularly declared that
to every head of an Indian family residing on lands sur¬
rendered to the United States who may wish to become
citizens of the United States, the Government was to allot

North Caro¬
lina bank
notes

254

THE HARTFORD CONVENTION

Statutes at
Large, VII,
157

Progressive

measures

640 acres of land. So the way was opened for the Cher-
okees of the upper towns to become citizens of the United
States. North Carolina purchased from the Cherokees the
territory making Haywood County, but the rights of the
Indians of that region were safely guarded. Their chief
and agent was John Ross, who exerted a great influence for
good among them. The money derived from the sale of
that land became a fund of great importance and benefit to
the State when later opened for entry.

The committee on the erection of a penitentiary made a
favorable report, and presented a bill to erect one at Fayette¬
ville ; but the House preferred Raleigh as the location, and
on December 19, by a vote of 66 to 56 passed the bill with
the amendment. However, it was not acted on in the
Senate. The ’Assembly was not indifferent to propositions
for improvement and subscribed for 150 shares in the Cape
Fear Navigation Company; and authorized a subscription
of $20,000 for cutting the Yadkin canal. However, it re¬
fused to vest in one company under Delacy acting for
Fulton, the right for the exclusive use of steafnboats on
the waters of the State. On December 25 the Assembly
was informed that the Governor's house was finished and
furnished ready for occupancy.

The year 1816 has been called “The year without a sum¬
mer.” North of the Ohio and Potomac, in every month
there were frost, snow and ice and no crops matured. In
the Southern States it was not so bad, but still the result
was damaging in North Carolina and the progressive spirit
of this Assembly may have been moderated by the existing
conditions.

CHAPTER XVII

Steamboats — Fulton Arrives

Branch Governor. — Renewed efforts for transportation and for
education. — Virginia helps on the Roanoke. — New Bern Steam¬
boat Company incorporated. — Education at Wilmington. — Mur-
phey’s plan. — Yancey proposes a Supreme Court. — Conditions in
1818. — Agriculture. — Death of Grove. — Sunday schools. — Gales’s
enterprise. — Other enterprises. — Wild schemes. — Surveys. — Su¬
preme Court established. — Court reports. — New judges. — Divorces.
— Martin proposes taxation for schools. — The House opposed. —
The North Carolina waters. — Introduction of steamboats. — Presi¬
dent Monroe’s visit. — Maps. — Financial distress. — The disastrous
year at Wilmington. — Fulton arrives. — The Mecklenburg Declara¬
tion first published. — Its genesis. — Alexander’s notes. — The ac¬
count of the Declaration altered. — Discredited. — Jones’s defense
of North Carolina. — The Assembly meets. — Portrait of Washing¬
ton. — The Capitol prepared for the statue. — Movement foil a
convention.

Internal improvements

When the Assembly met John Branch of Halifax was at
first chosen Speaker of the Senate and then Governor, to
succeed Governor Miller; Bartlett Yancey taking his place,
as Speaker, and James Iredell becoming Speaker of the
House.

Renewed efforts were made to secure internal improve¬
ments, and to promote education, Murphey being active in
every matter of importance.

As to river improvement, Treasurer Haywood with three
others had been appointed a commission to visit and report
progress made on the Catawba, Yadkin and Cape Fear;
and he reported that but little work had been done. On
the other hand, Murphey declared that in the State at large
the result was gratifying, and that ten millions of dollars
had been added to the value of property in the State. In
particular, was he specific with regard to the operations on
the Roanoke and Dan rivers. The improvement company

1817

Dec., 1816

Branch,

Governor

256

STEAMBOATS— FULTON ARRIVES

The Roanoke

Navigation

Company

The N ew
Bern Com¬
pany

Education

had “commenced its labors, and within less than twelve
months had produced effects that even the most sanguine
had not hoped for; lands had risen more than 100 per cent
in value along many of the waters of the Roanoke. Boats
had been built and produce brought down the Dan into
the Roanoke to the advantage of the State.”

Virginia had proposed to pass the North Carolina act of
incorporation, and to subscribe $80,000 to the stock of the
company, on certain conditions, which on Murphey’s recom¬
mendation the Legislature agreed to. Truly it seemed that
hopes of State betterment would now be realized. There
were several propositions to secure to persons the exclusive
right to navigate streams with steamboats, but only one was
acted on favorably. The New Bern Steamboat Company
was incorporated, to have a capital stock of $100,000 and to
navigate the waters of the State.

Surveys were ordered to be made of all the principal
rivers, and particularly with a view of constructing canals
connecting their waters. The commissioners appointed on
this work were Peter Browne, John Haywood, Joseph
Gales, William Boylan and A. D. Murphey.

Tlie penitentiary

The proposition to establish a penitentiary now had the
sanction of each house, but the controversy between Fayette¬
ville and Raleigh as to the location again defeated the
measure. Public instruction was also more in the thoughts
of the people. At Wilmington where the Innis Academy
was in operation, the ladies asked for and obtained the
incorporation of the Female Benevolent Society, to care
for girls and give them education. At this session both
Walker’s and Murphey’s reports were considered. Both
favored schools at which every child might receive educa¬
tion ; but while Walker’s provided for the raising of money
to pay for the tuition of the poorer children, Murphey’s
report stated that that would be reported on later.

MURPHEY’S EDUCATIONAL SCHEME

257

Martin offered a bill that provided for a fund to be
raised by local taxation, but it was not considered.

Murphey said in his report: “Your committee feels
proud to look back and review the efforts that have been
made in North Carolina to diffuse public instruction. Few
states have afforded such examples of private munificence
for the purpose.” In this he doubtless had reference to the
considerable number of local academies and private schools
that were dotted all through the State affording an oppor¬
tunity to every child whose friends could avail themselves
of it. But Murphey now, as did the others, urged the edu¬
cation of every child, rich as well as poor, by public free
schools.

Indeed, Murphey’s scheme of education was extensive.
It provided for primary schools in the townships, for acad¬
emies, and for the University, although he regarded that
relatively but few would progress beyond the primary school.
The State was to be divided into ten districts, in each of
which an academy was to be established : and the entire
course was to be at the expense of the State. Under the
circumstances, while Murphey’s report was a memorable
exposition of the general subject, illustrating his fine intel¬
ligence and industry, yet it was certainly an impracticable
measure at that period. None of the propositions were
acted on favorably.

Bartlett Yancey, to whom had been referred that part of
the Governor’s message relating to the judiciary, made a
report providing for a Supreme Court, and for a court
to be held in the western part of the State ; but that measure
also failed. However a proposition to revise the Acts of
Assembly and to declare what British Statutes were in force
in the State was adopted.

Senate
Journal,
1816. p. 36

Hoyt: Mur¬
phey Papers,
IT, 63

A glimpse of conditions

A series of articles on agriculture was being published

in the newspapers; in January, 1818, the twenty-fifth of
17

2S8

STEAMBOATS— FULTON ARRIVES

Death of
Grove

Paper mill
Nail factory

the series appeared. The Agricultural Society of North
Carolina had its annual meeting. On the 4th day of July
there was a celebration at Hillsboro where Col. Wm. Shep-
perd presided. The 16th toast was “The Dagon plow,
clover and plaster ; may our farmers learn their use and
duly appreciate their value. ” “Mr. Blount’s cotton crop,
Washington, was 28,164 pounds on 30 acres, 938 pounds
per acre.’’ “Cotton of superior grade, branded Joseph
Chamblee, Yadkin, shipped from Wilmington to New
York” ; “Because of drought, no corn or cotton in Cabarrus” ;
“Evans, Donaldson & Co. will purchase seed cotton at
the factory at Great Falls on the Tar River.” The factory
on the Tar was then in operation.

On the 30th day of March the distinguished public man
and leading Federalist, William B. Grove, passed away at
Fayetteville. He was then president of the branch of the
U. S. Bank located there. He was so highly venerated that
“the inhabitants of the town resolved to wear a token of
mourning for thirty days.” And on the same day at Pilot
Mountain, Mrs. Priscilla Carmichael died at the age of 113
years ; she had nineteen children and her eldest daughter
was 93 years old. The healthiness of that section was in
contrast with the insalubrity of the eastern counties.

Incidents

The Sunday school begun in Raleigh in 1817 had been
followed by one at Poplar Tent in Mecklenburg.

Raleigh’s waterworks were completed; “bringing water
a mile and a half in wooden pipes, raised by force pumps
no feet into a tower whence it descends to a reservoir in
the State House yard.”

Joseph Gales’s paper mill on the Neuse was in operation
and Mitchael Hofifry & Co. had a nail factory at Raleigh.
“Pews of the new Presbyterian Church were to be sold
February 21.” So well managed was the State Bank that
its stock was 30 per cent above par. Raleigh was enjoying

WILD DREAMS OF PROSPERITY

259

a theater. The Cape Fear Navigation Company was im¬
proving the river up to Haywood ; while the company that
had been organized to render navigable the Neuse from
Raleigh to New Bern was so successful in securing sub¬
scriptions that nearly all the shares were taken.

To construct a road from Fayetteville to Morganton,
persons living within two miles of the road were required
to work it. A road from Burke to Charleston by way of
Kings Mountain was already in operation. Joseph Seawell
was authorized to construct a bridge across the Cape Fear
River at Fayetteville, and he and his associates were to
have the exclusive right to navigate the Cape Fear River
with steamboats for seven years on the condition that
they would keep at least one boat in service. The Hen¬
rietta was now plying regularly between Wilmington and
Fayetteville.

State coaches ran to Salem from Raleigh, and to Ply¬
mouth, with steamboat from Plymouth to Edenton ; and
stages ran to New Bern, where the New Bern Steamboat
Company ran to Elizabeth City, with 'stages to Norfolk.
There were two mails a week between Salem and Raleigh.
The State House was now out of repair and needed addi¬
tional room for offices. Henry Potter, Judge Taylor and
Bartlett Yancey were directed to sell city lots to obtain the
funds to make the alterations.

Wild visions

On the return of the Assemblymen to their homes in
February carrying with them the news of the great achieve¬
ments of the Roanoke Navigation Company, with the prom¬
ise that the improvement of the rivers would have similar
results in every portion of the State, there was a period of
unusual interest in public affairs. “The spirit of canal
and river improvement spread like wildfire. There were
dreams of navigating our streams from near their homes
to the ocean. Raleigh was to receive the vessels of Pam-

The

Henrietta

26o

STEAMBOATS— FULTON ARRIVES

The surveys

lico Sound up Neuse River and Walnut Creek. The pro¬
duce of the Yadkin Valley, from the foot of Blowing Rock
was to cross by canal to Deep River and be exported from
Wilmington, and the puffing of steamboats was to echo
from the mountains which look down on the headwaters of
the Catawba and the Broad." Such is the lively picture
drawn by the careful Dr. K. P. Battle.

Under such circumstances a strong Assembly came to
Raleigh. Among the members were Gaston, Saunders
Iredell, Stanly, McKay, Yancey, Murphey, Kenan, Bedford
Brown, Louis D. Wilson, Simmons Baker, Meares, Mebane,
Willie P. Mangum, Charles Fisher, Caldwell of Iredell, and
Zebulon Baird ; and there were others of similar strength.

Ambitious projects

In the Assembly, Murphey submitted a report from the
commission appointed to employ "a principal engineer" and
other engineers and to cause surveys to be made of the
rivers, in which it was said that no “principal engineer"
could be obtained in this country, for all competent men were
otherwise employed ; that their chairman, Peter Browne,
had gone to England and the commissioners had requested
him to engage one abroad. A detailed report of the several
surveys made was submitted. Dr. Caldwell and Prof.
Mitchell made the survey of the Yadkin Narrows and
Great Falls. John Price, the compiler of the map of the
State, and Clemens made several surveys. Surveys were
made of the Cape Fear, the Yadkin, and other streams;
and routes for canals connecting several of them. Nor
was the project of developing water transportation con¬
fined to the streams. Murphey proposed a survey for in¬
land communication from Pamlico Sound to the Cape Fear ;
and from the Cape Fear to South Carolina. If most of
this was visionary, some substantial action was taken, and
work was ordered to remove the obstructions of the Cape
Fear River below Wilmington. Whatever doubts mav have

SUPREME COURT ESTABLISHED

261

been entertained about the efficiency of water transportation
were dissipated, progress was now to be made.

The Supreme Court

And in the fullness of time, the judicial system of the
State was given its final form. The Court of Conference
had been replaced by a Supreme Court, of which each of
the Superior Court judges was a potential member, only
two being necessary for a quorum. Of the Court of Con¬
ference John Louis Taylor was the Chief Justice and the
only one. It had a seal and the judges were required to
write out their opinions ; but in some states there were
Supreme Court judges who only heard appeals, and year
after year there were propositions to establish such a high
court in North Carolina. At length in 1818 Gaston presented
such a measure and it was passed. Three Supreme Court
judges were to be elected. When organized, the court chose
Taylor its Chief Justice. Along with the establishment of
this court, the Legislature provided a salary of $500 for a The reports
reporter, who was to furnish the State 142 copies of reports
of decisions. Before that there had been published at pri¬
vate venture reports compiled by Francois Xavier Martin
containing decisions of the Superior Court and of the U. S.

Circuit Court; by Judge John Haywood reports containing
decisions of the Superior Court, Court of Conference, and
the Federal courts, between 1797 and 1806. Chief Justice
Taylor published reports for 1799, and Conference reports,
and Archibald Murphey published reports for 1804 to 1810.

Taylor also published the North Carolina Law Repository,
the first volume containing State reports for 1811 and 1812
and selected decisions elsewhere, along with sketches of
eminent jurists; and this was followed by a second volume
in 1815, and Taylor's Term Reports in 1816. Murphey
then published a report for 1817. Such had been the pub¬
lications up to the time of the organization of the new
Supreme Court and the employment of a State reporter.

262

STEAMBOATS— FULTON ARRIVES

Divorces

allowed

Senate

Journal

1818

The Legislature also now appointed Henry Potter, Bart¬
lett Yancey and Chief Justice Taylor to revise the statutes
of the State.

Changes on the bench

There being three vacancies on the Superior Court bench,
John Paxton, John D. Toomer and Frederick Nash were
chosen. Neither Paxton nor Toomer remained long on
the bench, although Judge Toomer was eminent in the pro¬
fession; but it was the beginning of an illustrious judicial
career for Judge Nash. A few days later, the Assembly
adopted a resolution that in its opinion no judge ought to be
a director in any bank and contemporaneously with the
adoption of that resolution, Judge Ruffin, who was hardly
warm in his seat on the bench, resigned and his preceptor
in law, Mr. Murphey, succeeded him.

In 1814, the Superior courts were authorized to grant
divorces from bed and board and to allow alimony, but
the Legislature reserved to itself the right of granting
absolute divorces, annulling the marriage tie ; the practice
as to these being for the court to examine the witnesses and
present the facts to the Legislature for its action. Now,
four years later, the Superior courts were for the first time
vested with the power of granting absolute divorces.

The House opposed to taxes

William Martin of Pasquotank from the Committee
on Public Instruction reported , a bill authorizing the county
courts to establish one or more public schools in each cap¬
tain’s district; the teacher to be paid, two-thirds by the pay
pupils and one-third by taxation ; the poor children shall
be taught free and books furnished them. This was some¬
what similar to the Massachusetts system. This bill passed
the Senate 52 to 2, but it was postponed in the House.
Such was the fate of every effort to establish schools by
taxation. The Senate, being perhaps of a higher order of

SOUNDS AND RIVERS

263

statesmanship than the House, was hampered by the major¬
ity of that body, although there were many members of
fine intelligence in the House also. The failure to move
forward now was an illustration of the inaction of a too
conservative democracy.

Tlie North Carolina waters

From the Virginia line to South Carolina the ocean bank
is generally a sand ridge varying in width from a few
miles to a hundred yards, but with capes jutting out as at
Hatteras and Lookout and at the mouth of the Cape Fear.
Within the banks at the north are Albemarle and Pamlico
sounds, whose waters extend westward over a hundred
miles to the mouths of the Chowan, Roanoke, Tar and
Neuse; and there are inlets breaking through the banks,
the principal ones being near Roanoke Island and at Ocra-
coke. Lower down are Beaufort harbor and the mouth of
the Cape Fear River. From the water level for more
than one hundred miles inland is the Coastal Plain that
rises about a foot to the mile, often being so level that
water barely passes ofif. Here are the great swamps that
were a menace to health, while too vast to be drained
through private enterprise. But here also were great forests
that yielded lumber and naval stores for export.

Along the western confines of this plain were the rocks
that made the falls in the river courses, as in the counties of
Halifax, Nash, Wake, Moore, and Montgomery; and now
began the Piedmont region, gently rising for two hundred
miles to the mountains, with hills here and there almost
mountainous. Then at the west is the Blue Ridge, running
from the South Carolina line to Ashe County, curving and
with a broken chord between the eastern extremities. Be¬
yond the Blue Ridge are ranges and spurs to the Alle-
ghanies, with valleys and plateaus, and nearly a hundred
peaks reaching six thousand feet, all covered with rich soil
and clothed in verdure. In Ashe County New River runs

264

STEAMBOATS— FULTON ARRIVES

northward, flowing into the Ohio; while Toe River
passes into Tennessee, as do the French Broad and
other western streams. But the Catawba and Yadkin, rising
on the eastern slopes of the Blue Ridge, run northward,
until reaching more level beds, they bend to the eastward
and finally turn sharply to the southward, the Catawba
passing into South Carolina west of Charlotte, and the
Yadkin keeping some fifty miles farther east. The Catawba
in its courses is generally placid and with only a slight
current, and navigable for boats, but with some shallows
here and there; and so with the Yadkin until it reaches,
in Montgomery County, the gorge formed by the en¬
croachment of the Uwharrie Mountains upon its channel.
There it suddenly plunges a sheer cataract of ten feet into
the head of the Narrows through which it passes a swift
torrent, compressed into a width of sixty feet, for nearly
three miles; then leaving the gorge, it at once expands into
a breadth of a thousand yards, and becomes a scene of
verdure caused by the Grassy Islands.

Along the Virginia line, the Dan, rising in Stokes County,
courses eastward, passes into Virginia, where it joins the
Roanoke which presently comes into the State, being a
wide and placid stream until it reaches the rapids in Halifax
County ; its waters finally emptying into Albemarle Sound.

The Haw and the Deep in the central counties unite and
form the Cape Fear that from Fayetteville down is a gentle,
wide and deep stream. The Tar and the Neuse, draining the
middle counties, also in their lower courses are navigable.
Such in brief was the water system, which now it was
proposed to utilize as far as practicable for transportation.
The scheme was by no means Utopian. To succeed, how¬
ever, required a considerable expenditure and intelligent
work. Shoals and obstacles were to be removed and their
subsequent formation from natural causes guarded against,
and the conditions were not favorable for a realization of
the hopes now entertained.

STEAMBOAT PROMOTERS

265

Introduction of steamboats

In 1813 John Devereux Delacy came to New Bern as the
representative of Robert Fulton, where there was also a
representative of Stevens who had been engaged with Fulton
earlier, but having separated, was now engaged in the same
business Fulton was following — building steamboats for use
in any desirable waters. North Carolina had not only
her rivers but her inland sounds, and the possibilities of
pecuniary returns were apparent. At that period the boats
and machinery were so imperfect that the speed was only
about four and a half miles an hour.

Application was made in behalf of Stevens, for the exclu¬
sive right to navigate the waters of the State, but the As¬
sembly annexed a condition that was not acceptable ; Delacy
likewise made an application for the exclusive right to navi¬
gate the Neuse for a number of years: nor was that appli¬
cation favorably considered. Robert Fulton died in 1816,
but Delacy remained, and on the formation of the Neuse
Navigation Company, he associated himself with that com¬
pany and was engaged with its affairs. He continued at
New Bern, and in 1818 a steamboat was plying from New
Bern to Elizabeth City. Some years later Delacy offered
to sell his interest in steamboats to the State at the price
of thirty thousand dollars, but the offer was not accepted.
It is said that the Clermont, the first steamboat to ascend
the Hudson, was sold at the South. As Delacy was the agent
of Fulton to place his steamboats, it is probable that the
Clermont was brought to New Bern. The first use of
steamboats at New Bern appears to have been to open a
route to Norfolk and the North by steamer from New Bern
to Elizabeth City, and then, overland to Norfolk. For that
service the Clermont was well adapted. She was 133 feet
lon<r, 18 feet wide and her hull 9 feet deep. While well
suited for the sound, she drew too much water to ascend
the Neuse very high up. Efforts were made to clear Neuse

New Bern
and

Elizabeth

City

266

STEAMBOATS— FULTON ARRIVES

Edenton* and
Plymouth

Battle Hist.
Univ., 252.

The Cape
Fear

River of obstacles, but if steamboats were used they did not
at that period ascend far. And in 1846, Governor Graham
mentioned as something new that a steamboat was then
plying the Neuse, and another on the Tar.

In 1818 the Edenton and Plymouth Steamboat Company
had been incorporated and a steamer ran between Plymouth
and Edenton. Of this Dr. Mitchell makes mention. He
was bringing his bride from Connecticut. They reached
Norfolk by steamboat from Baltimore, and then over land
eleven miles to the head of Dismal Swamp Canal. The
canal boat was twenty feet long and it was drawn by horse
four miles an hour for twenty-two miles. Arriving at
Edenton, they found the steamboat had gone. On reaching
Plymouth they took the stage to Raleigh.

The first steamboat on the Cape Fear seems to have been
the Prometheus in 1818. A joint stock company had been
formed for the purpose of having a steamer built to ply
between Wilmington and Smithville or Wilmington and
Fayetteville. Captain Otway Burns, of privateer Snap
Dragon fame during the war of 1812, was the contractor.
The boat was built at Beaufort where he resided. When
the company was informed that the steamer was ready for
delivery they dispatched an experienced sea captain to
bring her to her destined port. Expectations were on tiptoe.
A feverish excitement existed in the community, which
daily increased, as nothing was heard of him for a time,
but early one morning this anxiety broke into the wildest
enthusiasm when it was announced that the Prometheus
was in the river. Bells were rung, cannon fired, and the en¬
tire population, without regard to age, sex or color, thronged
the wharves to welcome her arrival. The tide was at the
ebb, and the struggle between the advancing steamer and
the fierce current was a desperate one, for she panted fear¬
fully, as though wind-blown and exhausted. She could
be seen in the distance, enveloped in smoke, and the scream
of her high pressure engine reverberated through the woods,

QUICK FREIGHT SERVICE

267

while she slowly but surely crept along. As she neared
Market Dock, the captain called through his speaking
trumpet to the engineer below, “Give it to her, Snyder,”
and while Snyder gave her all the steam she could bear,
the laboring Prometheus snorted by, amid the cheers of the
excited multitude.

On the Cape Fear the Henrietta was plying in 1818. The
Clarendon Steamboat Company was organized at Wil¬
mington in 1818 and all its stock quickly taken, while at
Fayetteville James Seawell was the master mind in planning
and executing. In the fall of. 1818 he obtained an act of
Assembly vesting in himself and associates the exclusive
privilege for the period of seven years of running steam¬
boats between Fayetteville and Wilmington; but others were
to be allowed, if licensed by him. He likewise obtained
authority to build a toll bridge across the river at Fayette¬
ville near the steamboat landing. He appears to have fos¬
tered the building pf boats by others, for four years later,
the Legislature passed an act incorporating under the name
of the Cape Fear Steamboat Company the proprietors of
all the steamboats then plying on the river. The capital
stock was. to be $60,000.

Apparently, the first steamboat built on the river was the
City of Fayetteville. “It was launched not far from the
Clarendon bridge, and it has been related that some one
having prophesied that it would turn turtle when it reached
the water, the architect boldly rode in its bow, as it slipped
off its ways and the event justified his faith in his work.”

Then came the Henrietta , the Fanny Lutterloh, the Cot¬
ton Plant, and others. In 1819 the Fayetteville Observer
mentioned merchandise purchased in New York, March 27,
and shipped the 29th, reached Wilmington April 6, and was
received at Fayetteville by the Steamer Henrietta in eight
days . . . and before the bill of lading had reached
Fayetteville by mail.

Sprunt:
Cape Fear
Chronicles,
139

Ibid., 151

268

STEAMBOATS— FULTON ARRIVES

April, 1819

The

engineers
at Nags
Head

Maps

Hoyt: Mur-
phey Papers,
II, 180

In 1825, at the end of seven years, the Cotton Plant
Steamboat Company was incorporated.

And while Seawell and his associates were securing trans¬
portation on the water, the people at the west were co¬
operating and making efforts to obtain turnpike roads to
Morganton, and to Salem and Wilkesboro ; and a good road
had been built to Raleigh.

♦

Monroe’s visit

In April, 1819, President Monroe made a tour through
the South, and, accompanied by John C. Calhoun, the Secre¬
tary of War, and some of the Army Engineers, he went
from Edenton across to Roanoke Island and Nags Head to
examine the situation in regard to opening an inlet into
Albemarle Sound. He visited Plymouth; and traveled by
land to Washington, where a salute of twenty-one guns was
given him ; and indeed everywhere he received a great ova¬
tion. He then pursued his journey southward to New Bern
and Wilmington. On April 12, he and his suite were met
at Scotts Hill by the Wilmington Light-horse and escorted
to the town. The next day, accompanied by A. D. Murphey,
he was shown the salt works still in operation at Wrights-
ville, and then the steamer Prometheus carried his party to
Fort Johnston, on the way to Charleston.

It is difficult to realize what obstacles the public men of
that period encountered for the want of accurate informa¬
tion about the State. There were no maps. Jonathan
Price and Strother proposed to make a map of the State,
but the Legislature being applied to for assistance had de¬
nied any aid; fortunately Judge Stone and Peter Browne
gave some assistance and the enterprise went forward.
However, one-sixth of the State at the west remained
without any survey, and very imperfectly portrayed. Still
a few years later when Turner was preparing his atlas in¬
cluding the countries of the world and each American

DISTRESS AND DISASTER

269

state, he complimented this map as being the best of any
state.

The movement for transportation led to surveys in the
central and eastern parts of the State and brought out much
information of value.

The geological structure of the Piedmont section par¬
ticularly was explored and interesting facts connected with
the falls in the various rivers on passing into the Coastal
plain were brought to public attention, particular surveys
being made by Dr. Mitchell, President Caldwell and others.

Financial distress

In 1819 there was widespread financial distress through¬
out the State. The policies introduced in 1815 had borne
some fruit. The movement for internal improvements had
brought hope of advanced values and of local development.

And so an era of speculation set in. But the progress was
not commensurate with the expectations while the main
cause of the backward condition of the State remained.

In the absence of adequate transportation facilities the prod¬
ucts of the industrious inhabitants were of small value at
home, and carried to a market elsewhere, other communi¬
ties profited from them, while merchants in other states
derived the profit from supplying necessary goods to the
people of North Carolina. It was to remove these obstacles
to prosperity that a great effort was now made by the lead¬
ing men. But for the present the condition was bad. The
banks suspended specie payments. Many persons became
insolvent.

This vear has been called “the disastrous vear" for the .

\\ ilmington

little town of Wilmington, whose white population was
barely a thousand. First, in the summer the dreadful scourge
of yellow fever that was more prevalent through the South
Atlantic region than usual, prevailed in the town : and
then in November a conflagration almost destroyed it.

“Thrice, ” said the Wilmington Recorder, “within twenty

270

STEAMBOATS— FULTON ARRIVES

Sprunt:
Cape Fear
Chronicles,
104

1819

years has the devouring element laid in ashes the abodes
of her inhabitants. . . . Enterprise, industry, and the assist¬
ance of her neighbors gave her measurably resuscitation,
until the recent pressure of the times bended her down al¬
most to the sinking point. Embarrassments in pecuniary
matters had reached that state which appeared to baffle
relief. Sickness and death followed in the melancholy
train. Despair had almost concluded that she could not
sink beyond this. Hope pointed to better days. Disease
had ceased, the deserted abodes of her inhabitants filling,
vessels arriving daily in her port. Then the fire ; the de¬
lusion vanished. There were about three hundred houses
destroyed and the loss of property was between six and
seven hundred thousand dollars. ” The fever that attacked
Wilmington also prevailed elsewhere in the State. At
Fayetteville there were several deaths, and elsewhere com¬
munities suffered.

On April 11 the first Presbyterian Church ever erected at
Wilmington was dedicated and Rev. Mr. Boice was or¬
dained and installed as pastor. “It was but a few years
past that there was but one minister of that place and he of
the Methodist persuasion. The Episcopal Church was in
a ruinous and neglected state ; since which time it has been
repaired, galleries added, and an organ obtained ; a Meth¬
odist meeting house built, and the Presbyterian Church ;
over all are clergymen.”

Fulton arrives

Hamilton Fulton, the English Engineer employed by
Peter Browne, arrived in June, 1819, and found himself in
the presence of novel conditions. But on the departure of
Browne for England, Murphey had been chosen a member
of the Board of Internal Improvements to supply the va¬
cancy; and he was likewise chosen chairman of the board;
and as such he prepared a memoir of the situation in the
State for the information and instruction of Fulton, the first

MECKLENBURG DECLARATION

271

object in view being to render the rivers navigable, not
for steamboats, but for flat boats, carrying produce from
river landings down the stream to some point for shipment.

To this end, the Catawba and the Yadkin and other rivers
were deemed navigable almost to the mountains.

Murphey’s memoir indicates such a thorough examination
of details and such a copious volume of information that Jhey Paper's,
of itself it establishes Judge Murphey in the front rank n> 103
of North Carolinians.

Fulton had been employed in important works in several
countries of Europe and rated his services at 1200 pounds
per annum. While his residence was at Raleigh, his em¬
ployment led him to make examination of all the rivers.

The Mecklenburg Declaration

On the 30th day of April, 1819, there was published in
the Register at Raleigh a paper writing giving an account
of a patriotic convention held at Charlotte, May 20, 1775, at
which resolutions declaring independence were adopted.

It had happened that the records of the Committee of
Safety of Mecklenburg County were in the possession of
Col. John McKnitt Alexander, and his residence having .
been burnt down in April, 1800, these records were then
destroyed. Soon afterwards he undertook to reproduce
the resolves of the committee adopted in May, 1775, and
this is what he wrote :

On the 19th May 1775 Pursuant to the Order of Col. Adam
Alexander to each Captain of Militia in his regiment of Meck¬
lenburg County, to elect nominate and appoint 2 persons of
their Militia company, cloathed with ample powers to devise
ways and means to extricate themselves and ward off the dread¬
ful impending storms bursting on them by the British Nation
&&&

Therefore on sd. 19th May the sd. Committee met in Char¬
lotte Town (2 men from each company) Vested with all powers
these their constituents had or conceived they had &&&

After a short conference about their suffering brethren be-
seiged and suffering every hardship in Boston and the American
Blood running in Lexington &&& the Electrical fire flew into
every breast and to preserve order choose Abraham Alex Es-

272

STEAMBOATS— FULTON ARRIVES

quire chairman & J. McK. A. Secretary. After a few Hour free
discussion in order to give relief to suffering America and
protect our Just & natural right.

1st. We, (the County) by a solemn and awful vote, dissolved
our allegiance to King George and the British Nation.

2nd. Declared ourselves a free & independent people, hav¬
ing a right and capable to govern ourselves (as a part of North
Carolina)

3rd. In order to have laws as a rule of life — for our future
Government. We formed a Code of laws, by adopting our former
wholesome laws.

4th. And as there was then no officers civil or military in our
County we decreed that every Militia officer in sd. county should
hold and occupy his former commission and Grade and that
every member present, of this Committee shall henceforth as
a Justice of the Peace.

After reading and maturing every paragraph they were all
passed Nem. Com. about 12 o’clock May 20, 1775, etc.

The original manuscript is still preserved at the University
of North Carolina.

Later, some unknown person with the above as a basis,
prepared the paper that was published in the Register in
1819. The fact that some such action was taken in Meck¬
lenburg in 1775 was known by Col. William Polk and others ;
but some of the statements made in the published paper
being known to be incorrect, Colonel Polk and Judge Mur-
phey and later Judge Martin, who wrote a history of the
State, subsequently altered the account in the paper to con¬
form to their views. Ten years later in 1839, in the ab¬
sence of anything to the contrary, on the recommendation
of a committee, the General Assembly resolved that the
corrected paper be printed as the proceedings in Mecklen¬
burg County and that has since been known as “May 20.”

It will be observed that Colonel Alexander himself wrote
about the “election of committeemen on the 19th of May,"
and the meeting of the committee on the same day and its
proceedings. When his notes were being written out in full
by some unknown person, the conflicting statements, doubt¬
less were observed ; and to avoid the conflict, the election
of committeemen on the 19th was omitted and that date

DEFENSE OF NORTH CAROLINA

273

was erroneously attached to the meeting — the committeemen
were changed to delegates and the committee meeting to
a convention. Such appears to have been the origin of the
account of any meeting on the 19th, the day when the com¬
mitteemen were elected. Up to 1835 there was no knowl¬
edge of any contemporaneous publication relating, to this
episode, but then and afterwards the contemporaneous ac¬
count of the action taken at Charlotte by the Committee of
Safety on May 31 was found in several newspapers of
June, 1775. The proceedings and resolves being so simi¬
lar, it is apparent that they were what Colonel Alexander
remembered and sought to reproduce in 1800. After these
discoveries the account written in 1800 by some unknown
person of a Convention of Delegates at Charlotte on May
20, was discredited and the contemporaneous publications
of the proceedings of the Committee of Safety elected as
Colonel Alexander wrote were accepted ; so the Legislature
of 1850, in making reference to the “Mecklenburg Decla¬
ration” said “May, 1775.” In Johnston’s Cyclopedia is an
article attributed by the editors to Governor William A.
Graham, in which it is stated that there was only one meet¬
ing at Charlotte and it was held on May 31; that there
was no meeting on May 20.

When the publication was made in the Register in 1819
it attracted the particular attention of John Adams and
Thomas Jefferson, who had been promoters of independ¬
ence in 1776. Jefferson, in his comment, cast aspersions
on Hooper and Hewes, our delegates in the Continental
Congress. His charges led a patriotic citizen, Joseph Sea-
well Jones, to prepare a Defense of North Carolina, pub¬
lished perhaps at the expense of Maj. William Gibbs Mc¬
Neill, of Bladen County, previously an officer of the United
States Engineers, but then perhaps the greatest of the civil
engineers of this country, resident in Boston. This Defense
of North Carolina was the first historical publication made

by any citizen of the State, a volume of 340 pages, con-
18

Johnston’s
Cyclopedia,
Vol. V., 329

Jones’s de¬
fense

2/4

STEAMBOATS— FULTON ARRIVES

Branch,

Governor

The portrait
and statue of
Washington

Hoyt: Mur-
phey’s Re¬
port

taining much valuable historical matter then first published.
It was a complete answer to Jefferson's aspersions, and
Jones's work was admirably done. Later, in 1838, Jones
published a lovely volume, Memorials of North Carolina,
dealing with the first settlement in Queen Elizabeth’s time,
highly imaginative and beautifully written, but indicating
much research and literary attainment.

When the Assembly met Yancey was chosen Speaker by
the Senate and Saunders by the House, and Branch was
elected Governor.

Two portraits of General Washington had been ordered,
one for each room occupied by the Assembly; and the mar¬
ble statue. One of the portraits, made by Sully, had been
set up in the House of Commons and Governor Branch
suggested that the order for the other might be changed to a
portrait of some North Carolina patriot. At any rate, he
said the portrait was too large to go into the room used for
a Senate Chamber. As the statue of Washington was now
soon to arrive the Assembly raised a committee to consider
where it should be placed. At first there was a proposition
to erect a separate building for it, but on the recommenda¬
tion of Mr. Nichols, the State Architect, that idea was
abandoned. Instead, it was proposed to make alterations
in the State House, providing suitable space for the statue,
and also a place for the Supreme Court and a larger room for
the Senate and other rooms for committees. This idea
was adopted and $25,000 was appropriated for the purpose.
The new building was to be three stories high. There was
to be a spacious rotunda, with colonnades and ornamenta¬
tion in keeping with the statue.

At this session, 1819, Mangum presented a resolution
reciting at length many of the alleged defects of the Con¬
stitution and submitting the question of a convention to the
voters. It was discussed with warmth, but finally was
defeated.

CHAPTER XVIII

Improved Conditions

The towns. — Judge Murphey on Supreme Court. — Branch’s
message. — School at Raleigh. — The Western College. — Parlia¬
mentary practice. — The Agricultural Society. — The Slavery prob¬
lem. — The freed negroes. — The Colonization Society. — The differ¬
ing sentiments. — The Missouri Compromise. — Causes of concern.
— Governor Franklin’s message. — Dissatisfaction with Fulton. —
The Literary Fund. — Roanoke River improvement. — Statue of
Washington placed in Capitol. — Holmes Governor. — Death of
Franklin. — Donations to the University. — Holmes urges improve¬
ment of rivers and of roads and that agriculture be taught at
University and all youths educated. — Board of Agriculture. —
Imprisonment for debt modified. — Improvement of the Cape Fear.
— The Western Convention. — The Episcopalians organize. — The
first Geological Survey. — The canal from Great Falls extended
to Weldon. — Pressure for schools. — Negroes not allowed to mus¬
ter as militia. — Episcopalians allowed to build on Moore Square.

The relative importance of the towns of the State is
somewhat indicated by the census returned for 1820.

Fayetteville, at the head of the water navigation and the
commercial mart for a large portion of western country,
had 1,918 whites; New Bern, the commercial center of the
middle east, 1,475; Raleigh, the seat of government, al¬
though so new, 1,177; Wilmington, with its commercial
importance and but little back country, 1,098; Salisbury 743 ;
Edenton 634; Washington 474.

Changes in the Judiciary

At the June term of the Supreme Court Judge Murphey,
by letters missive issued by the Governor, sat on the Supreme
Court to hear certain cases in which some of the justices
had been employed. Later that authority was taken from
the executive, and Judge Murphey was the only Superior
judge who ever sat on the Supreme Court. And in that
year some changes occurred among the judiciary, for Judge

1820

276

IMPROVED CONDITIONS

Judge

Badger

The tariff

Senate
Journal, 92

Public lands

Ibid., 93

At Raleigh

Murphey, after a year's service retired from the bench,
being oppressed by pecuniary losses incurred in land specu¬
lations and as surety for others. To succeed him Governor
Branch appointed William Norwood of Hillsboro.

Also, Willie P. Mangum, who had likewise served but a
year, resigned and was succeeded by George E. Badger, who
was destined to play even a greater part in public affairs
than either Murphey or Mangum.

It appears as if the office of Superior Court judge was
thought to be more desirable for its opportunities to lay a
basis for public life than for a judicial career. The salary
was so small compared with the earnings at the bar.

Governor Branch in his message called attention to the
deplorable condition of the people of the State and the effect
of the depreciation of the bank currency incident to the sus¬
pension of specie payments, and he emphasized the adverse
effects on conditions of an increase in the tariff. He recited
that our agricultural products were at a very low price, and
the State was suffering from the exactions imposed by the
Federal Government. As a result, the Legislature adopted a
resolution instructing the Senators and requesting the Repre¬
sentatives in Congress to oppose any increase in the tariff.

And since Congress had appropriated much public land
in the new states for schools, the Senators were instructed
and RepresentatAes requested to have a similar appropria¬
tion of land for the use of public schools in North Carolina.

Fayetteville, not to be behind Raleigh in improvement,
now applied for and received authority to have waterworks.
But Raleigh under the influence of Joseph Gales had taken
a still further step in advance. The ladies of that city
had begun an organized effort to help the poor girls and
educate the poor children of their community similar to
the action at Wilmington, and an act was passed : —
“Whereas many ladies of Raleigh have associated them¬
selves for the purpose of relieving distressed females and
to promote the education of poor children,” the association

LEGISLATIVE PROCEDURE

277

was incorporated, the officers being “a first directress, a
secretary and twenty managers.”

At that session steps were taken in regard to “The Great
State road that ran from Fayetteville to Morganton, and
then through Ashe County to Tennessee.”

And as the Western people were not able to send their
boys to the University to their satisfaction, they desired a
western college to be of the same grade as the University,
and on their application a charter was granted for “a
western college.”

Governor Branch’s three years having expired, Jesse
Franklin was now elected Governor; and as there were
“neither carpeting nor furniture of any kind in the second
story of the Governor’s Palace,” $1,000 was appropriated to
supply them.

Under the rules of the Assembly when a bill had passed
one reading in one house it was sent to the other house,
and then after it was acted on it was returned ; and then
when acted on, it was again sent to the other ; the bill being
bandied about for three readings in each house. Now that
rule was abrogated, and every bill was perfected in the
house where it originated, and having passed its three read¬
ings there it was transmitted to the other house for action.

The Agricultural Society

The Agricultural Society of the State was for a time in
fine efficiency. Its corresponding secretary was George
W. Jeffreys of Person County. Jeffreys was energetic in
his efforts to promote agriculture in the State. He ob¬
tained a collection of some twenty or thirty letters on the
subject of improvement in Virginia and Pennsylvania and
in February, 1820, from Raleigh he sent them for publica¬
tion to the American Farmer at Baltimore, the first agricul¬
tural journal started in this country and a very important
one, having a considerable patronage in North Carolina.
These letters would make some fifty or sixty pages — quarto

Acts 1820,
Ch. 75

The Western
College

Franklin,

Governor

Change in
passing bills

Jeffrey’s

work

278

IMPROVED CONDITIONS

Efforts to

promote

agriculture

The manu¬
mission
societies

— and were addressed to Mr. Jeffreys. The editor, John W.
Skinner, announced them as a “Valuable Collection from
Colonel Taylor and John Taylor of Caroline, the Fathers of
Improvement in Southern Husbandry; from Thomas Jef¬
ferson; Judge Richard Peters of Pennsylvania, Thomas
Marshall (brother of the Chief Justice) Josiah Quincy of
Massachusetts and other citizens distinguished for talents
and public spirit. It seems to be due to propriety and
gratitude to record our acknowledgments to Mr. Jeffreys for
the honor and benefit he has conferred on this Journal in
having selected it as a medium worthy of conveying to the
public the contents of these valuable papers. Many of them
were addressed to Mr. Jeffreys as Corresponding Secretary
of the Agricultural Society in North Carolina.’’ Later
Jeffreys communicated his thoughts on deep ploughing and
the proper way to plant corn. Incidentally he said: “If
I were asked what was the first and cardinal principle to be
kept in view in the improvement of land, I should answer,
the gradual deepening of the soil.” Unfortunately, the
Society did not long flourish.

Slavery: The Missouri Compromise

During the last year of Governor Branch’s administra¬
tion the subject of slavery opened up a very bitter sectional
controversy. The South was not indifferent to the general
subject, but whatever feeling there was favorable to manu¬
mission was checked by the continued presence of the freed
slave. About 1816 manumission societies began to be
formed, chiefly, however, among the Quakers, although
there were others cooperating. Ten years later there were
forty branches in the State, of which twenty-three reported
more than one thousand members. And it was said that
in three years two thousand slaves were emancipated in
the State, a statement that the census enumeration of free
blacks seems to sustain. But not content with that, Levi
Coffin, an active Quaker about New Garden, devised and

MANUMISSION SOCIETIES

279

put into operation a system of running off slaves into free
territory. This was successfully carried on for years, and,
later, to such an extent that it was known as the “Under¬
ground Railroad." The problem of the free negro led in
1818 to the formation of the American Colonization Society.
The Assembly of North Carolina had passed a resolution
proposing that Congress should set aside in the far west, on
the Pacific Ocean, a territory which the free blacks might
occupy; but the project did not materialize. The American
Colonization Society of which Judge Bushrod Washington
of Virginia was president, Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson and
other influential Southerners were members, had in view
their colonization in Africa.

In 1819 Rev. William Meade of Virginia, (Bishop
Meade) was sent south as an agent to organize branch
societies. He formed societies at Raleigh, where Governor
Branch was president, Colonel Polk, Judge Taylor, Joseph
Gales and thirty-five others were members ; and societies
were formed at Chapel Hill, Fayetteville, Greensboro, Hills¬
boro, Edenton and eight other points, among the members
being men of prominence in public affairs.

Moses Swaim, president of the Manumission Society and
the editor of a newspaper at Greensboro devoted to that
interest, said about that time that “there were no newspapers
in the State earnestly defending slavery; that about half
the people were ready to support schemes of emancipation,
one-sixth deemed it impracticable and relatively a small
number were bitterly opposed." The sentiment against
slavery was natural to many, but the difficulties of the situa¬
tion forbade emancipation unless accompanied by coloniza¬
tion. Besides, the property was valuable, and especially in
the eastern counties most of the families were pecuniarily
interested and, without the slaves, their extensive planta¬
tions would be relatively valueless for the want of labor.
The value of a man between fifteen and forty-five years of
age was about $500, and, of a woman, $350; and men ac-

The North

Carolina

proposition

The coloni¬
zation society

The senti¬
ment

Weeks : So.
Hist. Assn.,
XI, 2, 110

28o

IMPROVED CONDITIONS

Missouri

The compro
mise

A different
question

customed to slavery who had inherited slave property were
loath to give it up. Such was the condition when slavery
in Missouri became a political question.

In 1820 the antagonism that New England had displayed
towards the purchase of Louisiana again manifested itself.
The Territory of Missouri, a part of that purchase, in
December, 1819, applied for admission as a state, slavery
being already established there.

An amendment was proposed to the bill to admit her,
looking to making her a “free state.” The North had a
majority in the House, and the amendment was adopted;
but in the Senate it was stricken out. About the same
time Maine applied to be admitted, and the northern mem¬
bers were willing for the two states to come in together ; but
while abandoning the amendment to the Missouri bill, they
proposed instead that slavery should not exist elsewhere in
the Louisiana purchase north 36° 30' which is the line
of the southern boundary of Missouri. This was agreed
to, and the agreement has been known as the “Missouri
Compromise.” All south of that line was to be open to
the slaveholder; but north of it was to be “free-soil.” On
that basis Missouri was to be admitted. But a new ques¬
tion arose that delayed her admission. In forming her
State constitution the convention inserted a requirement that
the Legislature should prohibit the coming into the State
of any free negro. This was strongly objected to bv
northern representatives and the State was not admitted.
Linally in Lebruary, 1821, an act was passed admitting the
State on condition that the Legislature should never pass
such a law; and in June, the Legislature solemnly agreed
to that as a fundamental condition; so in August, 1821,
Missouri was admitted as a State in the Union. This
struggle over the admission of Missouri, extending through
eighteen months of hot controversy, was marked by great bit¬
terness, and the sectional animosity engendered ran high.
A correspondent of Bartlett Yancey, writing from Wash-

EXCITEMENT OVER SLAVERY

281

ington February, 1820, said: “In truth the discussion of this
matter has been of the most alarming character to the people
of the southern and western states. These Yankee folks
have a sort of notion that they can emancipate our slaves,
and have broadly hinted at the practicability and expediency
of such a measure. The agitation of this question has
created great warmth and excitement here. One would
suppose from the storm that has been blowing here that the
whole Nation was in a ferment.”

Mrs. Seaton, writing from Washington during this debate, ^nt intense
said : “Congress has been occupied during three weeks in
the discussion of the Missouri bill. The excitement during
this protracted debate has been intense. The galleries are
now crowded with colored persons, almost to the exclusion
of the whites. The Senators and members generally are so
excited that unless their angry passions are allowed to
effervesce in speaking the most terrible consequences are
apprehended even by experienced statesmen. On the one
side there was talk of breaking up the Union, on the other
the North would never assent to the extension of slavery.”

At length that session at which the compromise was made,
closed in May ; at the next session, the question was again
opened, about the exclusion of free negroes in Missouri.

Maine had long been admitted, and all wanted the bargain
to be enforced.

Mr. Clay was then instrumental in securing the adoption
by the House of the act of Congress with its “fundamental
condition” that opened the way for Missouri to conform Missouri’s
to the will of the northern congressmen'; and he became admisslon
known as “the pacificator.”

Conditions at home

The year 1821 appears to have been remarkable for cir- 1821
cumstances that gave concern. Financial distress pervaded
the State, and to such an extent at the west that further
time was allowed to those who had purchased State lands;

282

IMPROVED CONDITIONS

Insurrection

Progressive

ideas

Fulton un¬
satisfactory

while the- act of Congress, called the Navigation act, with
respect to the British colonial system, bore so hard on the
commerce of the eastern ports that a resolution was adopted
calling on representatives in Congress to ask its repeal.

Besides, - the yellow fever had been so violent at Wil¬
mington that the session of the Superior Court could not be
held there in the fall. Then there was an insurrection
among the negroes in Onslow, Carteret and Jones counties,
as well as in Bladen County. There had been trouble in
1810, and now ten years later, the outbreak was both more
widespread and violent. The militia had been called out to
suppress the rising, and indeed, the constant possibility of
insurrection required that attention should ever be given to
the militia, and a large part of the time of each Assembly
was taken up in electing militia officers.

At the session of November, 1821, among the new mem¬
bers were Francis L. Hawks, Robert Strange, Louis D.
Henry, Charles Fisher, D. L. Barringer, John M. Morehead,
all destined to distinction ; and Otway Burns who had made
so great a reputation on the sea.

When Governor Franklin submitted his annual message,
he dwelt on the hard times that were so disastrous to the
people; and he recommended some changes in the punish¬
ment of criminals, especially urging that the punishment of
cropping ears should be abolished, and that reform should
be the object sought to be subserved. The subjects of
public schools and of a constitutional convention were again
before the Assembly, but without favorable action. Also,
a proposition that President Joseph Caldwell, Prof. Mitchell
and Prof. Olmstead should make a geological survey of the
State and that they report observations on the climate and
natural productions as well as the result of their survey,
passed the House, but was defeated in the Senate.

There was some manifestation of dissatisfaction at the
contract with Hamilton Fulton, and a new Board of Internal
Improvements was chosen: Isaac T. Avery, Bartlett Yancey,

WASHINGTON STATUE SET UP

283

John D. Hawkins, Thomas Turner and Durant Hatch,
Jr. It was at this session that Charles Fisher’s proposition
to establish a Literary fund for the use of public schools
was adopted ; and although some years had to elapse before
the hope would be realized, yet a step forward was made.
Charles Fisher again brought up the subject of a consti¬
tutional convention. The debate was continued during
several days, but finally, the resolution was defeated in the
House by 81 to 47, while in the Senate Mr. Williamson’s
proposition to the same end was lost 23 to 36.

The proposition to improve Roanoke Inlet now was in so
much favor that a company was incorporated to undertake
the work.

The statue of Washington

Governor Franklin, on November 24, informed the Legis¬
lature that the statue of Washington had been transported
to Boston on the U. S. Ship Columbus , Commodore Bain-
bridge, “to whose care and attention I am greatly indebted,
particularly for -its transportation from Boston harbor to
Wilmington, where it now is.” He was then concerting
measures for its conveyance to Raleigh. The Assembly
thereupon appointed a committee to attend to its transpor¬
tation to Raleigh and to its being placed in position in the
Capitol building. The statue was carried by water to
Fayetteville. When it reached Fayetteville the State Archi¬
tect, William Nichols, designed and constructed two special
vehicles for its transportation to Raleigh, one for the statue
the other for its base. These vehicles were drawn by many
oxen, and the transportation was slow ; but eventually the
train approached Raleigh on December 24.

The statue was temporarily left on the grounds of the
Governor’s mansion, and then with a great manifestation of
public interest it was conveyed to the State House. A
procession was formed, and as it started, a battery of artil¬
lery fired 24 guns, and the band played patriotic airs. The

Literary

fund

House
Journal, 87

Roanoke

Inlet

The proces¬
sion

284

IMPROVED CONDITIONS

The statue

Holmes,

Governor

The Uni¬
versity lands

Adjutant-General was in charge, and following the band
were troops, citizens, members of the Assembly, heads of the
departments, the Governor ; Revolutionary officers, of whom
Colonel Polk was designated to carry the United States Flag.
Then came the vehicles with the statue and base, under the
immediate care of Mr. Nichols. At the Capitol Colonel
Polk made a brief address and the architect placed the
statue in position in the rotunda designed for it.

While Cariova regarded this work as the most important
that could engage his great powers and while the execution
was in his finest style ; yet he seems to have indulged his
genius and to have idealized his subject rather than adhered
closely to the life mask with which he had been provided.
Posterity knows Washington from the portraits made in
his old age ; Canova presented him as a younger man, his
features not having the expression the world is familiar
with.

It was a majestic figure in which were idealized the
noblest cpialities of mortal man ; and, in its finish, it was one
of the best examples of Canova’s unequaled excellence in his
art of perfect moulding and polishing his marble. That
North Carolina possessed such a treasure gained for the
State the admiration of America. It was the masterpiece
of the sculptor’s art and without an equal among the monu¬
ments of the world.

Governor Franklin having declined a reelection, Joseph
Bryan, James Mebane, H. G. Burton and Gabriel Holmes
were aspirants for the succession. Holmes, of the Cape
Fear section, was taken.

Franklin now retired from public life and about a year
later died at his home in Surry County. His mother was
a sister of the Revolutionary patriot, Col. Benjamin Cleve¬
land, and one of his sons, Meshack Franklin, was later a
Representative in Congress.

North Carolina before the cession of Tennessee had set
aside a certain territorv bevond the mountains for the

UNIVERSITY LANDS

285

location of Revolutionary land grants. Difficulties later
arose concerning these grants. In 1792 Governor Benja¬
min Smith had given to the University 30,000 acres of land
in Tennessee, and Maj. Charles Gerrard of Carteret County
had likewise given it 2,560 acres, and the University was
entitled to other lands by escheat. In 1819 Judge Mur-
phey and Hon. J. H. Bryan were employed to look after
the interest of the University, and they were reasonably
successful.

The management of these western lands was now confided
to a committee composed of the Governor, Col. Wm. Polk,
Henry Potter, John Haywood, Archibald Murphey and
Thomas Ruffin. Col. Thomas Henderson,' editor of the
Raleigh News, was employed as agent, and by October,
1821, he was able to turn over to the University, beyond
his compensation, warrants for 147,853 acres. The lands
were valued at about four dollars an acre. The University,
however, met with further difficulties, but in May, 1823, it
had the prospect of receiving $164,230. Other warrants
were in addition to these. This situation seemed to put the
institution on a very substantial basis and gave a great deal
of satisfaction at that period.

Water transportation

Governor Holmes, in his message, said that for several
years we have had the services of an able engineer, who
has explored our rivers, pointed out the obstructions to
their navigation and given instructions as to how they were
to be removed, a zealous and intelligent board, pushing
the projects by all the means in their power, and still their
progress has been so gradual as to be almost imperceptible.
“The reason is obvious, we have not concentrated our money
in sums sufficiently large to effect the objects to which it
has been applied. . . . Had our limited funds been origi¬
nally directed to a few points of primary and general impor¬
tance, and not dispersed in small sums throughout the State,

Battle: Hist.
Univ., I,

382, 387

286

IMPROVED CONDITIONS

House

Journal,

1822, p. 108

Board of
Agriculture

Imprison
ment for
debt

the result would have been more beneficial to every section.

. . . For instance, if the channel of the Cape Fear between
Wilmington and the bar could have been deepened, so as
to allow the passage of vessels without the aid of lighters it
would have been better. But by dividing our strength so
much in attempting to effect everything at once, we have
effected comparatively nothing.”

The Governor then turned from water transportation and
dwelt on opening and improving the roads. He also urged
that agriculture should be taught at the University that
was now flourishing as never before, and he strenuously
advocated the education of all the youths of the State.
“Let us do something, however little; it may prove in time
a grain of mustard seed.”

The Legislature having sought to inaugurate means of
transportation, now in agreement with Governor Holmes
gave some heed to improvement in agriculture. It estab¬
lished a Board of Agriculture to be composed of the presi¬
dents of the several county agricultural societies, and it
appropriated $5,000 a year for the promotion of agricul¬
ture and domestic manufactures. It provided for premiums
for products, and for the publication and dissemination of
reports and essays on agriculture. Agricultural societies
had already been established in some of the counties, and
now other counties fell into line and efforts were made to
improve the agriculture of the State.

The old English law that a debtor could be imprisoned
for his debts had ever been in force in the State. In 1822,
the Legislature, having regard to the obligations of con¬
tracts, but desirous of putting an end to that severe provision
of law, passed an act that “Any honest debtor may sur¬
render his property and not be subject to imprisonment
for any debt contracted after May 1, 1823,” and this was
followed the next year by an act forbidding the imprison¬
ment of anv woman for anv debt.

GETTING RID OF FULTON

287

The improvement of the rivers had been so unproductive
of beneficial results and the salary and expenses of Fulton
and his assistant, Brazier, had been so large, while the value
of produce had fallen low and the people were in such dis¬
tress that there was now a '‘necessity of offering a placebo to
the public mind, a portion of which is now much irritated
against the system” of river improvement ; and it was there¬
fore proposed by a committee investigating the conditions,
that Fulton’s salary be reduced $500 and that a part of his
time be allowed to other states. Altogether by December,
1822, Fulton had cost the State $19,293 and Brazier $5,067.
Fulton’s salary had been over $5,333 besides expenses.
The House passed a resolution directing the board to re¬
duce Fulton’s salary to $3,300, and if he declined to accept
that, to give him six months notice and let him retire. Also
a bill having been passed to improve the Cape Fear River
below Wilmington, a memorial was prepared asking Con¬
gress to have that work done or to allow the State to levy
tolls on commerce to reimburse the State for the expenses.

Among the leading men in the Senate were Duncan
Cameron, J. J. McKay, Spaight and Seawell, and in the
House were Robert Strange, Charles Fisher, A. H. Shep-
perd and D. L. Barringer. When the election for Senator
came on, Governor Branch was taken.

Fulton’s

salary

Senate
Journal, 94

Branch,

Senator

The Western Convention

The movement for a constitutional convention started by
Murphey’s report in 1816 had been revived at various times
by members from the west. Duncan Cameron, Judge
Mangum, John A. Cameron of Fayetteville and Charles
Fisher were among those who introduced resolutions with¬
out avail. At length, in 1822, a bill was introduced to
create the new county of Davidson out of the northern por¬
tion of Rowan, and it passed, there being no eastern county
created at the time. This being done by the aid of eastern
votes, raised a great clamor against the eastern men who

288

IMPROVED CONDITIONS

Biog. Hist.,
IV, 330

The west
elects dele¬
gates

House

Journal, 128

had so voted. One of these was Senator William Miller,
the former Governor, a man of sterling worth and a de¬
voted patriot. At the next election he offered again for
the Assembly, but his opponent, Gen. M. T. Hawkins,
pressed the point against him, that he had sacrificed the
east, that a convention could be called and controlled by
the west, and “we would lose our Constitution.” Miller
was defeated and the other eastern members who had
followed him in the vote shared the same fate. Indeed,
the east was alarmed, for in the closing days of the session
of 1822 a caucus of western members was held at which
it was determined to hold a convention of those who were in
sympathy with the west. Twenty-four counties sent dele¬
gates who met at Raleigh just before the Assembly convened
in 1823. Gen. Montfort Stokes presided. For a week
the convention sat, and proposed amendments to the Con¬
stitution. The proceedings were orderly and the proposi¬
tion of the West might well have been agreed to. As the
convention adjourned the Assembly met. As soon as it
was organized Robert Martin of Rockingham offered a
resolution in the House reciting the election of delegates to
the convention and their action, and proposing to raise a
special committee to report a bill to submit the proposed
amendments to the popular vote. But the House did not
take favorable action.

The Lutherans and Moravians

The thousands of German Lutherans who had before the
Revolution settled between the Yadkin and the Catawba
were accompanied by their pastors, who in time died, leaving
unsupplied vacancies — but in 1803, after the great religious
revival, the synod was established, and in 1811 another
revival was started and missionaries were sent out. Not¬
withstanding the emigration of many beyond the Ohio, the
Lutherans maintained their organization — measurably con¬
ducting their services in German. And so had the Mora-

EPISCOPALIANS ORGANIZE

289

vians, who had zealously adhered to their faith and had
multiplied their congregations. Both of these streams of set¬
tlers, making separate communities that in the practice of
handicraft were self-sufficient, established centers of educa¬
tion that perpetuated their culture differentiating them
from the usual settlements in isolated sections.

The Episcopalians organize

On the the 5th of June, 1790, two clergymen, Rev. Charles
Pettigrew and Rev. James L. Wilson, and two laymen met
at Tarboro and held the first Protestant Episcopal conven¬
tion and, in accordance with resolutions then adopted, a con¬
vention was held at Tarboro on November 12, following.
At this meeting there seems to have been six or seven clergy¬
men present and seven laymen. Annual meetings were pro¬
vided for, but not held. In November, 1793, three clergy¬
men and three laymen niet and called a convention to be
held the next May, when seven clergymen and nine laymen
attended and a constitution was formally adopted. In 1807
Mr. Pettigrew died, and others having died, in 1815 there
was no Episcopal clergyman in the State — and no conven¬
tion met until 1817, when one was held by three clergy¬
men and six or eight laymen at New Bern under Bishop
Moore of Virginia, who had been invited to take charge of
the diocese. Then others followed. The attendance an¬
nually increased until there were 25 parishes represented.
It is to be remarked that the Lutherans and Episcopalians
for some years sent delegates to each other’s meetings.
In 1823 the convention elected Rev. John Starke Ravens-
croft of Virginia, Bishop, who accepted, and that branch
of the Christian Church which had ceased to exist as an
organization on the breaking out of the Revolution was
again fully organized in the State.

1823

290

IMPROVED CONDITIONS

Acts 1823,
Ch. 14

House

Journal, 118

Jetties below
Wilmington

Canal at
Weldon

The first geological survey

Under the stimulus of the necessity to have surveys made
with the view of an intelligent understanding of conditions
bearing on water transportation, Dr. Mitchell and Prof.
Olmstead as well as Jonathan Price, who had made and
published a map of the State, were employed in that work.
To meet these expenditures and to pay its subscription for
river improvements, the Legislature directed the issue of
$100,000 of State notes and, having started on the road to
progress, it now directed the Board of Agriculture to have
made a geographical and mineralogical survey of the State.

The board was authorized to employ a person of skill and
science to make such a survey. For this $250 a year was
allowed. Denison Olmstead, Professor of Chemistry and
Mineralogy was employed, and made a report, the first
made of any state, and in 1825 he was made Director of the
State Geological Survey. However, he soon resigned and
returned to Yale where he became very distinguished in his
profession. Thereupon the work was continued by Dr.
Mitchell, who likewise made a report on the geology of the
State.

When the Assembly met Governor Holmes, still pressing
the subject of agriculture, urged the establishment of an ex¬
perimental farm at the University.

The contractors to erect jetties below Wilmington for
river improvement were Richard Taylor and Edward Wil¬
liams, but they employed Hinton James to do the work; the
cost was to be $15,000. James was the first student to
enter the University and became an engineer. The Gov¬
ernor was highly pleased with the operations that prom¬
ised very beneficial results. The Roanoke Navigation Com¬
pany had extended the canal from the Great Falls to the
Weldon orchard. From the orchard to the river there was
a portage and the Governor recommended continuing the
canal to the river. There was so much enthusiasm over

AGITATION FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS

291

navigation that now a proposition was seriously made for
a canal from the Falls of the Neuse to Swift Creek.

The agitation for public schools, begun with emphasis
by Murphey, had proceeded year by year, but the subject
was considered less pressing than the transportation prob¬
lem ; now new impetus was given to it by the proposition
that Congress should apportion to the old states public lands
in the immense territorial domain of the Union. Besides,
possibly, the Assemblymen were urged on by an object
lesson in their sight at Raleigh, where the Female Benevo¬
lent Society, fostered by Gales, had already established a
school for the poor children. Year by year additional in¬
terest was manifested, and now the scholarly Joseph A.
Hill of New Hanover brought forward a resolution in¬
structing the Committee on Education to report a bill for
public schools, which was passed. The House seemed to
be responsive.

Free negroes had all along been required to do militia
duty as other citizens, but now the attitude of the races be¬
came so changed that the question of prohibiting them from
attending at musters was brought before the Assembly.
However, the subject was not acted on. The Governor
extolled the previous Legislature for its action in abolishing
imprisonment for debt and urged a further amendment
of the ancient law by abolishing “the cropping of ears” as a
punishment, as his predecessor had done ; and he likewise
suggested that “whipping” be abolished and that the pun¬
ishment for theft should not be equal to that for murder ;
and he again urged the establishment of a penitentiary.

Since 1815 the election of Presidential electors had been
by a general ticket ; now it was proposed to elect by dis¬
tricts, but unavailingly. And the western members again
brought up their grievances to a deaf house.

1823

Movement
for schools

292

IMPROVED CONDITIONS

The vestry of the Episcopal Church at Raleigh was
authorized to erect a temporary building on the southwest
corner of Moore Square for worship ; but a motion “to
adjourn over on the anniversary of the birthday of our
Saviour” failed — yeas 7, nays 103, and that at a time when
specie payments were suspended and there was much finan¬
cial distress and much sickness throughout the State.

CHAPTER XIX

Lafayette — Carlton Letters

The Congressional caucus. — The People’s Ticket. — Jackson and
Calhoun. — Election by the House. — Clay elects Adams. — Clay’s
reason. — The era of good will. — The “New School.” — The Cape
Fear improved. — Free negroes go to Hayti. — Congress and State
reject negroes for military service. — Ashe and Hill offer bills
for schools. — The House appoints commissioners to prepare a
plan. — The visit of Lafayette. — The agitation for public schools.
— Sunday schools in Orange. — The schools at Wilmington and
Raleigh. — The educated men. — Charles Hill’s bill. — The Literary
Fund. — The report of the Taylor Commission. — A new Board of
Internal Improvements. — Fulton resigns. — The Legislature acts.
— Emancipation propositions. — The Legislature to meet last
Monday of December. — Judge Badger resigns, succeeded by Ruf¬
fin. — Fauntleroy Taylor Attorney-General. — Governor Burton
urges better transportation facilities to cure emigration. — Ver¬
mont’s resolutions. — The Legislature prohibits free negroes from
settling in the State. — Roanoke iS'teamboat Company. — McRae’s
map. — Other publications. — The Geological Survey. — The gold
fever. — The Carson-Vance duel. — The tariff question. — The Bill
of Abominations. — Popular sentiment against governmental aid.
— The Carlton letters. — Caldwell urges a railroad. — His wonder¬
ful excellence. — The North Carolina Institution for Deaf and
Dumb. — Lotteries. — Governor Iredell. — Murphey employs Ney. —
The Masons.

The election of 1824

It had been the practice for twenty-four years for the
Representatives in Congress to hold a caucus and recom¬
mend candidates for the presidency. But now the friends
of some of the aspirants raised objections to that course.
The aspirants were Adams, Crawford of Georgia, Calhoun,
Clay and Jackson. The first three were in Monroe’s cab¬
inet; Clay had been the Speaker of the House, and Jackson
was a military hero and then in the Senate ; all
but Adams were southerners and strong Republicans.
Crawford was the favorite of most of the southern Rep-

1824

1825

1827

1824

294

LAFAYETTE— CARLTON LETTERS

1824

The People’s
Ticket

The election
goes to the
House

resentatives. He was also the favorite of the Assemblymen.
But Charles Fisher was opposed to Crawford, and so he
introduced in the House of Commons a strong protest and
resolutions against a congressional caucus presenting a can¬
didate for the presidency. This was debated with great
interest; but it failed to be adopted by a vote of 46 to 82.
It was aimed against Crawford, who was strong in the State,
and before the Assembly adjourned his friends met and put
out an electoral ticket for him ; and, later, the friends of the
other candidates put out “A People’s Ticket,” those named
on it engaging by agreement to support in the college that
candidate who stood the best chance of defeating Crawford.

On February 14 the congressional caucus was held at
Washington. Macon and Conner of Catawba did not at¬
tend, although Macon was a supporter of Crawford. In¬
deed, not a fourth of the members attended as it was a
movement for Crawford and the friends of the other can¬
didates gave it no countenance. Soon afterwards Calhoun
agreed to accept the vice-presidency under Jackson, who
had developed great popular strength ; and Crawford suf¬
fered a stroke of paralysis, and later became almost blind,
so that his physical condition apparently incapacitated him.
While the State was divided into fifteen districts, the
election of electors was by the State at large. The People’s
ticket won by a vote of 20,177 over the Crawford ticket,
which polled 15,396, and the electoral vote of 15 was given
to Jackson. The entire popular vote as far as ascertained
was for Adams 108,740, chiefly from the North, Jackson
153,544, Clay 47,136, Crawford only 46,618. In the elec¬
toral college Jackson had 99 votes, Adams 84, Crawford 41
and Clay 37. The election was thus thrown into the House,
each state having a single vote. Clay could not be consid¬
ered in the House, and he gave the vote of Kentucky to
Adams, notwithstanding the legislature of that state had
expressed a preference for Jackson. After a long struggle
Adams was elected.

ERA OF GOOD WILL

295

On retiring from office, March 7, 1829, Clay indicated
that he was afraid that the military hero, Jackson, would
seize the reins of power and become a dictator. “I thought
I beheld in his election an awful foreboding of the fate
which was to befall this infant republic.”

This was the era of good will, so in the Governor’s ad¬
dress he said : “The general expressions of approbation
which all parties are constrained to make of the present ad¬
ministration is an evidence of the wisdom and a proud com¬
ment on the justice and impartiality of our enlightened
chief magistrate. His equanimity and liberal views have
reconciled the two great contending parties, diffusing
throughout the Republic mildness, concord and brother¬
hood.”

Still there were divergences among the public men. The
“new school,” embracing Adams, Clay and their followers,
wrote Mangum, “has taken the principles of the Old Feder¬
alists but press their principles much further; especially
in the latitudinous construction of the Constitution.”

Governor Holmes’s three years had now expired, and
nominations for a successor included Hutchins G. Burton
of Halifax, Montfort Stokes, Alfred Moore, Simmons J.
Baker and Isaac T. Avery. Several ballots were taken and
at length Burton was chosen.

Governor Holmes reported that the principal work of
Mr. Fulton and the Board of Internal Improvements as to
rivers had been confined to the Cape Fear River ; that
“below Wilmington the result was excellent, and that
steamboats now ran 60 miles above Wilmington at the
lowest water, and within a year they are expected to ply
to Fayetteville at the lowest water.” But while expecting
similar improvement in all the rivers he urged the impor¬
tance of good roads. Likewise, he again urged reform
of the criminal laws and the opening of public schools.
He mentioned that the great number of slaves lately eman¬
cipated had led to a considerable emigration to Hayti, and

Clay’s
Speeches, I,
561

The new
school

1824

Burton,

Governor

On the
Cape Fear

296

LAFAYETTE— CARLTON LETTERS

Negroes not
soldiers

Ashe's Bill

House
Journal, 28

Ibid., 138

he suggested that the State should be protected from any
return of these negroes ; but it was considered that the ex¬
isting law was sufficient. The negro question had found its
way also into Congress. Should free negroes be soldiers?
Congress passed an act excluding them from bearing arms
as soldiers, and the Legislature in conformity now directed
that the names of free negroes be stricken from the militia
muster rolls. Such was the beginning of an interesting
question, was a negro a citizen? In North Carolina, at
least, he could vote, when free.

Quickly following the meeting of the Assembly, Sam
Porter Ashe offered a resolution for the establishment of
schools for the education of the poor; requiring the Com¬
mittee on Education to report a plan for a permanent fund
and to report a system for such schools. And in the Senate,
Charles A. Hill of Franklin reported a bill of like tenor
that passed the Senate 38 to 16. The House was, however,
averse to such action ; nevertheless, in the closing days of
the session the House passed a resolution appointing Chief
Justice Taylor, President Caldwell, Judge Duncan Cameron
and Peter Browne commissioners to prepare a plan or sys¬
tem of public instruction of poor children, and report the
same to the next Assembly.

The legislation of previous years had proved effective,
and numerous agricultural societies had been formed in the
counties; and now the Assembly extended the act of 1822
for two years longer.

Nor was the Assembly indifferent to the health of the
people. In 1824 an act was passed to prevent the intro¬
duction into communities of contagious diseases, and in¬
vesting the local authorities with power to take all precau¬
tionary measures.

Visit of Lafayette

Great interest was felt in the proposed visit of Lafayette.
Governor Holmes dispatched Gen. Robert R. Johnson to

VISIT OF LAFAYETTE

wait on Lafayette at Yorktown and formally invite him to
visit the State ; and it was understood that the General
would arrive at Raleigh about December 20. The Assembly
therefore appointed a committee to attend the honored
guest, and an appropriation was made to meet the expenses.
But the movements of the General were so far different
that he did not cross the North Carolina line until Feb¬
ruary 27, 1825. He was met at Northampton Courthouse
by Chief Justice Taylor, Col. William Polk, Gen. William
Williams of Warren, Col. J. G. A. Williamson of Person,
General Daniels and Major Stanly, representatives of the
State for that purpose. He was received with much
warmth there and also at Halifax. On approaching Raleigh
on March 2, he was received by Captain Ruffin’s company
of Blues and the Mecklenburg troop of cavalry. He was
entertained at the Governor’s mansion by Governor Burton.
He was later conducted to the State House where he viewed
the statue of Washington ; and there he was addressed by
Colonel Polk in behalf of the citizens of the town, and the
ovation given him at the State’s capital was as perfect as
could be desired. Accompanied by his son, George Wash¬
ington Lafayette, after two days passed at Raleigh, he took
the route to Fayetteville, escorted by the Mecklenburg cav¬
alry and the delegation appointed by the State for that pur¬
pose. Fayetteville had been so named in his honor : a cir¬
cumstance that appealed to him, and his visit there was
greatly enjoyed. Ten miles from Fayetteville he was met by
the Fayetteville companies, and at Clarendon bridge by the
mayor and commissioners, and a procession was formed of
the troops, and amidst the joyful roar of artillery he was es¬
corted into the town named in his honor many years earlier.
There was a great demonstration in token of the admiration
and affection of the citizens ; and then the General had to
hurry forward to Cheraw where he was to officiate in laying
the cornerstone of the monument to the heroic DeKalb,
who fell there in defense of North Carolina. At that time,

1825

298

LAFAYETTE— CARLTON LETTERS

1825

Sunday

schools

as described by the Rev. Robert C. Belden, the General
w as “somewhat corpulent, above medium stature and broad
shouldered." He evidently retained his vigor well. The
son, George Washington, was a fine specimen of a man,
well proportioned, graceful in carriage and of easy manners.
He had earlier passed some time in this country and was
familiar with our American customs.

Tlie first step for public schools

The agitation for the public schools was continuous, but
the subject was considered less pressing than that of im¬
proving transportation facilities, and it is noteworthy that
the members of the House of Commons representing man¬
hood were not so eager to adopt a system as those of the
Senate representing property. Annually the Governors
urged the establishment of public schools, and bills would
be introduced in each House. Sometimes the Senate would
act favorably on such measures, but the House would re¬
ject the bills. At length at the session, November, 1822,
an impetus was given to the subject by a movement among
some of the original states to have Congress apportion to
them a part of the public domain for an educational fund,
as was the settled policy and practice with regard to the new
states. A strong and urgent memorial to that end was
drawn to be presented to Congress and communicated to
the other states requesting their cooperation. Should that
succeed, the object would be accomplished; but Congress
took no action. In the meantime, the benevolence of com¬
munities began to find expression. In 1817 there was
formed at Wilmington a society, of which Eliza Lord was
the head, to secure to poor children and destitute orphans
a moral and religious as well as a common school education.
A few years earlier Sunday schools had been started in
England at which poor children were taught to read and
write and given religious instruction, and such schools were

SUNDAY SCHOOLS

299

begun in some of the states, and in some of the counties of
this State. In a memorial to the Assembly in 1825, it was
stated : “The Sunday School Society of Orange County has
under its care twenty-two schools, in which are instructed
from 800 to 1,000 children, many of whom, the children of
the poor who would otherwise have been brought up in In Orange
utter ignorance and vice, have been taught to read and write
and trained to habits of moral reflection and conduct.”

The memorialists asked for twenty-five cents for every
Sunday learner in that county and for all the other Sunday
schools in the State. Among the memorialists were Judge
Webb, Judge Norwood, Judge Nash and .others distin¬
guished in public and civil life. While taught on Sunda}',
the lessons were in the three R’s.

At Raleigh there was a school where some fifty children At Raleigh
were taught. These were not merely instructed on Sunday
but regularly five days during the week. The society that
maintained this school purchased materials which poor fe¬
males were employed to spin and weave, the clothes being
sold for the use of the society, and a school was kept for
the instruction of the children. But notwithstanding these
and similar object lessons in other parts of the State, and
notwithstanding the urgent appeals of the press, all propo¬
sitions to raise funds by taxation or otherwise for common
school purposes had been regularly defeated.

The public men

At that period there was no lack of great, strong men in
the State. Some of the Revolutionary patriots still lin¬
gered on the stage and there was a bevy of younger men
of particular merit. Judge Duncan Cameron stood high
among them ; Chief Justice Taylor, Gaston, Iredell, Mur-
phey, Ruffin, the Hendersons, Mangum, Badger, Meares,

Bedford Brown, Strange, the Hills, Hawkins, Wilson, Cald¬
well, Henry, Edmund Jones, Morehead and others were
men cast in a superior mould ; nor should it be assumed that

300

LAFAYETTE— CARLTON LETTERS

Attendance
on academies

Educational

fund

1825

The plan
reported

the absence of public education caused a blight upon the
intelligence of the public men. North Carolina had not
been different from the other states. Her sons were equal
to the best. She stood well abreast of the other states in
the matter of higher education. The census shows that in
1840 she had 8,335 pupils in the academies and colleges.
Allowing a four years course, every year 2,000 young men
entered upon the activities of life and aided in diffusing gen¬
eral intelligence ; and similarly, among the mothers. In¬
deed it was said in 1824, '‘Perhaps we have in our State
more schools for the languages and sciences than the cir¬
cumstances of. the country call for."

When the Senate organized in 1825, Charles A. Hill,
W. M. Sneed, Geo. L. Dawson, Edmund Jones and M. T.
Hawkins were appointed the Committee on Education and
Primary Schools. They soon reported a bill providing for
a fund for the establishment of public schools, vesting the
same in a literary board created by the act. The fund
embraced certain dividends, the unexpended balance of the
agricultural swamp lands, twenty-one hundred dollars in
cash, and some other resources. When the accumulation
should be sufficient the proceeds were to be used for
schools. This bill passed both Houses, but while it was a
beginning of an earnest endeavor for public schools, years
were to pass before the income was sufficient for any prac¬
tical purpose.

At that session a report was made by the commission ap¬
pointed the year before to prepare a plan of public education.
It was a well considered plan, proposing that the justices
of each county should borrow money for the purpose and
lay a tax to meet the interest, but as yet the Assembly was
not ready to lay a tax for the education of the poor. Nor
would they appropriate money to promote literary efforts ;
when aid was desired for the publication of a history of
the State by Judge Murphev, they instead authorized him to
have a lottery. At that period the taxes were low and the

TAXATION AND TRANSPORTATION

301

aversion to taxation was positive. In February, 1827, Mr.
King of Iredell introduced a bill for the encouragement of
Sunday schools as follows : “Whenever a Sunday school is
established the object of which is to instruct poor and indi¬
gent children in the art of reading and writing, the Treasury
was to pay twenty-five cents for each child.” But the bill
failed. On the other hand, a bill was offered to repeal the
act establishing the Literary Fund. However, on this an
adverse report was made by Morehead, chairman. More-
head declared that “states having the means at command
are morally criminal if they neglect to contribute to each
citizen that individual usefulness and helpfulness which
arises from a well-cultured understanding. . . . Your com¬
mittee believe that it is the duty and the interest of North
Carolina to instruct that part of her population who do not
possess the means of acquiring a useful education.”

Taxation

1 he valuation of lands and property was left to two ap¬
praisers appointed each year by the justices of the county,
and a magistrate. The owner gave in a list of his prop¬
erty. The State tax was six dollars on the hundred acres.
The county justices levied such taxes as they thought
necessary.

Transportation

The efforts to improve water transportation had been
disappointing. Nearly half of the. Assembly and a large
proportion of the inhabitants felt aggrieved at the salary
paid to the engineer, Fulton, and at every session there
were propositions to reduce it which such able and far¬
sighted leaders as Judge Cameron were able to defeat,
leaving it to the board to manage the matter. Finallv, in
1824, the attack took a new turn and entirely new members
were elected to compose the board. James Iredell of the

1825

Fulton re¬
tires

302

LAFAYETTE— CARLTON LETTERS

1825

House

Journal,

Albemarle section, Edward B. Dudley and Col. Daniel M.
Forney of Lincoln County were elected and, with the Gov¬
ernor, were now to have control of internal improvements.
This action was based on the complaint that much money
had been unnecessarily expended and the works were im¬
properly conducted. Mr. Fulton thereupon resigned. But
the Assembly had hopes of improving the rivers without
his aid, and it directed that a steam dredge should be bought
and $6,000 was appropriated to clear out the flats below
Wilmington ; and the Cotton Plant Steamboat Company
was incorporated to run boats on the Cape Fear. But
thoughts now turned to the highways and the Board of
Internal Improvements was urged to further the construc¬
tion of turnpikes even by subscribing in some cases one-
half of the necessary stock.

Emancipation

The Governor laid before the Assembly resolutions pro¬
posed by Ohio “for the gradual emancipation of slaves and
the colonization of free people of color” which had been
highly approved by the Legislatures of Indiana, Delaware,
Connecticut and Illinois. In regard to this proposition, the
ioo Governor made but a single remark that he indulged the
hope that the nonslaveholding states will shortly learn and
practice what has familiarly been termed the Eleventh
Commandment : “Let every one attend to his own concerns.”

Similarly a proposition to repeal so much of the act of
1741 as required that negro apprentices should be taught
to read and write was defeated, the Legislature adhering
to its position taken in 1818, when William B. Meares of
Wilmington offered a bill “to prevent all persons from
teaching slaves to read and write, the use of figures- ex¬
cepted,” and it was defeated. The Quakers at their annual
meeting in the fall of 1825, resolved to inaugurate a move¬
ment to remove the colored people held by them that were
willing to leave this country. Their effort had this result :

EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES

303

120 went to Hayti, 316 to Liberia and 100 to Ohio and
Indiana. They were to sail from Beaufort in June, 1826.

The society had earlier sent off 64 to Ohio and 58 to Liberia.

In June, Judge Badger, after four years on the Superior
Court bench, resigned and Thomas Ruffin was appointed Judo.eRuffin
by Governor Burton to fill the vacancy temporarily. The
Assembly at its session elected him. While he had earlier
served two years, this return to the bench marked the be- 1826
ginning of a judicial career of unrivaled luster in the State.

On January 2, 1826, William Drew of Halifax, having
served six years as Attorney-General, was not a candidate Taylor6™7
for reelection. James F. Taylor, Daniel L. Barringer and
G. E. Spruill were in nomination. Mr. Taylor was elected.

He was originally of Chatham, but having moved to Wake,
was in 1823 a member of the House from that county. He
had married Miss Manning who had been a member of the
family of Judge Gaston’s mother and on her death a mem¬
ber of Chief Justice Taylor’s household; so, although there
was no connection between the two Taylors, Judge Gaston
was intimately associated with the two Mesdames Taylor.

As the date for the meeting of the Assembly was not
entirely satisfactory a change was now made. The next
meeting was to be on the last Monday in December, and
thereafter it was to be on the second Monday in January,
but that was not found convenient and was discontinued.

Governor Burton, in his message, made reference to the
disastrous year, the result of a severe drought, saying that a bad year
“the chastening hand of an all wise Providence has come
heavily on particular sections of our State.” He strongly
urged primary public education and then in connection with
internal improvements, said : “We all know that in partic¬
ular sections of the State, the greatest distress is at present
apprehended among the poorer classes of our citizens from
the deficiency of the various crops.” He urged “Facilitate
intercourse between the different sections of the State. . . .

Open your water-courses, repair your old roads and make

304

LAFAYETTE— CARLTON LETTERS

Emigration

Outside

interference

What is a
negro?

Progressive

steps

Dec. 1826

new ones, then the failure of crops in some few counties
would not have the effect of thinning a population already
too much scattered and diminished. . . . What can stay the
tide of emigration now flowing to the west but the im¬
provement of our own State?" Indeed emigration was
directly attributed to the want of facilities to get products
to market, the cost of transportation being more than the
market value.

Vermont had adopted a resolution that “slavery was an
evil and that Vermont would concur in any measure- adopted
by the general government for its abolition that would be
consistent with the rights of the people and the general
harmony.” With regard to this, the Governor “deplored
outside interference, as tending to incite insurrection and
resulting in a reversal of the prevailing policy at the South
of ameliorating the condition of the negroes,” and he sug¬
gested that as other states were now prohibiting free negroes
from settling in them, so should this State in self protection,
do the same. The Assembly in response passed an act
prohibiting free negroes from settling in this State, and it
declared “All free mulattoes descended from negro ancestors
to the fourth generation inclusive, though one ancestor in
each generation may have been a white person, come within
the meaning of this act.”

Public roads were directed to be laid off, among them the
State road in Surry County and in Wilkes County from
Lincolnton to Rutherfordton and from Salisbury to Lin-
colnton. Money was appropriated for the Clubfoot Canal
and for the Cape Fear River, and a charter was granted to
Cadwallader Jones and others for the Roanoke Steamboat
Company to build steamboats to ply on the sounds and
Roanoke River, and the New Bern Marine and Fire Insur¬
ance Company was incorporated.

The Assembly had met on the last Monday in December,
which that year was Christmas Day. The Governor and
State officers had been elected in November for one year and

FIRST GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

305

the year had passed. At the outset, the Governor sub¬
mitted the question to the Legislature as to the validity of
all official acts during December, but the Assembly an¬
swered only by reelecting him to be Governor.

John McRae of Fayetteville prepared in 1826 a map of
the State, five miles to the inch, being 6 feet 9 inches by
3 feet 6 inches. Each county was separately executed by
R. H. B. Brazier, with the assistance of gentlemen of science
in the different parts of the State and revised by the several
county surveyors. On December 18, 1826, McRae announced
in the North Carolina Telegraph, a religious and miscellane¬
ous weekly, published at Fayetteville by Robert H. Morrison,
the editor, that “from the returns already received he believed
that there would be a subscription of not less than 1,000
names — the price to new subscribers was $10. Morrison,
the publisher of the Telegraph, in December, 1826, an¬
nounced as just published at the Telegraph office “Spiritual
Hymns in the Gaelic language by Patrick Grant, the title
in Gaelic being Spioradail Uuadh Dhain Padruing Grand.”
Later, Mr. Morrison became the president of Davidson
College.

The geological survey

Professor Olmstead at first made the geological survey
required by the directions of the Legislature, but on his
resignation Dr. Elisha Mitchell carried on the work ; parts
I and II of the report being by the former and part III by
the latter. In the performance of this duty Dr. Mitchell
made several trips throughout the State. A diary of his
journey over the State in the winter of 1827-28 has been
preserved.

In 1829 Dr. Mitchell made an additional report, and he
then published a textbook “Elements of Geology with an
outline of the Geology of North Carolina” ; and also an essay
on “the character and origin of the low country of North
Carolina.”

1826

State map

Hymns in
Gaelic

1827

Sprunt
Mon., No. 6

3°6

LAFAYETTE— CARLTON LETTERS

1827

This work by Prof. Olmstead and Dr. Mitchell was the
first comprehensive geological survey made by any state,
and while reflecting high credit on the eminent men who
executed the work attests the intelligent and progressive
spirit and wisdom of the public men of that period.

The gold fever

In the early years of the century gold had been found in
Cabarrus County, and the result of the geological surveys
gave some impetus to the search for the precious metal.
Here and there mills for washings had been put in operation
and in 1827 Nathaniel Bosworth, knowing Murphey ’s in¬
terest in the subject, informed him that his plant in Mont¬
gomery County was in satisfactory operation and that he
employed about 80 men. However, Bosworth’s efforts do
not seem to have resulted favorably. Still, elsewhere others
were mining and washing for gold. Two years later Mon¬
sieur Dauverges, a French chemist, wa$ brought from
Philadelphia to examine into the value of the mines, and
Murphey was with him at the Gibson mine, in Guilford
County, which later Murphey and Jonathan Worth worked
for a year; and Murphey proposed to wash for gold on his
Haw River plantation, where it was said there were three
gold mines. At that period the gold fever was abroad in
the central and south central parts of the State. Many
persons flocked to the supposed gold regions, and some of
the planters even carried their negro men there to engage
in the work. The excitement continued a year or two ; but
the results were very disappointing. However, interest in
the natural resources of the State was aroused.

The Carson-Vance duel

On November 6, 1827, at Saluda, across the South Caro¬
lina line, occurred a fatal duel that stirred the west as
much as the Stanly duel had stirred the east. Dr. Robert
Brank Vance had served a term in Congress and on seeking

Archibald D. Murphey
Edward B. Dudley

Elisha Mitchell
William Gaston

CARSON-VANCE DUEL

30 7

a reelection was opposed by a young man, who, however,
had served two sessions in the Legislature, Samuel P.
Carson. Vance was much the elder, but the young man was
successful. At the next election, 1827, Vance opposed
Carson and on the stump mentioned that Carson’s grand¬
father had been untrue during the Revolutionary war, in
fact a Tory. Carson made denial and challenged Vance.
At the meeting Vance fell. Carson, who had been successful
at the polls, continued in Congress until 1833. The Vance
connection was very prominent and the fatal duel left much
heartburning for many years.

The tariff

At first, revenue had been the object of the earlier tariff
laws ; and whatever protection was afforded to manufac¬
turers was merely incidental. But by 1824 the demands
of eastern manufacturers for protection and of western
communities for internal improvements led to the adoption
of the American system fathered by Henry Clay, a western
man ; and the protective measure of that year was adopted
by a majority of five in the House and of four in the
Senate, Daniel Webster, at that time a freetrader, being
against it.

The interests of Massachusetts had been more with com¬
merce than with manufactures, and besides she had seen
Ohio, Indiana and Illinois attract her population. During
the decade ending 1830 the population of those three states
increased 660, 000, while that of Massachusetts increased
but 87,000. Unable to stem the tide of emigration, and
her manufactures becoming more important, she changed
her economic attitude and embraced protection.

In July, 1827, a convention was held in Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania, which favored protecting every industry.
Webster and Massachusetts now cooperated with Clay, and
in May, 1828, a new tariff law was passed, known as the
Bill of Abominations because of its provisions that were

1827

The first
tariff con¬
vention

308

LAFAYETTE— CARLTON LETTERS

1827

Opposition
to the “New
School”

declared by its opponents to be monstrous. It was that
bill that aroused the Republicans at the South in the ensuing
presidential campaign against the Adams administration.
In some of the agricultural states it occasioned talk of dis¬
solving the Union, and in South Carolina, where Calhoun
was all-powerful, the opposition was very violent. But
Clay adhered to his system. When Jackson was defeated in
1824, by Clay’s action in the House, he had charged that
Clay had made a corrupt bargain with Adams ; and Clay
was now at points with General Jackson, and the adherents
of Adams and Clay, while still asserting that they were
Republicans, called themselves “National Republicans.”

At the election, August, 1827, the feeling in the State was
with Jackson and against Adams and Clay. The “New
School" with its adherence to the high tariff and internal
improvements was hotly met at the meetings. Nor was
there kept in mind the distinction between the State's pro¬
motion of its own internal improvements and such action
bv the United States; there arose objections to both. Among
the contestants for Congress was Archibald D. Murphey,
who sought to succceed Barringer. A supporter, writing
to him from Wake just before the election, remarked: “If
it was not for one circumstance, that of internal improve¬
ments in the State, you would beat him (Barringer) three
to one in my neighborhood, but it is hard to make a great
many of the people understand the difference between im¬
provements by the State and that by the United States.”
Senator Macon was ever opposed to any improvements by
the State.

Such was the general tone in the State when in Sep¬
tember, 1827, J. F. Caldwell, President of the University,
began the publication of a series of letters, addressed to the
people, on the subject then entirely new and novel — the con¬
struction of a railway by the State from New Bern to the
mountains. At that time there had been quite a number
of railways constructed in England to haul coal from the

DR. CALDWELL'S LETTERS

309

mines to some shipping point, but none as much as ten
miles in length, and all operated by horses ; and there were
a few on the continent for similar purposes. In this coun¬
try, a road three miles long had been begun in 1827 at
Quincy, Massachusetts, to haul granite ; and in Pennsylvania
a road five miles long to haul coal was also begun in 1827.
In South Carolina there was a road from Charleston into
the interior also in use ; but all without locomotives. Other
than these, there were no such aids to transportation in the
United States when Dr. Caldwell began his series of let¬
ters, which reached eleven numbers before the meeting of
the Assembly. For intelligent apprehension of the prob¬
lems involved ; for clearness of views and a thorough un¬
derstanding of a subject at once novel, difficult and im¬
portant, these letters published as ‘‘The Carlton Letters’’ are
a marvel of excellence. They deserve to stand on as high a
plane of literary accomplishment as the celebrated reports
of Hamilton or Jefferson or any of the famous men of that
generation. Indeed, it is to be said that they constitute a
wonderful achievement, reflecting high credit on the State,
perhaps unrivaled in any other American commonwealth.

Twelve years had elapsed since Murphey and his coad¬
jutors had started the scheme of improving water transporta¬
tion and constructing highways through the western parts
of the State. The navigation of the Dan and Roanoke had
been brought to a high state of usefulness and that of the
Cape Fear to most gratifying efficiency. The Catawba and
Yadkin had been opened, and nearly every stream in the
east had been improved ; while the Clubfoot and Harlowe
Canal connected the waters of the great sounds with the
ocean at Beaufort harbor. Much benefit had accrued, but
still, save at Fayetteville, no great market within the State
had resulted. The natural tendency of our farm products
to seek markets in Virginia and in South Carolina con¬
tinued, and the profits of our important trade went into
the pockets of the merchants of the neighboring states.

Carlton

Letters

3io

LAFAYETTE— CARLTON LETTERS

1827

The railroad

House

Journal, 140

North Carolina was not reasonably benefited by the industry
of her people. Much had been done for water transporta¬
tion, but still the obstacles to industrial prosperity generally
remained. Dr. Caldwell conceived the design or rescuing
the interior of the State from its condition ; of providing
transportation for the products of the west to some North
Carolina port, where vessels would bear them to the Medi¬
terranean Sea, to Europe, to the islands at the south as
well as to the markets of the northern states.

While our people knew of the benefits of the canals in
England, in New York and elsewhere, they had heard but
little of a railway. Nowhere else in the world had such
a railway as Caldwell now proposed ever been designed. It
was to start at New Bern, come to Raleigh, and then go
westward, about fifty miles distant from each of the north¬
ern and southern boundaries of the State. Nearly every
farm was to be within a day’s journey of the road. Along
the line of the road the produce would be laden on the
railway carriages and carried to New Bern where, trans¬
ferred to barges, it would be conveyed by the canal to Beau¬
fort and shipped abroad. Already a steam locomotive had
been devised in England ; but there were none in America.
Horses were to draw the carriages. Dr. Caldwell figured
that it would cost thirty-seven cents to the poll for seven
years and the work would be completed. Every detail he
considered fully in his remarkable series of letters. He
hoped that the Legislature would authorize a beginning,
but when the Legislature met Charles Fisher, while agreeing
to the general argument of Dr. Caldwell, made a different
proposition. The Yadkin was open to the Narrows. For
a hundred miles the produce of the Yadkin Valley was for
easy transport on the bosom of that placid stream ; and
the project of Murphey for a canal having fallen through,
Fisher proposed a railway from the Narrows to Fayette*

PROGRESSIVE MEASURES

3ii

ville. Then Nathan G. Smith of Chatham, following the
suggestion of Dr. Caldwell, proposed a road from Beaufort
to Salisbury. Both propositions were referred to a com¬
mittee, and nothing followed.

Quite a number of persons in this State having associated Ibid 154
themselves together for the instruction of the deaf and dumb
and to establish an asylum for the reception and instruction
of these unfortunate persons, they were incorporated under

Progress^

the name of the North Carolina Institution for the Instruc- measures
tion of the Deaf and Dumb.

The former Legislature having directed a commission to
reports plans for a penitentiary and for an asylum for idiots 1827
and lunatics, the Governor now communicated such plans,
but the time was not yet ripe for action, and the plans were
ordered to be deposited in the library for future use.

There were transportation companies chartered for Hay¬
wood County, another to run from Buncombe to Burke, and
another known by the name of the Smoky Mountain Trans¬
portation Company, the State being a stockholder.

In Elizabeth City there was enough business for the for¬
mation of a marine insurance company. In several coun¬
ties there were library companies authorized, and the State
Library was directed to let Hardy B. Croom have the use
of Lawson’s History for twelve months to republish the
same with notes.

The Assembly, desirous of promoting laudable objects
without taxing the people, resorted to lotteries that were
then much utilized, even for religious purposes as well as
for other objects.

Judge Murphey had been engaged in preparing a history
of the State and it was commonly understood that the pub¬
lication of a history was casting bread on the waters with no
hope of any return. To be helpful to this distinguished
public man in his great endeavor, the Assembly passed an

312

LAFAYETTE— CARLTON LETTERS

Lotteries

Jefferson,
Vol. IX

1828

Iredell,

Governor

act authorizing the Treasurer to have a lottery to raise
$50,000, one-half of the proceeds to be for the Literary
Fund, and the other half for the use of Murphey in pub¬
lishing his history. The lottery was to be sold to brokers
or others who might purchase the right to hold it. For
some reason there were no purchasers, so the scheme fell
through.

There was also an act giving authority to the Board of
Internal Improvements to have a lottery to raise $50,000 to
survey and drain swamps and to improve the health of
certain counties in the eastern part of the State ; and Sena¬
tor Flenry Seawell from Wake, offered a resolution instruct¬
ing the Committee on Education to inquire into the expe¬
diency of raising $630,000 by lottery, ten thousand dollars
to be given to each county for establishing public schools.
Lotteries, argued Jefferson, when applying to the Virginia
Legislature for one to be authorized for the aid of his pro¬
posed university, are not more subject to chance than the
pursuit of agriculture. The propriety of their use was a
common sentiment.

This being Burton's last year, James Iredell was elected
Governor.

It was at this time that Murphey engaged the services of
a man who had taught school in the western counties, known
as P. S. Ney, and who proved efficient and helpful to
Murphey.*

Murphey’s health now became bad. Some of his specu¬
lations in land turned out disastrously. At the August
election, 1827, he offered for Congress against Barringer,
both being supporters of General Jackson, but he was de¬
feated. His proposed history was never completed.

*The real name of this man Ney waa Neyman. He was a Scotchman.

EARLY MASONS OF THE STATE

3i3

The Masons had for years been active in North Carolina, The Masons
and among them were many of the most honored patriots
of the State. Sam Johnston, Richard Caswell, Davie, Col.

William Polk, Chief Justice Taylor, Judge Hall, Governor
Benjamin Smith and Robert Williams were the Grand Mas¬
ters up to 1813, and equally distinguished were their suc¬
cessors ; while the roll of members contained the names of
the most choice spirits of the commonwealth. Therefore
when an anti-Mason party arose at the North it made no
impression in North Carolina.

CHAPTER XX

An Era of Progress

The presidential election. — Jackson successful. — His citizen¬
ship and manners. — Character. — His inauguration. — Iredell’s
message. — New conditions. — Cotton and woolen factories; other
enterprises. — Iredell and Branch Senators. — Owen, Governor. —
Congress agrees to improve the Cape Pear. — Fauntleroy Taylor
dies. — Death of Chief Justice Taylor. — The banks in trouble. —
Branch Bank of United iSitates. — Robert Potter. — Gaston. — Pot¬
ter’s popularity. — His crime and death. — Fisher’s diatribe. —
Ruffin restores confidence. — Macon. — His influence. — Death of
Yancey. — Federal patronage.— GDeath of Murphey. — Governor
Owen’s progressive message. — The Internal Improvement Con¬
vention. — The Assembly responds. — Sheriffs and clerks to be
elected by the people. — Bedford Brown Senator. — Henderson
Chief Justice. — Macon County. — Ruffin on Supreme. Court. — The
Donaldson industrial school. — The tariff. — The State’s non-action.

1828

Attitude
of Gales

The presidential election

When the presidential election of 1828 was approaching
the friends of Adams and of Clay, the adherents of the
American system, those who supported the high tariff
measures and the internal improvements policy of the ad¬
ministration, stood for the reelection of Adams. But Jack-
son, declaring that the popular will had been defeated by a
corrupt bargain between Clay and Adams in 1824, was very
active in rallying the opposition. Great popular interest
was aroused throughout all the states. In North Carolina
nearly all the public men were for “Old Hickory,” and
against the “New School’’ as those were called who ad¬
vocated a latitudinous construction of the Constitution.
Colonel Polk, Badger, Mangum and nearly all the old Re¬
publicans were for Jackson, but Gales, so long the leading
Republican editor, was not. In 1820 when the Legislature
had pronounced against the tariff, Gales had registered a
strong dissent. And his action was in conformity with his
principles. He had stood for home manufactures, ’and in
1808 he had established a paper mill on the Neuse: and had

GENERAL JACKSON

3I5

ever urged domestic manufactures. At the previous elec¬
tion he supported Crawford, the caucus nominee, who, in¬
deed, had a large following in the State ; but he was no
longer in line with the Jefferson Democracy.

By November all doubts of the result of the election were
allayed. Jackson was successful by more than two to one in
the electoral college. While New England gave all her
votes but one to Adams, the West offset that; and the South
voted solidly for Jackson, as did Pennsylvania; only New
York and Maryland divided. It was the death knell of the
political supremacy of Massachusetts. Virginia and the
South and West wielded the power of the Union.

Some question has arisen as to Jackson’s nativity. It is
not important whether his mother happened to be on the
north or south side of the line dividing the Carolinas when
he was born. The Waxhaw settlement embraced the neigh¬
borhood and extended into both states. His parents came
from Ireland in 1765 and settled in Waxhaw. Two years
later he was born in North Carolina. All through youth
he was in North Carolina, a North Carolina boy. It is said
he taught school, and studied law in North Carolina, was
a resident and voter of the State, admitted to the bar by
Judge Ashe, as a citizen; held office as a citizen; never
breathing any other atmosphere, until Tennessee, North
Carolina’s daughter, became a state.

After he became President, his political opponents as¬
sumed towards him an air of superiority. He had not had
their training. He was a resolute, determined man : but in
manner, in personal bearing, he was so deferential, so gentle,
so courteous, that Mrs. Seaton wrote: ‘‘General Jackson ap¬
pears to possess quite as much suaviter in modo as fortiter
in re. He is indeed a polished perfect courtier in female
society, and polite to all.” And Senator Iredell wrote to
Ruffin : “I have seen General Jackson and am much pleased
with his manner and address. They are decidedly those of
a well-bred gentleman, and I do not know that I could give
him a higher character.” While a man of decision, he held
lofty views and had correct principles ; and he was free
from insincerity and duplicity : nor was he lacking in edu-

Jackson

Biog.

Seaton, 161

Ruffin
Letters, I,
433

3l6

AN ERA OF PROGRESS

1828

Seaton,

Bio?.

cation. He had been educated in youth, a judge of the
Supreme Court of Tennessee, had served in the Senate,
and had been Governor of the Territory of Florida.

The campaign had been waged on such issues that Jackson
was stigmatized as an enemy to society. And indeed at
his inauguration all social traditions were trampled under
foot. “It was the people’s day, the people’s President, and
the people would rule. . . . When the President’s ad¬

dress was concluded, the barricades gave way before the
multitude, who forced a passage to shake hands with the
choice of the people. General Jackson mounted his horse,
having walked to the Capitol, and then such a cortege fol¬
lowed : countrymen, laborers, white and black, carriages,
wagons, and carts all pursuing him to the President’s house.

. The closing scene (within the White House) was
195 in disgusting contrast with the simplicity of the impressive
drama of the inaugural oath.” And so it came about that
“party spirit is now fiery hot and will increase every day.”
Of Jackson's particular admirers it was said: “In our
opinion General Jackson is infinitely superior in magnanimity
and other good qualities to his friends. They are outrageous
and would willingly trample under foot and massacre all
who do not bow the knee to Baal.” Such was the begin¬
ning of a new era in political affairs at Washington.

In the State

In his message to the Assembly Governor Iredell men¬
tioned the exuberant harvest, the great improvement in con¬
ditions, and “but few offenders of an atrocious nature.”
He dwelt on the tariff act recently passed, and urged the
Legislature to protest against it, and against “the American
system.”

He urged as all his predecessors had done both education
and internal improvements; and “on the subject of railroads,
which have excited much interest in this State,” he said
that an experiment had lately been commenced to connect
the waters of the Ohio with the city of Baltimore, and he
suggested the construction of a railway from Campbellton to
Fayetteville, as a trial and test.

MANUFACTURING DEVELOPMENTS

The conditions in the State were now better than the
year before. A greater spirit of enterprise prevailed.
There were applications for business incorporations that be¬
spoke an inclination to associate capital and enter on
manufacturing.

The Leakes and Crawfords of Richmond were granted
a charter under the name of Richmond Rockingham Man¬
ufacturing Company, with a capital of $30,000, to manu¬
facture cotton and woolen goods.

Hugh McCain, Jesse Walker, Benjamin Eliot and Jona¬
than Worth formed the Randolph Manufacturing Com¬
pany for cotton and woolen goods, with a capital of $50,000.

William A. Blount, John Myers, William Ellison, with
$20,000, formed the Belfort Cotton Manufacturing Com¬
pany to operate on Tranter’s Creek.

Joel Battle, Edmond McNair, David Clark, David Barnes,
B. M. Jackson, Theophilus Parker, Peter Evans, William
Plummer were incorporated as the Edgecombe Manufac¬
turing Company with a capital of $200,000 to manufacture
cotton, flax and hemp ; and Henry A. Donaldson, Louis
D. Henry, John Riley, Hugh McLaughlin, John M. Dobbin,
formed the Fayetteville Manufacturing Company, $50,000
capital, to manufacture cotton, hemp, wool and flax. Peter
P. Smith, Anderson K. Ramsey of Chatham, Alexander
Gray and Hugh Moffat of Randolph, Daniel McNeil,
Guidon Seawell of Moore, James Mebane, John Stockard
of Orange, put in $15,000 to form the Iron and Casting-
Manufacturing Company in Chatham County. And gold
mining was attractive. The North Carolina Gold Mining
Company was organized “to work gold mines more exten¬
sively than heretofore and with better machinery/’ Both
the Cotton Plant Steamboat Company and the Henrietta
Steamboat Company were organized at Fayetteville ; each
with the authority to build additional boats, and a com¬
pany was formed with $100,000 capital to clear the channel
of Ocracoke Inlet, and improve the navigation of Pamlico
Sound.

Macon having resigned, two senators were now to be
chosen. Governor Iredell and Governor Branch were

Progress

Cotton mills

Navigation

Iredell and

Branch

Senators

3i8

AN ERA OF PROGRESS

1828

Death of the

Chief

Justice

elected. John Owen now became Governor. Not so learned
a man as Iredell, Owen was of fine qualities and worthy of
this post of honor.

The Legislature had called on Congress to remove the
obstructions in the Cape Fear, the result of sinking vessels
there during the Revolution to keep out British vessels, and
Congress proposing to do that, the State Civil Engineer was
now dispensed with ; but the work was kept up by Hinton
James as superintendent. William Robards, the State Treas¬
urer, who succeeded the venerable John Haywood on his
death, reported that the State assets were $1,047,485, and
liabilities $325,326. The Legislature directed that $5,000
be advanced to McRae for the publication of his map.

The Attorney-General, James Fauntleroy Taylor died in
June, 1828, the Legislature electing Romulus M. Saunders
to the vacancy; and on January 29, 1829, Chief Justice Tay¬
lor died. For thirty years he had been on the bench and
ranked first among his associates. On his death the court
made a memoranda from which the following are extracts.
“In the character of this distinguished man there was such
a rare union of qualities as renders the task of portraying
it one of peculiar difficulty. The lineaments of his mind
were delicate and so harmoniously blended as to present to
the intellectual eye an object on which it dwelt with serene
and affectionate pleasure, conscious of excellence, yet scarcely
sensible in what it consists. . . . His gentle, unob¬

trusive manners, a singular felicity of expression, which al¬
ways seized and apparently without effort the most appro¬
priate word for the communication of a thought, a playful
but ever benevolent wit, united with quick perception, great
ingenuity in argument and a most retentive recollection of
whatever he had read, opened for him a career of eminence.
His patience was exemplary, and his courtesy universal.
LTniting in an extraordinary degree suavity of manner with
firmness of purpose, a heart tremblingly alive to every im¬
pulse of humanity, with a deep-seated and reverential love
of justice, the best feelings with an enlightened judgment,
etc.

FINANCIAL DEPRESSION

3i9

Of his decisions they said: “Very many, which may be
regarded as models of legal investigation and judicial elo¬
quence, etc. . . . There is indeed a charm in all his

compositions seldom to be found elsewhere, which has in¬
duced not a few to regret that the Chief Justice had not
devoted himself entirely to a literary life. . . . If there

was ever a kinder heart in human bosom, it has not fallen
to our lot to meet with it. If ever man was more faithful
to friendship, more affectionate in his domestic relations,
more free from guile, more disinterested, humane and chari¬
table, we have not been so fortunate as to know him.”

The banks in trouble

The conservative and splendid management of the banks
in their early years had borne its natural fruit. Their
value to the State was appreciated. Then in the time of
depression that set in, they became the fortunate instrument
to alleviate the situation. Everybody became borrowers ;
money was so easy to get on promises to repay. The char¬
ters of the banks were extended to 1835, and their capital
was greatly increased, and as they could issue three dollars in
currency for every dollar of capital, currency became super¬
abundant. Specie becoming scarce, the Legislature came to
the aid of the situation by issuing State notes, receivable as
specie. While this expedient was a temporary relief,- in the
end it augmented the evil. Unfortunately, similar condi¬
tions existed elsewhere at the South and West, and there be¬
ing great demand for specie, brokers plied their trade re¬
lentlessly, purchasing the notes of the banks at a discount
and presenting them for payment in specie. There was but
one road that led to safety, to call in loans ; and that would
occasion widespread distress. The banks hesitated to resort
to that measure and suspended specie payment. The brokers
being denied their specie brought suit, and to meet this
threatened embarrassment, the banks required customers to
agree to pay their indebtedness in specie ; although the
bank notes were below par. Unusual efforts were now
made by the Legislature to give relief to the banks, but the
Branch Bank of the United States having received a large

3 20

AN ERA OF PROGRESS

1829

Robert

Potter

Wheeler,

164

Ruffin
Letters, I,
458

Gaston

amount of bank notes demanded specie in payment, and
the banks were in a condition that required the most dras¬
tic action. At that time there entered on the stage of public
life a man of unusual abilities and qualities, Robert Potter
of Granville County. “With an address which would have
graced the most polished court in Europe, with powers of
eloquence that could command the listening auditors and
sway them to his will, and an energy that shrank from no
obstacle or opposition, he sought popularity by magnifying
the evils of the day and appealing to the people for reform.”
He had been a midshipman, but after six years service had
resigned and studied law, and in 1828, was elected a Repre¬
sentative from Granville County. On the meeting of the
Assembly he proposed to reduce severely the pay of the
judges. “Potter seems to have gone completely beside him¬
self upon that and the other great subjects which have been
agitating the people of the State for the last summer ; I
mean the all-absorbing subjects of the depreciation of the
currency of North Carolina, and the bad not to say mis¬
management of the directors of our banks.” Potter had
introduced a resolution, which was adopted, to raise a joint
committee to examine into the affairs of the banks. The
majority of this committee made a report different from
Potter’s views. And he submitted a minority report ac¬
companied by a bill requiring the Attorney-General to in¬
stitute proceedings against the banks, declaring a forfeiture
of their charters. These reports led to high debate. Gas¬
ton was at that time in the plenitude of his powers.
Badger, writing to Ruffin, said : “I have been employed
for some days past in the Circuit Court of the GTnited States
where Brother Gaston is all in all, and although I have
heard much and seen a little of leaning, yet never saw I,
or heard I, of such complete supporting upon a lawyer as
of the Chief Justice (Marshall) upon Gaston. The Chief
Justice seems to be but his echo, though he is not aware of
it, for his integrity is certainly pure.” Gaston opposed
Potter. “With Gaston were George E. Spruill of Halifax,
David L. Swain, George C. Mendenhall of Guilford, and
James Graham of Rutherford. . . . The House was a

POTTER AND FISHER

321

tie and the proposition of Potter was defeated only by the
casting vote of the Speaker, Thomas Settle/’

Potter by his attack on the banks gained such popular ap¬
plause that he was at the next election chosen as a Jackson
Democrat to Congress from the Granville district. His
course in Congress was brilliant and imposing. He was re¬
elected without opposition. On Sunday, August 28, 1831,
he committed a brutal maim on two of his wife’s relations,
one of them a preacher. He was fined $1,000 and im¬
prisoned six months. The next General Assembly passed
an act making his crime a capital offense. Two years later,
however, he was again elected to the House of Commons;
but realizing that his career had closed he went to Texas in
1835. There he was a member of the convention that de¬
clared the independence of Texas, March, 1836, and mem¬
ber of the Texas Senate. Having some trouble with some
men who on April 2, 1842, drove him from his house near
Caddo, he took refuge in a stream, from the banks of which
they fired on him, he diving as they shot; but eventually
they, killed him.

While Potter’s attack on the banks failed, it had many and
strong supporters. Such was the feeling that Charles Fisher,
a Senator, had published in the Yadkin and Catawba
Journal, February, 10, 1829: “By acts the most designing,
the Legislature and the people of the State for the past ten
years have been held under the spellbound influence of the
banks, and particularly that bank misnamed the Bank of the
State. So great has been this influence that when, a few
years since, the Governor of the State had the firmness to
call their conduct in question, the directors at Raleigh boldly
stepped out and hurled the gauntlet of defiance at the Gov¬
ernor and the Legislature ; and all the newspapers in the
State sung out — ‘Long Live the King.’ ” He declared that
one-third of the stockholders, 150 men, owning more than
$1,000,000 of stock managed the institution. “These com¬
pose the real aristocracy of the land, and of all aristocra¬
cies the most dangerous is a moneyed aristocracy. . . .

Mammon is their God — self-interest their polar star. These
are the men who are now at work to ruin the State, and
21

Potter’s

career

Fisher
denounces
the money
power

322

AN ERA OF PROGRESS

Ruffin averts
trouble

Ruffin
Papers, I,
496

the contest is with them. . . . Times have changed and they
can no longer divide eight per cent with occasional bonus of
ten to thirty-five per cent ; and they have come to the conclu¬
sion to call in their debts without any regard to the condi¬
tion of the community, but only looking to their own sordid
interests. ‘Let us wind up at once,’ they say ; ‘let us call in
our debts and get the money into our own hands ; we can
make more than five per cent of it by shaving notes and
by buying up property at sheriff sales.’ But,” says a whis¬
pering spirit : “The people, you will ruin the people.’
Mammon answers: ‘What are the people to us? We must
look to our own interest.’ It is better that the people should
suffer, it is better that the poor man, with his wife and help¬
less children should be turned out of doors ; it is better that
we should swell the tide of emigration to the west, than that
we should get only five per cent for our money.” On that line
the thoughts of those who were agitating against the banks
found food to grow.

At that period Judge Thomas Ruffin was the most highly
esteemed citizen and the most popular man in the State ;
every one had confidence in his high integrity as in his
superior ability. The condition of the State Bank was so
critical that in November, 1828, some of the leading men
urged him to become president of that institution. On
December 1, he accepted; and his acceptance raised a storm
of fury against him by those who were so bitter against
the bank. He moved to Raleigh and set himself at once
to work to restore confidence in the State Bank, and, with¬
out favor, forced the borrowers to settle. He accomplished
his purpose and saved the State from what might have been
a financial disaster. When two months later the Chief Jus¬
tice died, thoughts of Ruffin’s friends turned to him to fill
the vacancy.

Andrew Joyner of Halifax, one of the first men in the
State, wrote in April, 1829, to Ruffin that the gentlemen of
the bar in that region preferred Ruffin: “If Mr. Gaston
were a candidate, I find there would be considerable differ¬
ence of opinion among them as to which of you should be
selected to fill the appointment, but it is now generally un-

MACON’S RETIREMENT

323

derstood that he positively declines/’ This is of particular
interest as Gaston was a Roman Catholic, and it was gen¬
erally considered that Catholics were barred by the Con¬
stitution from holding civil offices while that provision did
not extend to members of the Assembly.

On November 14, 1828, Senator Macon, having reached
the age when he thought his mental powers were on the
decline, resigned and retired from public life, being suc¬
ceeded by Iredell. He, however, preserved his activity and
continued to be a great hunter of deer and foxes. He
had served in Congress from 1791, was the honored
Speaker of the House, and after 1815, was esteemed as one
of the wisest Senators, and presided over the Senate as
President pro tempore for several years until he retired.
Like Jefferson, he thought the best interests of the people
of the states lay in a strict construction of the Constitution,
limiting the powers of Congress to the specific grants in that
instrument. Particularly was he fearful that Congress
would attempt to abolish slavery in the states. So it came
about that he was opposed to many of the measures that
now engaged the attention of the younger public men. To
preserve his right of action, he never would enter into
cooperation ; and so during the period when presidential
nominations were made by the Congressional caucus he ab¬
stained from attending such a caucus, even when in sympa¬
thy with a majority of the members. For many years he ex¬
erted the first influence in the State. Here he was the
apostle of individualism. His basic principle was that the
function of government should generally be limited to the
preservation of order and protecting and maintaining the
rights of the citizens ; that other matters should be left to
the care and enterprise of the people themselves. Thus he
was not an advocate of public schools or of the State’s
using taxes to promote enterprises that offered advantages
to some particular section. These matters he thought should
be left to those concerned.

It was under the influence of these teachings that opposi¬
tion arose to such efforts as were made to provide public
schools and promote internal improvements.

1828

Macon

retires

324

AN ERA OF PROGRESS

Macon’s

influence

Now that a new era was approaching-, when railroads were
to engage attention, the indisposition to lay taxes for pur¬
poses that were more strictly objects of individual concern
stayed the hand of the General Assembly, and while charter
after charter was granted the State gave its permission and
good wishes, but no aid. One of the first propositions was
to construct a road from Campbellton, where the steamboats
discharged their freight, about a mile, to Fayetteville where
the stores were located. The proposition had been pre¬
viously considered, and a bill introduced and passed, but the
work was not undertaken. Other charters had been granted
to carry into effect the suggestion of Dr. Caldwell to have
a railway from the coast through the central counties of
the State; and a still more favorite project was to connect
Fayetteville by rail with the Yadkin River at the Narrows
so that the products of the Yadkin Valley, up to the moun¬
tains, could reach markets from Wilmington. But as ses¬
sion after session passed the Legislature deemed it inex¬
pedient for the State to give aid. And so it was in regard
to establishing public schools. Year by year propositions
were made to that end, but despite the advocacy of many
progressive spirits, especially in the Senate, they were with¬
out avail.

Next to Macon, perhaps the most influential person in the
State had been Bartlett Yancey in whom was united every
element of fine manhood; and now, too, he was missed from
public life. For ten years he had been Speaker of the Sen¬
ate and exercised a controlling influence in that bodv and
many of the most important measures adopted were at his
instance ; particularly he drew the bill to establish the
literary fund for schools. But he was conservative in ap¬
plying the resources of the State to promote conditions.
FTe died suddenly and entirely lamented, after his reelection
to the Senate in 1828.

Political rewards in the State were few and not remuner¬
ative. The salaries of the Governor and of the judges were
inadequate and, indeed, so was the compensation of the Rep¬
resentatives and Senators in Congress. Thus it came about
that the Federal patronage was unduly considered in con-

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS

325

nection with political alignment, and the expectation or hope
of some Federal office was often uppermost in the mind of
some of the public men.

The post of Minister to Peru had been tendered to Yan¬
cey but he declined it. He preferred his proud position
of director of legislation to any other, while his practice
brought him in a considerable income.

Indeed Murphey was among those who hoped for an ap¬
pointment abroad ; but his hopes were not realized.

While serving the University in Tennessee, he contracted
a malady that impaired his health and usefulness. Turning
from active leadership he proposed to write a history of the
State, but here again he was doomed to disappointment,
and the most progressive citizen of that era passed away
February 1, 1832, without realizing his ardent hopes.

When the Assembly met, W. J. Alexander was chosen
Speaker of the House and Bedford Brown of the Senate ;
then later, D. F. Caldwell of Rowan.

Governor Owen’s message

The Governor strongly urged better transportation fa¬
cilities and particularly the opening of a communication be¬
tween Albemarle Sound and the ocean which, indeed, the
U. S. Engineers had themselves recommended ; and he was
happy to report that the representations of the Assembly to
Congress about the obstructions in the Cape Fear River had
led to an appropriation of $20,000 to remove them, and that
Congress had likewise appropriated $41,000 for the improve¬
ment of Ocracoke Inlet. The proposed Fayetteville and
Yadkin Railroad seemed so important that he suggested
a commission to ascertain the cost and the practicability of
its construction, and he repeated his recommendation for the
construction of the road from Campbellton to Fayetteville.

While the messages of all of the Governors were generally
explicit in their recommendations for the establishment of
primary schools, none of them excelled in point and scope
the first message of Governor Owen. He laid before the
Assembly what was being done in New York, New Jersey

Death of
Murphey

Improve¬

ments

Owen on

public

schools

326

AN ERA OF PROGRESS

and the New England states and he urged that it was a false
system of economy which held the hands of our legislators
from establishing public schools. He submitted a plan for
a public school system that had been prepared at his in¬
stance. He also boldly examined what he deemed was an¬
other subject of state concern, the unhealthy condition of
the eastern counties. Urging draining as a remedy, he
recommended that the State should own its own slaves
to do the necessary work in cleaning out the rivers for
transportation and in draining the swamp lands in the east.

1829

Currituck

Inlet

Popular

elections

Brown

Senator

Internal improvement convention

Contemporaneously with the Governor's message, there
was held at Raleigh an Internal Improvement Convention,
and this was an additional influence for legislative action.
Under this stimulus the Legislature developed more sub¬
stantial activity with respect to transportation improve¬
ments. A joint committee was appointed to report on the
proposed railroad from Fayetteville to the Yadkin River.
An appropriation of $25,000 was made to build locks for
the canal at Weldon, leading into the Roanoke River; and
the House by a vote of 97 to 23 passed a bill to open
a passage from Albemarle Sound into the ocean through
Currituck Inlet, and the Board of Internal Improvements
was authorized to expend $2,000 for that purpose.

The west now achieved its first victory in its continued
struggle to alter the governmental system which bore so
heavily upon them. The election of sheriffs was taken from
the justices and given to the white voters of the counties,
and that year the election of clerks of the county courts were
likewise allowed to the voters. But there the eastern mem¬
bers of the Assembly stopped, while the west urgently con¬
tended for the election of Governor by the popular vote.

Senator Branch, having been appointed Secretary of the
Navy, resigned March 9, 1829, but as there was to be no
meeting of Congress until December, Governor Owen did
not appoint a successor. To succeed Branch Samuel P.
Carson of Burke, Montfort Stokes, Judge Murphey and
Bedford Brown were candidates. There were many ballots
taken without results, and finally Brown was elected.

ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS

327

On the death of Chief Justice Taylor, Judge Leonard
Henderson, who had been a Superior Court judge eight
years and then a member of the Supreme Court since its
formation, was chosen Chief Justice by the surviving mem¬
bers. To fill the vacancy in the court, Governor Owen ap¬
pointed Judge Toomer, who, when the Assembly met, re¬
signed, but stood for election by the Assembly. How¬
ever, on November 24, 1829, Judge Thomas Ruffin was
elected. Judge Ruffin’s accession to the Supreme Court
was the beginning of a judicial career that reflected the
greatest credit on the State. He was one of the most pro¬
found lawyers of his generation, and his opinions in later
years were quoted with consideration by the English jurists.
In private and public life he was an exemplar of all that
was manly, courageous and elevated in human action.

On the resignation of Senator Macon, Macon County
was erected and named in his honor, and now to perpetuate
the memory of the great Speaker of the Senate another
county was proposed — Yancey — but the bill failed in the
Senate, noes 33, ayes 28.

Among' the bills at that session, showing the trend of
thought, was one to incorporate the Fayetteville Female
School of Industry and to incorporate the Donaldson
Academy.

At Fayetteville there had been a firm of successful mer¬
chants, Donaldson & McMillan; the partner Robert Donald¬
son left two sons, James and Robert. They moved to New
York. James married there Miss Lenox, whose brother
gave the Lenox Library to the city. Robert married Miss
Gaston, daughter of Judge Gaston, and resided at Tarry-
town. On his departure, he gave a store lot for a school
to be under the management of the Presbytery. The school
was later established on the brow of Haymount and was
known as the Donaldson Academy. The act of incor¬
poration provided for an industrial department, allowing
such pupils as chose to do so to pay for their tuition with
their labor. Other such schools were started in various
parts of the State, and indeed from the very beginning of
the agitation for public schools, the object was to open

Henderson

Chief

Justice

Supreme

Court

Ruffin on
the bench

Macon

County

The

Donaldsons

Industrial

School

328

AN ERA OF PROGRESS

The tariff

House
Journal
1830, p. 16

the way for poor children to obtain an education, there
being no purpose to educate at public expense those able
to pay.

The Governor’s recommendation for the opening of Cur¬
rituck Inlet was approved by the Legislature ; but those
about railways were not acted on.

In the Senate a bill was passed to incorporate a new
State bank, but eventually it was postponed in the House,
at the instance of Gaston, by a majority of four, and in¬
stead, again at Gaston’s instance, a bill was passed extending
the time for the banks to wind up their affairs.

There developed much feeling against the course of Con¬
gress in the matter of tariff duties and internal improve¬
ments. The legislatures of South Carolina, Virginia,
Georgia and Missouri had passed resolutions denouncing
the action of Congress on these subjects, and Vermont had
passed counter resolutions. Resolutions were introduced in
each house ; but no action was taken. In contrast with other
resolutions offered, those of Mr. Worth were : “Although
the tariff laws are unwise and oppressive to the Southern
States, we cannot concur with the extremely violent and dan¬
gerous remedies to which the South Carolina doctrine of
nullification manifestly tends.”

The State being agricultural, Macon and the public men
generally regarded that the tariff was inimical to their in¬
terests ; and they also held that the Federal government had
no right to use public revenues for internal improvements.

Such principles became the basis of party divisions in the
State; and so firmly were they fixed that when Jackson
vetoed an internal improvement measure, the Maysville
Road Bill, the Legislature applauded him ; and when a
charter was being considered for the North Carolina Central
Road, a proposition was made that “if the company should
sell stock to or receive any aid from the Federal govern¬
ment, the charter should be forfeited,” but the proposed
amendment failed.

Within the State only slight aid had been given to the
construction of some important highways ; and so, likewise,
when the improvement of water transportation began, al-

WATERWAY OPERATIONS

329

though stock was taken in companies to improve the
Roanoke and Cape Fear rivers, these enterprises were left
largely to the individual citizens. The chief exception,
where the State acted itself, was in removing the obstruc¬
tions in the lower Cape Fear, but other than that the work
had been left in private hands, and although the operations
on the Roanoke and Dan had been very beneficial, the efforts
to improve the Catawba and Yadkin had not borne satis¬
factory fruit. Indeed, some enterprising spirits had suf¬
fered heavy losses in the failure of their plans to improve
these streams, especially the Catawba.

State

non-action

CHAPTER XXI

1830

The Roanoke
trade

The

Petersburg

road

The Capitol Burned

Excitement over the tariff and incendiary publications. — The
Weldon Canal. — The trade to Norfolk. — The Petersburg Railroad.
— The experimental road. — The Homestead Exemption fails; also
to establish a State bank; also to remove free negroes from the
State. — Mangum and Owen clash. — The settlement. — Mangum
Senator. — Stokes Governor. — Alabama presents Jackson for
President. — The political resolves. — The Government House and
the Capitol to be painted. — The roof of the Capitol on fire. — Re¬
pairs ordered. — Motion to place the statue of Washington on
rollers not passed. — Thomas Bragg repairs the State House. —
Movement of population. — The causes of emigration. — The in¬
crease of the west. — The Teachers’ Institute. — Conflagrations at
Raleigh. — The Capitol destroyed. — Loss of the Library and statue
of Washington. — The contest over removal of capital. — Two rail¬
roads projected. — The convention and rebuilding postponed. —
Hughes contracts to restore the statue, but fails. — A free school
in Johnston. — Manufacturing corporations. — Abolition. — Agi¬
tation. — Insurrection designed. — The Nat Turner insurrection. —
The plot at Wilmington. — Six negroes executed. — Judge Gaston’s
address.

At the next session, Governor Owen repeated his former
recommendations and urged that the tariff duties called
for a solemn protest. He adverted to ‘'the deep excitement
that has pervaded the South” on this subject, the conditions
that “threaten the separation of the Union” ; and he com¬
municated, as well, “an incendiary publication circulated
extensively throughout the Southern country, ... a sys¬
tematic attempt to sow sedition among the slaves.”

The canal passing around the rapids of the Roanoke had
been opened to Weldon, and in 1830, there were eight boats
regularly engaged in transporting the produce of the Roan¬
oke and Dan through the canal from Elizabeth City to
Norfolk. It was this trade that spurred Petersburg to
action, and Norfolk, too — the prize they were contending
for. And now Virginia acted on the subject of railroads.
On the 10th of February, 1830, the Petersburg Railroad
Company was incorporated at Richmond, and the Legisla¬
ture of North Carolina, with some slight amendments and

RAILROAD EXPERIMENT

33i

additions, enacted the same charter as the road entered
North Carolina and had its terminus on the Roanoke in
this State.

It was thought by some desirable that an experimental
railroad should be constructed as an object lesson. No
more favorable site for such a road could be found than that
at Fayetteville; but the citizens were slow to undertake the
expense. At length, however, in December, 1830, a bill
was introduced to build the Camphellton and Fayetteville
Railroad out of the funds of the State, but such a measure
having been referred to the committee on internal im¬
provement, that committee reported that “finances of the
State did not justify the construction of the road,” and it
failed to pass ; and then, on motion of Mr. Henry abandon¬
ing State aid, it was so amended as to incorporate the Fay¬
etteville Railroad Company, and eventually it passed on
Christmas Day, 1830. But work on the road was delayed;
and the credit of successfully operating such an experimental
road was lost by Fayetteville.

A most important proposition failed at this session. Al¬
ready imprisonment for debt had been abolished, and now
it was proposed to establish a homestead exemption. Fifty
acres of land including the home premises were to be
exempt from execution. On January 3, 1831, the bill being
in the Senate and the vote a tie, the Speaker gave the casting
vote against it, and it failed ; another generation was to
pass before such a beneficent measure was adopted. So
also, a bill to establish a bank with the funds of the State
that had long been under discussion in the Senate being
put to a vote, there was a tie; broken by the Speaker’s
casting vote, and the bill was indefinitely postponed. An¬
other measure of interest was the report of a select com¬
mittee, William B. Meares, chairman, on a proposition to
remove free persons of color from the State. Such a bill
was favorably reported, but was not acted on by the House.

To fill out Macon’s term as Senator, Judge Iredell was
chosen in December, 1828, Mangum, whose name had been
mentioned, having yielded that honor to Iredell, he himself
taking a judgeship. Now as the end of that term ap-

Homestead

exemption

proposed

332

THE CAPITOL BURNED

1831

Mangum and
Governor
Owen clash

Mangum

Senator

Biog. Hist.,
Y, 242, 244

proached, Mangum became a candidate, as also were Gov¬
ernor Owen, Judge Donnell, R. D. Spaight and Montfort
Stokes, the latter being a western man. It was thought bv
some that Judge Donnell would beat Owen for Senator
and that Spaight would beat him as Governor. Such was
the combination against Owen. But Mangum was de¬
termined to be Senator and] he was bitter that Owen, being
eligible as Governor another year, should have entered the
race for Senator. When the ballots were in progress on the
opening in December, Mangum wrote letters denouncing
Owen’s political principles and at once notified Owen of
his letters and avowed his willingness to give him the sat¬
isfaction usual among gentlemen. Owen accepted his chal¬
lenge, Louis D. Henry being his second ; and W. M. Sneed
acted for Mangum. Mangum then directed his name to be
withdrawn; but on December 3, Judge Saunders wrote Man¬
gum that hi§ letter was not received until there had been
two ballots — that Owen had 97 votes, he 86 and 14 blanks.
He proposed postponing the election till next session, and
added “Charles Fisher feels confident your presence and
nothing else can save us from Owen’s election. I view his
success as fatal to our future prospects.” Eventually the
affair of honor was called off,* and Owen retired from the
race, and Mangum was chosen Senator as a supporter of
Jackson, and he resigned as judge. While this was an
unusually bitter contest, yet in a measure it illustrates the
course of affairs among the public men of that period. For
the governorship, after many ballots, Montfort Stokes was
successful over J. T. McKay of Bladen ; and Owen retired to
his plantation in Bladen. He was a gentleman of a nice
sense of honor and a man of ability.

*It seems probable that Mangum withdrew his letter, and so the trouble
was amicably settled; and that this was brought about by John Chavis, a re¬
markable negro man. Chavis had been educated by Dr. Weatherspoon,
the President of Princeton, just before the Revolution, and served as a
soldier in the war. Eventually he became a licensed Presbyterian minister.
He was respected as a man of education, good sense and most estimable
character and as a teacher and minister. In 1808 he opened a school in
Raleigh for the white children; and with “an evening school to ten o’clock
for colored children.’’ Attention being paid not only to their education,
but to their morals which he deemed an important part of their education.
Later he had a school in Granville County and he taught at Hillsboro and
elsewhere, among his pupils being boys who subsequently became distinguished,
such as Senator Mangum and others. He was esteemed and respected.

REPAIRS ON STATE BUILDINGS

333

Now that the Congressional caucus had been discarded
the Legislatures of some of the states substituted the prac¬
tice of presenting the name of their presidential candidate.
Alabama had originally presented Andrew Jackson and now
again did so. In the Assembly there were several shades
of opinion. There were those bitterly opposed to nullifi¬
cation; those sustaining Jackson’s administration, especially
because he had turned his back on internal improvements
by Congress. Various resolutions were introduced. Jona¬
than Worth offered one that “The Legislature does not
recognize the right of an individual state to nullify a law
of the Lhiited States and that the Union must be preserved.”
While the part relating to the preservation of the Union was
adopted unanimously; that denying the right of nullifica¬
tion did not receive the sanction of twenty-seven members
who were followers of Calhoun.

Another set of resolutions offered by Sawyer approving
Jackson’s administration, and especially his veto of the
Mayfield Road Bill and declaring that his reelection was
highly necessary to preserve the Union, passed the House
by 97 to 9. Among the nays were Barringer, Joseph A.
Hill, Mendenhall and Worth. Worth would not vote for
Jackson. In the Senate these resolutions were tabled 20
to 16, which brought forth protests that “while the resolu¬
tions spoke the wishes of a large majority of the people,
a few persons in the Senate could defeat them.”

On December 27, 1830, a resolution was passed to require
that the Government House, as the Governor’s residence was
called, be covered with good shingles and painted, and that
the roof of the Capitol be painted and the leaks in the gut¬
ters stopped. On the evening of January 6, 1831, while the
Assembly was in session, the roof of the State House caught
on fire, but through the exertions of John B. Muse and
others, including half a dozen negro slaves, the fire was
subdued. The next day the Assembly passed a bill direct¬
ing that the building should be covered with some metal,
so as to be fire-proof, and that a cistern should be con¬
structed on the lot and a fire engine and buckets provided
and that repairs should be made to the State House, the

The factions

The Capitol
on fire

334

THE CAPITOL BURNED

1831

The

migration

Governor’s house and the Secretary's office. It was pro¬
posed, because of the possibility of fire, that the statue of
Washington should be placed on rollers so that it might
be removed in case of need ; hut the session was now near
its close and the motion was not considered. After the ad¬
journment of the Assembly the contract for repairing the
State House was let to Thomas Bragg, a builder.

Tlte movement of population

There was a prevailing impression that the eastern part
of the State was very unhealthy, the cause being largely
attributed to the swamps and undrained lands. At that
period, before the days of buggies, travel was generally
on horseback although some persons used gigs and a few
carriages. The judges who rode the eastern circuits found
their health impaired and some even resigned on that ac¬
count, so notwithstanding the advantage of water trans¬
portation enjoyed by the residents of the east, there was a
disposition to move away. By the census of 1800, eight
eastern counties had lost population, among them Craven
and Halifax, and others fell far below the general average
of increase. In 1810, six eastern counties lost population,
and others fell below the general average of increase, six¬
teen per cent. In the next period, four more at the east
had lost population, among them New Hanover; nor did
the emigrants stop in the western counties. They sought
homes farther away. Perhaps there being much land, and
but little systematic improvement of the open fields either
by the use of manure or by rotation of crops, constant cul¬
tivation resulted in the impoverishment of the soil. Certainly
taxation was not oppressive, six cents on the hundred dollars
worth of property, and the assessment very low. Nor were
the emigrants from the poor, illiterate class. On the con¬
trary it was the better class that was able to remove, men
who hoped to better their fortunes. The movement was so
observable that one of the Governors in directing the atten-
tion of the Assembly to it, mentioned that “the sons having
gone to the west, and established homes for themselves, their
fathers proposing to join them were offering their farms

MOVEMENT OF POPULATION

335

for sale, and there was everywhere throughout the State
much land for sale and no purchasers.” Among the emi¬
grants were many men of substance and education who
carried their slaves with them. And so it was also at the
west, although the movement from the Piedmont region was
mostly to north of the Ohio.

The Piedmont region had originally been occupied by
Germans and Scotch-Irish, and later, came Quakers from
Nantucket and elsewhere. These, like the Moravians at
Salem, had multiplied.

The great revival of 1800 led to the organization of the
Synod of the Lutherans in May, 1803. In 1806, in Orange
and Guilford there were three Lutheran churches ; in Rowan
four, in Lincoln eight, and Lutherans had extended into Ire¬
dell, Burke and Wilkes. There were also congregations of
the Reformed German Church. Thousands of German
families, however, migrated to Ohio, Indiana and Illinois so
that there were Lutheran congregations in those states
composed almost entirely of North Carolinians.

In 1806 the Moravians had six congregations, five using
the German language and one the English. And similarly the
Lutherans held to the German for generations ; so likewise
the Gaelic was still in use on the upper Cape Fear.

The exodus that was annually kept up for decades by the
Lutherans did not extend to the Moravians, nor so posi¬
tively to the Scotch-Irish : but later it swept vigorously
through the Quaker settlements, those emigrants going par¬
ticularly to Indiana. Mrs. Coffin is said to have given the
names of 300 Quaker families whose removal to Indiana
she individually knew of. This general movement was sup¬
posed to be to a land of promise ; but by this time it is notable
that there were slaves and free negroes in every county:
in Ashe, 600; Burke, 800; Buncombe, 1750; Macon, 496 and
Haywood, 452; and this influenced the Quakers, also. But
elsewhere there was a similar movement of population.
The census of 1830 shows that Connecticut, the land of
steady habits and of common schools, gained in that decade
but eight per cent in population ; New Hampshire, but ten

The

Germans

Bernheim,

393

The

Quakers

The

per cent

336

THE CAPITOL BURNED

The

incentive

Ideals

per cent ; South Carolina gained only eight per cent ; North
Carolina, thirteen, and Virginia, fifteen per cent.

The general incentive to removal was hope of better lo¬
cation. In 1819, Murphey, the foremost man in the State
in progressive ideas, had a notion to quit the State “as soon
as I get my debts paid off” ; and later he had a settled pur¬
pose to remove. Whole connections, like those associated
with the Revolutionary patriot, Col. William Shepperd,
moved together; the families of William B. Grove, John
Hay, Sam Porter Ashe and the educator, Dr. Rogers, all
having married sisters, removed to Tennessee about 1825.
And so it was frequently. Indeed, a North Carolinian liv¬
ing in a new home wrote: “I was almost in hopes that her
wise men would have abolished the Supreme Court and by
that means have driven from the State the eminent men who
yet linger within her borders.” And it is to be remarked
that much of the patronage of the State University came
from the families that had moved away. Indeed the exodus
appears, to have come from the natural desire of enter¬
prising people to better their fortunes, shared alike at the
north and at the south. At that period the public mind had
long been directed to State improvement. The chief
thought was to make life more tolerable. The first en¬
deavor had been to improve the rivers and water-courses.
The communities were far separated ; a line through the
State from the northeast to the southwest would reach to
Canada. Community interests were not similar. There
were natural obstacles to development, and in the sparsely
settled country there were obstacles even to much personal
intercourse between the various strains of population located
in the several sections of the State. Yet it is to be observed
that the reports of Murphey, the first geological survey,
the employment of Fulton, and efforts to improve the rivers
and introduce railroads, and many other similar measures
attest gratifying intellectual activity. The public men were
efficient but conditions were not favorable to achievement.

EDUCATIONAL SOCIETY

3 37

The Teachers’ Institute

In the spring of 1831, the teachers and others interested
in education were urged to attend at the commencement of
the University in June and associate themselves into a
society. Many did so. On organization, for president was
chosen Dr. Simmons G. Baker, originally of Martin County
but later a resident of Raleigh. Dr. Baker was mentioned
in 1829 by Dr. Mitchell “as a man of liberal education, very
lively and intelligent in his conversation, a trustee of the
University. . . . He sets a higher value on the amor

patriae than any man I have ever known.” Doctor
McPheeters, Rev. William M. Green and Judge Nash were
the vice-presidents. Various gentlemen were asked to
deliver addresses at the next meeting, and at the meeting
in 1833, Joseph A. Hill, understood to have been the most
accomplished orator of that period, delivered the address,
“rendered more acceptable by the wit, fancy and felicity and
eloquence of language which accompanied and embellished
it.” But the subsequent meetings of the Society were not
reported in the papers ; apparently the Institute passed away.

The Capitol destroyed

Already Raleigh had suffered severely by extensive con¬
flagrations. On several occasions the east side of Fayette¬
ville Street between Union Square and Martin Street had
been partially swept away. When Thomas Bragg, the con¬
tractor, had nearly completed his work of covering the
Capitol with a metal roof, through the carelessness of a
workman, the building caught within the roof. On the
bright morning in June 21 the citizens were startled by the
alarm of fire, volumes of smoke were seen issuing from the
ventilators under the roof. Judge Battle narrates that just
as he stepped out of his hotel, looking towards the building,
he saw owls flying from the attic windows, followed by
lurid flames. There were no adequate means for the ex¬
tinguishment of the fire. The citizens gathered and ad¬
dressed themselves to saving the State papers, but the
statue of Washington could not be removed. As the hours
22

1831

June 21,
1831

The

statue of
Washington

338

THE CAPITOL BURNED

House

Journal, 145

Fayetteville
cooperates
with west

The

northeast for
rebuilding

November,

1831

Senate
Journal, 10

passed, they saw it doomed to destruction. Helpless to
avert the calamity, they gazed with horror on the splendid
work of Canova, crumbling in the heat of the conflagra¬
tion, and then shattered into fragments as the burning tim¬
bers fell upon it. The Capitol was entirely destroyed.
The Raleigh Register two days later said : “Of that noble
edifice with its special decorations nothing now remains
but the blackened walls and smouldering rums. The State
Library is also entirely consumed and the statue of Wash¬
ington, that proud monument of national gratitude which
was our pride and glory, is so mutilated and defaced that
none can behold it without mournful feelings. The most
active exertions were made to remove the chef-d’avoeure of
Canova from the ravages of the devouring elements nor
were they desisted from until the danger became imminent.”

As the day for the assembling of the Legislature ap¬
proached, the congregation of the Presbyterian Church pa¬
triotically “tendered the use of their meeting house for the
accommodation of the House of Commons, and their ses¬
sion room for the Senate,” but Governor Stokes had the
Government House prepared for the use of the Legislature.
When the members of the Assembly arrived he tendered
them its use. There was some question whether the Legis¬
lature could lawfully sit in a building outside of the cor¬
porate limits, but the qualms of conscience were quieted.
The destruction of the Capitol brought a new sectional ques¬
tion into the realm of action. Fayetteville hoped to profit
from the situation, and the west being anxious for railroads
and for a convention now evidently there was room for
an alliance. The northeast had originally fixed on the site
of Raleigh for the Capital and now stood firmly for no
change of location, besides the northeast was not interested
in either the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Railroad or in
the central road. Wilmington and the Cape Fear section
stood with Fayetteville both as to railroads and the removal
of the Capitol. Hardly had the Assembly met when Senator
Seawell of Wake introduced a bill making an appropriation
for rebuilding the Capitol on Lmion Square. The amount
was at first left blank ; but when he took the bill up, he

PROPOSITION TO REBUILD

339

suggested $30,000. Judge Toomer of Fayetteville pro¬
posed $100,000. The Senate inserted $30,000; but Martin
of Rockingham moved to postpone until November next,
which was carried 32 to 31. Two days later Dishough of
Onslow proposed a joint committee to inquire into the ex¬
pediency of chartering a road from Beaufort to the Blue
Ridge and Judge Toomer proposed that the same com¬
mittee should inquire as to the building of a road from the
Cape Fear to the Yadkin; and Williams of Franklin pro¬
posed a road from Louisburg to meet the Petersburg road
near Halifax. Each of these propositions had its bearing
on the rebuilding of the Capitol. Gaston was delayed in
attending. When he appeared on December 16, it was
arranged that he should serve on this railroad committee ;
and coincident with that, Harper of Greene introduced a
bill in the House to rebuild the Capitol at Raleigh. Two
days later Gaston reported the two railroad bills that con¬
cerned the west, and they were made the order for the fol¬
lowing day. Then the House took up the Capitol bill.
W. H. Haywood, Jr., in support and Louis D. Henry in
opposition. The discussion continued for two days, it
being affirmed that the capital could be removed only by a
convention. Then Henry carried his point, and the bill
failed by a vote of 65 for; 68 against. The west was now
hopeful of a convention and a bill authorizing the election
of delegates to a constitutional convention was submitted.
On January 4, 1832, the House went into committee of the
whole to consider the resolutions. The discussion was con¬
tinued on the 5th and 6th, when at last a motion to postpone
indefinitely was carried by 70 to 55. As far as she could,
Fayetteville rallied her friends for the support of this prop¬
osition, but the lower Cape Fear country did not stand
solidly with her. Senator John M. Dick of Guilford of¬
fered a resolution to have an election for delegates to a
constitutional convention, while in the House the two rail¬
road bills were passed and were sent to the Senate. The
Senate now spent two days on the convention bill and post¬
poned it indefinitely, 42 to 21 ; and then the railroad bills
were passed. Three days later, Senator Sneed of Granville

1831

The contest

The west
hopes for a
convention

340

THE CAPITOL BURNED

House
Journal
1831, p. 43

The statue

Acts
1831-32,
p. 138

offered a new bill to rebuild the Capitol at Raleigh. There
was a long and stiff fight, but on January n, the eve of
adjournment, a vote was reached resulting in a tie and the
Speaker voted nay ! Both the convention and Capitol bills
had failed, but the railroad bills were passed.

During the debate on the rebuilding of the Capitol, Gaston
made two great speeches for the bill, the first of which was
published. Mr. Creecy, who heard both, said that the
second was the greatest speech ever delivered in a legis¬
lative body, and the defeat of the proposition to remove
the Capitol has been ascribed to Gaston. It was his last
service in the Assembly. He insisted that the location of
the Capitol could not be changed by the Legislature.

Governor Stokes while lamenting the destruction of the
statue of Washington said to the Assembly when it met,
that in his opinion “the loss of the building itself is not to
be considered a public calamity ; that it was very probable
that a part of the building would have fallen in a few years
and perhaps have caused the death of many of the Represent¬
atives.” The destruction of the statue, which was regarded
as one of the great treasures of the world, was lamented
not only here but throughout the North. Six days after the
fire, a sculptor, Ball Hughes, an Englishman who had been
in this country two years, wrote to Mr. Thomas Devereux
saying that Mr. Robert Lennox had suggested that he
might offer his services for restoring the statue. In Decem¬
ber, Hughes was in Raleigh, and after an examination said
he could restore it. Immediately the Legislature appointed
a committee of which Gaston was chairman who reported
that they believed Hughes could do the work satisfactorily,
and that he would charge $5,000 for the service. The Legis¬
lature authorized the Governor to make a contract with him
on the terms of the report-. Such a contract was made, and
first and last $2,800 was paid him, but unfortunately he did
not complete the work. The pieces of the statue have been
preserved at Raleigh.

The Assembly passed resolutions approving Jackson’s ad¬
ministration declaring that “the best interests of the Union
will be preserved and promoted bv his reelection and recom-

ANTI -SLAVERY CAMPAIGN

34i

mending him to the people of the United States for
reelection.”

A free school established

Among the other acts was one establishing a free school
in Johnston County. It authorized the county court to lay
a county tax to establish one or more free schools in John¬
ston County. Also at that session the Yadkin Manufac¬
turing Company was incorporated to manufacture cotton
and woolen goods. The capital stock was to be $100,000.
Charles Fisher and Samuel Lemly were among the incor¬
porators. Similarly the Neuse Manufacturing Company,
composed of William Boylan, J. O. Watson, David Thomp¬
son and others, was incorporated to manufacture cotton and
woolen goods, with a capital of $100,000.

Aat Turner’s insurrection

At this period a great campaign was conducted in England
for the emancipation of the slaves in the British West In¬
dies, which was successful in 1830, and then some English
orators made addresses in Northern States. And coincident
with their coming the basis of Northern opposition to slavery
seemed to change. Formerly it had been political; now
the moral question became more prominent. Conscience
was awakened; and fanaticism knew no bounds. Speaking
of the negroes in the State, Governor Stokes said in his
message: “Fanatics of their complexion and other incen¬
diaries have fomented their discontents and have incited
them in many instances to enter into conspiracies dan¬
gerous to the peace and safety of the country.” So, at
the session of 1830 the Joint Select Committee on the
Governor’s message, reported; “they are satisfied that an
extensive combination now exists to excite in the minds of
the slaves and colored persons of this and the other slave¬
holding states, feelings and opinions tending to insurrection.
. . . Designs have been certainly contemplated and, per¬

haps, plans actually formed, to subvert the relation of master
and slave. The actual detection of the circulation of the

New mills

1831

342

THE CAPITOL BURNED

House

Journal

238-243

Nat Turner

Wilmington

Chronicles
of the Cape
Fear, 107

incendiary publications and the accidental but partial dis¬
covery of the designs, which have been entertained by some
slaves at points of the State remote from each other, to¬
gether with the disclosure of facts relative to those designs,
leave no doubt, etc. . . . It is fruitless to complain of the
relation between master and slave. . . . It is a state of

things thrown upon us, an evil which it is impossible at
present to remedy. And when we observe the radical
difference between the ideas, the deportment and habits of
the slaves of the present day and those of twenty years since,
we are justly led to fear that unless some change in our
general police is effected, the most ruinous consequence
may be apprehended.” The committee reported bills ; one
was to prevent all persons from teaching slaves to read and
write (figures excepted) which was passed. Months after
this report was made, on Sunday night, August 21, 1831,
a. band of some sixty negroes, under the leadership of a
negro slave, Nat Turner, murdered in Southampton County,
Virginia, fifty-five persons. The next day became known
as Bloody Monday. The other whites in that vicinity fled
across the line to Murfreesboro, the nearest town. A troop
of horse was at once raised, among them being John H.
Wheeler, the historian. They along with others scoured
the country, arresting the negroes.

A plot for a similar insurrection was discovered near
Wilmington. There was much alarm felt in the country,
and the whites hurried to the town. At the fall term 1831,
of New Hanover Superior Court six negroes were
placed in jail charged with attempting to incite an insur¬
rection. Judge Strange presided and the negroes after an
impartial trial were convicted and executed. While no
other outburst is recorded there was widespread alarm :
and when the Assembly met provision was made for military
companies to be organized in many counties.

But thoughtful men realized more than ever the situation
of the Southern States, with such a large population of
Africans held to servitude, who could not without peril be
turned loose as freemen, nor deported from this country.
At the University commencement in 1832, Gaston, the fore-

DUTIES OF CITIZENSHIP

343

most North Carolinian, delivered an address on the Duties
of Citizenship. In it he referred to the existence of slavery;
and said : “On you, too, will devolve the duty, which has been
too long neglected, but which cannot with impunity be neg¬
lected much longer, of providing for the mitigation, and
(is it too much to be hoped for in North Carolina) for the
ultimate extirpation of the worst evil that afflicts the south¬
ern part of our confederacy. . . . On this subject there

is with all of us a morbid sensitiveness which gives warning
even of an approach to it. How this evil is to be encoun¬
tered, how subdued, is indeed a difficult and delicate inquiry,
which this is not the time to examine or discuss. I felt
however, that I could not discharge my duty without re¬
ferring to this subject, to engage the prudence, modera¬
tion and firmness of those who, sooner or later, must act
decisively upon it. . . . Perils surround you and are

imminent, which will require clear heads, pure intentions
and stout hearts to disarm and overcome.”

Gaston’s

warning

CHAPTER XXII

Swain Governor

Influence of Virginia’s action. — The New England Society. —
Jackson breaks with Calhoun. — The Cabinet resigns. — The Na¬
tional Republicans. — The first national political convention. —
The elections go against Clay. — South Carolina calls a convention.
— It declares the tariff laws shall not be observed after Feb¬
ruary, 1833. — Jackson’s stand. — His Force Bill. — The country
goes against Clay. — He averts civil war. — The compromise. —
Mangum leaves the President. — Caldwell’s letters on schools. —
The Virginia roads, — The experimental railroad. — Political con¬
ditions. — Swain’s career. — Elected Governor. — Pearson proposes a
convention. — The Capitol to be rebuilt. — Convention fails. — Reso¬
lutions of Polk of Anson to submit the convention to popular
vote. — A tie vote. — Speaker Henry disappoints Fayetteville; de¬
feats the proposition. — The western members hold a meeting,
asking the people to vote. — The North Carolina Historical So¬
ciety. — The Bank of the iState winds up, and State Bank char¬
tered. — Provision for rebuilding. — The Internal Improvement Con¬
vention. — Caldwell’s ideas prevail. — Hill victorious over Graham
as to State policy. — The falling stars. — Swain’s great message
urges progress and reform. — He announces vote on Convention
in 30 counties. — Yancey County. — The second Improvement Con¬
vention. — Many railroad charters granted. — No State aid. — Daniel
Attorney-General. — Banks and academies. — The Manual Labor
schools. — The Griffin Free School at New Bern. — The west again
disappointed. — Chief Justice dies. — Ruffin Chief Justice. — Gaston
on thei bench. — His opions. — A free born negro a citizen. —
Will’s case.

The west successful in Virginia

Conditions in Virginia were quite similar to those in
North Carolina. The settled east, with its slave population,
and the remote west were in conflict over constitutional
reforms. At length, in 1828, the Legislature of Virginia
submitted the question of a convention to the voters, and
the west won. The convention met in October, 1829, and
adjourned in January, 1830. The changes made in the
Constitution increased the power of the western counties ;
and this object lesson necessarily had an inspiring influence

FIRST POLITICAL CONVENTION

345

- * - —

in Western Carolina. Indeed, on December 28, 1830, Mr.
Alfred C. Moore of Surry County presented resolutions in
the Assembly submitting to the voters the question of call¬
ing a convention ; but it was defeated in the House by a
vote of 74 to 53. North Carolina was not ready to follow
the example of Virginia.

Emancipation

However, the debates in the Virginia convention touch¬
ing the negro question, not only influenced the white voters
of Western Virginia, but contributed to the agitation per¬
vading the North. Indeed, at the Virginia Assembly of

1832, a proposition was offered looking to the gradual
emancipation of the slaves, following the example of Great
Britain, and despite the Nat Turner insurrection, it failed
by only one or two votes.

Virginia was about ready for gradual emancipation. But
contemporaneously with these events in Virginia, a party,
insisting on immediate abolition, sprang up at the North, and
in January, 1832, the New England Anti-Slavery Society
was formed by William Lloyd Garrison, and in December,

1833, a National Anti-Slavery Convention was held in
Philadelphia, the slogan being, “Immediate Emancipation.”
This new development tended to stifle any inclination at
the South to favorably consider gradual emancipation, and
it resulted in throwing around the slaves still greater re¬
strictions in their daily life.

Jackson reelected

About the beginning of 1831, Jackson withdrew his per¬
sonal friendship from Vice President Calhoun, and in the
spring of 1831, for social reasons, he found it necessary
to reorganize his Cabinet; and Branch along with all other
Cabinet officers resigned.

In December, 1831, when Congress met, there was held
at Baltimore the first national political convention, an in¬
novation that supplied the place of the congressional cau¬
cus. The supporters of Henry Clay, still calling thern-

The first
national
convention

346

SWAIN GOVERNOR

South

Carolina’s

action

July, 1832

The South

Carolina

convention

Nov. 1832

- f -

selves National Republicans, met there in convention and
nominated him for President and John Sergeant for Vice
President.

And in May, 1832, a similar convention of Administra¬
tion Republicans nominated Jackson and Van Buren. In the
meantime, Congress was considering a new tariff bill, intro¬
duced by Clay, that was worse in its provisions and oper¬
ations than “the Bill of Abominations/’ and it became a
law in July. It added fuel to the fire raging in South Caro¬
lina, where the State Convention was called with the view
of declaring the Tariff Act null and void in South Carolina.

When the Presidential election was held Jackson received
a popular vote of 687,502; Clay 530,189; Jackson had
219 electoral votes while Clay had only 49; and Van Buren
became Vice President. Calhoun resigned as Vice Presi¬
dent and returned to the Senate.

When the South Carolina Convention met, the Virginia
Legislature sent a commissioner to urge it to postpone ac¬
tion until Congress could consider the situation, and the
Convention, listening to the appeal of Virginia, postponed
the crisis by declaring that the tariff legislation should be
of no effect in that state after February 1, 1833. A breath¬
ing spell was thus afforded to Congress. But Jackson was
determined to enforce the laws, and he issued a proclama¬
tion against nullification that, as a state paper, was of the
highest merit, and he asked Congress to pass a force bill.
In the Senate this Force Bill passed by a bare quorum, with
one vote in the negative, the other Senators not voting.
The country having gone so positively against Clay that he
realized that the “American system” was doomed, and the
danger of civil war being imminent, and Clay, being always
apprehensive that Jackson, the military hero, would assume
the reins of government as dictator, now sought to compose
differences, and held conferences with Calhoun and others to
save the country from war. A new tariff measure was
agreed on that was satisfactory to Calhoun. It provided
for a reduction of duties for nine years, the abandonment of
protection, and for revenue duties of twenty per cent ad va¬
lorem. It was a complete settlement of the vexed question

AGITATION FOR EDUCATION

34 7

and allayed the antagonism of that period. Clay had received
applause on bringing about the amicable settlement of
differences in 1821, and now ten years later he was hailed as
the great patriot, saving the Union by his compromise.
During the progress of these measures, Senator Mangum
who had at the previous election been a Jackson elector,
drew away from his old leader, and became a supporter of
Clay, while Senator Bedford Brown adhered to the admin¬
istration. In the meantime another subject that was des¬
tined to agitate the public mind was taking shape. The
charter of the United States Bank at Philadelphia was about
to expire and Jackson was opposed to its extension. These
differences led to important realignments. .

Caldwell’s letters on schools

Dr. Caldwell, who had so strongly urged the construction
of a central railroad without avail in 1830, began an agita¬
tion for the education of the people of the State.

In a series of a dozen letters brought together and pub¬
lished in 1832, along with a voluminous appendix, he urged
the subject of education on the attention of the people. He
realized that there was no possibility of establishing public
schools in the counties either by taxation or by borrowing
the necessary funds. The unfortunate condition of the
interior of the State, where the people were denied facilities
for transporting their produce to market so that nothing
except cotton could be profitably raised and sold abroad,
made it difficult for them even to pay their necessary taxes.
Therefore, nothing was to be gained by studying the New
York system which had been started, founded on local
taxation, or that of Connecticut where the interests on the
fund derived from the sale of Connecticut’s part of Ohio
sufficed to maintain the schools. Here a different system
must be resorted to, taxation being out of the question. He
urged that as the Literary Fund amounted to $100,000, the
interest on that should be used to establish a central school
for the preparation of teachers. These competent teachers
being ready for employment, the people would establish

The

compromise

1832

The want of
teachers

348

SWAIN GOVERNOR

1832

The

railroads

The

experimental

railroad

schools for them : for he largely ascribed the absence of
schools to the want of teachers. Although some of the
graduates of the University taught schools, yet the courses
at the University were rather for the education of those en¬
gaging in the learned professions than in the practical work
of teaching children. While Dr. Caldwell’s plan was not
carried into execution, his letters contributed to keeping
the general subject of public education before the public,
and there were constant efforts made to start the ball, but
without avail.

The Petersburg Railroad was now under construction,
and as it progressed it hauled freight and passengers with
the result of illustrating to the people of Halifax the value
of this new system of transportation.

Similarly, the Portsmouth and Roanoke Railroad was
being built, and each of these companies needed some legis¬
lation. The first desired a terminus at a point on the Roan¬
oke where the land belonged to J. S. Amis and the Legis¬
lature authorized the incorporation of a town there to be
known as Blakely in honor of the naval hero ; and the
Portsmouth road desired a terminus opposite Weldon and
the Legislature assented.

As it was thought that the Capitol would be rebuilt at
Raleigh and in its construction stone would be used, quarried
on the State’s land in the vicinity, a road was being built to
haul the stone, and in November a charter was granted to
“Joseph Gales, William Polk, George W. Mordecai and
others who have; heretofore subscribed and commenced
the erection of an experimental railroad under the name of
‘Experimental Railroad Company.’ ”

There has b.een a well-founded tradition that the first con¬
ception of this project was by Mrs. Sarah Polk, the wife
of Col. William Polk; she was one of the most urgent pro¬
moters of the undertaking and the Polks were the principal
stockholders.

The company had been organized in the summer ; and
fortunately a competent engineer was at hand to construct
the road. At the former residence of Chief Justice Taylor
at Raleigh, a military school was in progress under the di-

THE RALEIGH RAILROAD

349

rection of Captain Daniel Bingham, and he with two of
his pupils, Richard B. Haywood and another, had super¬
vision of the work. The cost was $22,500 a mile. The
construction was well done ; and the road was nearly com¬
pleted when the Assembly met and granted the charter. It
was finished January 1, 1833. “A handsome car was put
on it for the use of ladies and gentlemen desiring to take
a railroad airing.” The motive power was a good old
horse. People came from the adjoining counties to ride on
it: but its chief use was in hauling stone for the Capitol.
As an enterprise the road was a success and it made money
for the stockholders. Such was the beginning of railways in
North Carolina.

When the Assembly met in November, 1832, the members
were much divided both as to state questions and the Federal
matters that had agitated the people during the year. Up¬
permost was, perhaps, the dread of war, the attitude of
South Carolina threatening nullification and secession, and
the known determination of the President to ignore such
action and enforce the laws, following his proclamation and
application to Congress for a force bill.

Jackson was not imbued with the principles of the Ken¬
tucky Resolutions of 1798, of which Jefferson was the
author, but held that the Union must be maintained and the
laws enforced. The difference between him and South
Carolina was irreconcilable. In the Assembly there were
some in full sympathy with South Carolina, while the
majority, although denouncing the tariff as even unconsti¬
tutional, were intent that the Union should be preserved.
In State matters, the new subject of railroads claimed at¬
tention, but of surpassing interest were the unsettled ques¬
tions of the rebuilding of the State House at Raleigh, and
of calling a convention to relieve the western counties of the
injustice they suffered under the existing Constitution.

To meet Judge Gaston’s view that the State capital could
not be removed by legislative' action, some of those who
favored removal now hoped for a convention to deal with
that matter.

1832

Battle’s
address,
1877, p. 64

Nullification

Other

questions

350

SIVAIN GOVERNOR

1832

Governor

Swain

The western
grants

No change was made in the presiding officers : but Gov¬
ernor Stokes who, having served only two terms as Gov¬
ernor, was eligible to a reelection, announced that he had
accepted an appointment from the President as commis¬
sioner to make treaties with the Indians at the far West,
and would not be a candidate. A new Governor was to be
chosen. Richard D. Spaight, Thomas G. Polk of Rowan,
and John Branch were aspirants. After ineffectual bal¬
loting for several days Judge Swain was proposed and
was elected. The rise of this young Buncombe man was
phenomenal. His mother was a sister of Joel Lane of
Raleigh, and after four months at the University, he had
studied law in Raleigh under Chief Justice Taylor, and had
served his native county in the Assembly for five years,
ending in 1829. During this period he married Miss White
of Raleigh, a granddaughter of Governor Caswell, and be¬
came a brother-in-law of Hon. D. L. Barringer, Represent-
active in Congress from the Wake district, who had married a
sister of Miss White. While still in the Assembly a bitter
contest had arisen between two lawyers of the Edenton dis¬
trict for the office of solicitor of that district. To end the
feud, both factions, by common consent, agreed to com¬
promise by taking this Buncombe lawyer. Swain served
as solicitor during one circuit, and then in December, 1830,
he was elected judge of the Superior court. He had served
but two years in that capacity when he was chosen Governor,
taking the office December 6, 1832, being then not thirty-two
years of age. He had, however, given assurance not only
of fine character but of great industry and unusual mental
capacity. Years earlier several hundred thousand acres
of land in the western part of the State had been entered
by some citizens of Pennsylvania, who had perfected their
grants : but these lands were within the Indian reservation.
Later, after the State bought these lands from the Indians,
native citizens also made entries and perfected their grants
in the same territory. It .was now considered that the
former grants were void ; and in the conflict of interest, the
State determined to defend the title of its citizens under the
later grants. Judge Badger was employed by the State,

MOVEMENT FOR A CONVENTION

35i

and he associated the young Buncombe lawyer with him in
the case. To Swain was due the preparation of the hundred
cases brought in ejectment against the actual residents.
Swain’s fee was $1,000; the cases were not finally deter¬
mined when Swain was elected Governor, and he returned to
the State $500, one-half of his fee.

The cases were eventually won in the Supreme Court of
the United States, and Judge Badger ascribed the result to
Swain’s indomitable industry, patient research and acumen.
Such were the characteristics of this unusually gifted young
mountaineer now called to direct the affairs of state ; and
in him the west found a powerful colaborer for all of its just
claims for State action.

A week after the Assembly met, Richmond Pearson then
of Rowan, introduced a resolution to appoint a joint select
committee, one member of each house from every Congres¬
sional district, to consider the subject of a convention. The
House responded favorably, as also did the Senate. On
the same day Mr. Long offered a bill making an appropria¬
tion for building the Capitol at Raleigh. A fortnight passed
and the House by a vote of 73 to 60 passed the Long bill
which reached the Senate on December 17. The next day
the select committee on convention to whom had been
referred a resolution relative to the seat of government,
made a report accompanied by a bill providing for a con¬
vention. The fight was now on. Mr. Collins moved that
the consideration of the convention bill be indefinitely post¬
poned, and was successful, the vote being 33 to 27. When
two days later Long’s House bill to build the Capitol at
Raleigh came up in the Senate, Senator Hoke moved that
each county should collect as taxes $780 and the Capitol
should be built out of that fund only. However that was a
feeble effort, having only seven votes to sustain it ; and the
bill passed finally 33 to 30. The efforf to remove the Capitol
had failed. The State House was to be rebuilt. In the
meantime a motion in the House on December 20, to take up
a bill to establish the western county of Yancey resulted in
a tie, and the Speaker, L. D. Henry, voting in the affirma¬
tive, the bill was taken up and the next day passed 63 to 60 ;

1833

Swain’s

industry

The

convention

movement

The Capitol
to be rebuilt

House

Journal, 197

352

SWAIN GOVERNOR

Ibid., 211

Ibid.,

232-233

Speaker
disappoints
the west

The west
appeals to
the people

but three days later it failed in the Senate 27 to 33. On
the same day the committee on convention reported in the
Senate a bill for a convention, and it was postponed ; Mr.
Pearson from the same committee then reported in the
House a bill for taking the votes of the people for or
against certain proposed amendments to the Constitution :
but the consideration of that bill was postponed until next
November.

The west defeated at every turn was now desperate, and
on the eve of the final day of the session, Mr. Park of
Anson offered a series of strong resolutions : “That the
location of the seat of government at some convenient and
proper place (such as Haywood) would be highly con¬
ducive to rearing a large and flourishing commercial town
so necessary for the attainment of general prosperity; that
the election of the chief magistrate ought to be by direct
vote of the people, and for a longer period than one year;
that a convention is absolutely necessary; that it be recom¬
mended to the people, at next election, to determine by
ballot whether or not a convention should be called. ” The
introduction of these resolutions was instantly met by a
motion to table. The result was a tie 58 to 58.

Now for a moment the west was jubilant, the Speaker,
Louis D. Henry, represented Fayetteville, and Fayetteville
was the friend of the west. But Henry disappointed all
reasonable expectations and offended Fayetteville by voting
to table. The western members were dismayed by his
action ; but quickly they determined to appeal to the people.
On the same day, January 4, they held “a large and respecta¬
ble. meeting, and adopted an address to the people, urging
them to vote at the next August election on the subject of
holding a convention,” and for the sheriffs to make due re¬
turn thereof to the Governor, for Governor Swain was in
entire accord and sympathy with the movement. With or
without legislative sanction, the people would speak.

While the Governor's mansion was officially known as the
Government House, at this period it seems to have been
also called the Palace, for on January 1, 1833, a committee
of Senators was raised “to examine the roof of the Palace.”

IMPROVEMENT CONVENTION

353

At this session the North Carolina Historical Society was
incorporated, among the members being James Iredell, Gov¬
ernor Swain, Alfred Moore, Louis D. Henry, Isaac T.
Avery, Joseph A. Hill, William D. Moseley and Richmond
Pearson. Such was the earliest manifestations of Gov¬
ernor Swain’s interest in historical subjects, which later won
him a particular distinction and added to his great usefulness.

The old Bank of the State of North Carolina after Judge
Ruffin went on the Supreme Court again elected Judge
Duncan Cameron its president, and he succeeded in winding
it up admirably. At this session there was chartered the
State Bank, the State taking a million dollars of stock and
private individuals were allowed to subscribe another million.
Thereafter the banking business in the State came to a
sound basis and ceased to give public concern.

To rebuild the State House, William Boylan, Duncan
Cameron, Treasurer William S. Mhoon, Judge Henry Sea-
well, and R. M. Saunders were appointed commissioners.
They were to employ an architect, and make contracts, and
the granite from the State quarry was to be used. An ap¬
propriation was made of $50,000, but at the next session
the limit was removed and the commissioners were empow¬
ered to draw such warrants as were necessary to complete
the building.

Internal Improvement Convention

The era of railroads had arrived. Dr. Caldwell’s letters
were now understood and public thought was directed to
this new method of transportation. Hope of advantages
to the State was awakened. On July 4, 1833, there met at
Raleigh one hundred and twenty delegates, representing
twenty-one counties, chiefly in the eastern and northern sec¬
tions of the State. It was the first concerted effort to se¬
cure railroad facilities and was known as the Internal Im¬
provement Convention.

Governor Swain, ever an advocate of progress, presided,
while Treasurer Samuel L. Patterson and Charles Manly,
the clerk of the House, were secretaries. The personnel of

the body was so remarkable that it was recorded : “So manv
23

1833

Historical

Society

The State
Bank

Building

commis¬

sioners

Cape Fear

Chronicles,

158

354

SWAIN GOVERNOR

The State
policy

distinguished and talented men are said never before to have
assembled in the State.”

William A. Graham, then in the prime of his rare abilities,
urged as the policy of the State three north and south lines
of railroad, conforming to the course of trade that the
natural conditions had imposed on the inhabitants of the
several divisions of the State. He was antagonized by
Joseph Alston Hill of Wilmington, who inherited the Demos¬
thenic powers of his grandfather, General Ashe, and pro¬
posed the policy advocated by Caldwell of building up the
State by marketing the produce of the west through the sea¬
ports of the east. A State policy was to be inaugurated. It
was a battle of giants ; Hill won. The convention adopted
resolutions to the effect that the General Assembly ought
to raise by loans such sums as will “afford substantial as¬
sistance in the prosecution of the public works ; that the
State should subscribe for two-fifths of the stock ; that no
work should be encouraged for conveying produce to a
primary market out of the State; and that a corresponding
committee of twenty be appointed in each county; and that
a second convention be held on the fourth Monday in No¬
vember.” Steps were at once taken to give body and sub¬
stance to its resolves. Circulars were issued to counties
urging action. Propositions were formulated for the people
to apply for charters for railroad companies. Much interest
was aroused. The people responded.

The falling stars

“By far the most splendid display of shooting meteors on
record was that of November 13, 1833. It seems to have
been visible over nearly the whole of the northern portion
of the American continent, or, more exactly, from the Ca¬
nadian lakes nearly to the equator. Over this immense
area a sight of the most imposing grandeur seems to have
been witnessed. The phenomenon commenced at about
midnight, and was at its height at about 5 a.m. Several of
the meteors were of peculiar form and considerable mag¬
nitude. One was especially remarked from its remaining
for some time in the zenith over the Falls of Niagara,

FALLING STARS

355

emitting radiant streams of light. In many parts of the
country the population were terror-stricken by the beauty
and magnificence of the spectacle before them.”

The Raleigh Register said editorially on November 19 :
“On Wednesday morning our attention was called to the
most sublime meteoric display we have ever witnessed. We
observed it first about an hour before day, an unusual bril¬
liancy lighting the room. From the zenith to the horizon
on every side, space was filled with what seemed falling
stars, some gliding gently downward, some rushing madly
from their sphere, all with a grandeur which no language
can describe. . . . The occasion was to many, of course,

the cause of great alarm; to some from ignorance; to others
from a constitutional propensity to superstition. It is said
that prayers were offered by lips that never prayed before.
Some said the light was so bright that they could read by
it. Travelers, alone on the roads, were particularly im¬
pressed with the awful spectacle that seemed to be the
opening scene in the drama of the destruction of the world.”
As the phenomenon was so extensive and so long continued,
its effect on the people was memorable.

A planter of South Carolina thus narrates the effect of
the phenomenon on the minds of the ignorant blacks : “I
was suddenly awakened by the most distressing cries that
ever fell on my ears. Shrieks of horror and cries for
mercy I could hear from most of the negroes of the three
plantations, amounting in all to about 600 or 800. While
earnestly listening for the cause I heard a faint voice near
the door, calling my name. I arose, and, taking my sword,
stood at the door. At this moment I heard the same voice
still beseeching me to rise, and saying, ‘O my God, the
world is on fire !’ I then opened the door, and it is difficult
to say which excited me the most, the awfulness of the
scene, or the distressed cries of the negroes. Upwards of
100 lay prostrate on the ground, some speechless, and some
with the bitterest cries, but with their hands raised, implor¬
ing God to save the world and them. The scene was truly
awful ; for never did rain fall much thicker than the meteors

1833

Chambers,

760-765

356

SIVAIN GOVERNOR

N ovember,
1833

Swain’s

message

fell towards the earth; east, west, north and south, it was
the same.”

When the Assembly met William D. Moseley of Lenoir
and William J. Alexander of Mecklenburg were chosen
speakers. There was naturally interest felt in what Gov¬
ernor Swain in the freshness of young manhood was going
to say about public matters. Nearly every other state was
passing resolutions relating to Federal matters and the
Governor transmitted them to the Assembly, but he con¬
fined himself exclusively to State concerns. While our
predecessors, said he, “were anxiously disposed to advance
the improvement of the State by providing facilities for
trade, increasing our agricultural productions, diffusing the
advantages of education and adapting our laws to the im¬
proved condition of society, little had been accomplished
compared with what the excited hopes and expectations de¬
manded. The apathy has. been most strikingly exhibited by
the fact that the expenses of the General Assembly have ex¬
ceeded the aggregate of all other expenditures.” He referred
to the excitement pervading every section of the State on in¬
ternal improvements ; and the demand for contributions
from the public treasury. He urged that the efforts to
improve transportation had not been without its value.
“When it is recollected that in 1818 we were inexperienced,
that several works were begun simultaneously, that the im¬
provements began at the sources of the rivers instead of
at their mouths, and other mistakes, the result was not
discouraging. The introduction of the railroad system is
a new era. My own opinion is that the great channels of
intercommunication demand the exclusive attention and
patronage of the government, local roads can be left to
those interested, aided by a uniform State subscription to
each project.” He urged State action for progress in all
lines ; and particularly he asked attention to the system of
taxation. “No income tax, only taxes on land and the poll,
and these evaded.” He wanted a new leaf turned over in
every line.

And indeed it was time, for while under the act of 1819,
which was still in operation, the owner was to list his land

DEPRECIATION OF LAND VALUES

35 7

at its value but at not less than the value affixed by the as¬
sessors under the act of Congress in 1815, yet the Treas¬
urer’s report showed that although the valuation ought to
have been at least 56 millions, in 1833 it was only 43 mil¬
lions, 13 millions less than in 1815. The average value had
fallen from $2.69 to $2.27. In every county, except one or
two, the value had decreased. In Edgecombe, Jones, Pitt,
Bertie and Craven, its value was only one-fourth of what
it was in 1815. The picture presented is fearful to con¬
template. Indeed the land valuation had been gradually
diminishing ever since 1820. For State purposes the land
tax was six cents, and the average tax for county purposes
was 26 cents, and the poll 60 cents.

A few days later he transmitted the result of the voting
in the counties that voted on the question of a convention,
“showing that the people of the western counties had the
matter much at heart ; and he cherished the hope that the
Assembly would act favorably on the proposition.” In
thirty counties the people had voted, casting 29,505 votes
for a convention, none, to the contrary. Quickly after the
members were in their seats, Irving of Rutherford moved
in the House for a joint select committee to consider
amendments to the Constitution. Both Houses agreed to it.-
Then on December 16, Irvine from that committee reported
a bill to submit certain amendments to the people : but when
an effort was made to take the bill up, the House refused
by 79 to 46.

At every session since Yancey’s death an effort had been
made to establish a new county at the west to be named
Yancey, but it had ever failed. However, on December 9,
1833, the bill passed the Senate by 33 to 28; among the 33
being Otway Burns. Coming up in the House five days
later, Charles W. Nixon, member from Chowan, moved to
amend it by adding an additional section establishing the
county of Roanoke, beginning at the mouth of Alligator
Creek running south twenty-five miles, then southeast to the
ocean, and north along the seaboard to Kill-Devil Hill,
then west to Alligator River ; which, however, received only
49 votes. Then Mr. Potts of Halifax moved to give that

Depreciation

At the east

Convention

vote

House
Journal,
1883, p. 149

Ibid., 197

358

SWAIN GOVERNOR

1833

Yancey

County

Internal

Improve¬

ment

Convention

Railroad

charters

No State
aid

territory proposed to be embraced in Yancey County more
convenient administration of justice but without representa¬
tion: this also without avail. The bill then passed 67 to 63.
Thus at length in the closing days of 1833, the west finally
obtained the desired county and the county seat was named
Burnsville.

While the Assembly was in session, the adjourned Inter¬
nal Improvement Convention met in the Government House.
It prepared a memorial to the Legislature embodying its
views and recommendations: and the Assembly in joint
session received the convention, and appointed a special
committee to consider the memorial. But as yet the Legis¬
lature was not ready to lay taxes, or to borrow money for
such enterprises ; and many charters were granted, without
carrying State aid. Some of the proposed roads were of
general interest, but others were merely of local advantage ;
such as the Lumber River and Cape Fear Railroad, the
Whiteville, Waccamaw and Cape Fear Canal and Railroad
Company, the Campbellton and Fayetteville, the Halifax
and Weldon. But there were charters for the Greenville
and Roanoke Railroad Company ; the Roanoke and Raleigh
to connect with either Weldon or Halifax ; the Wilmington
and Raleigh ; the North Carolina Center and Seaport Rail¬
road to connect Raleigh with Beaufort Harbor; the Roan¬
oke and Yadkin Valley Railroad to run from Blakely or
Weldon to some point on the Yadkin, and the Cape Fear,
Yadkin and Pee Dee, which was one of the enterprises of
most interest. This road was to go from Fayetteville to
the narrows of the Yadkin, and then along the lower
courses of the river to the mouth of Rocky River, and then
to penetrate Mecklenburg and Lincoln counties ; while an ¬
other branch was to go to Asheboro and then on westward.

The system that would have been established had these
roads been built would have been of great benefit to the
State ; but they were to have been constructed by private sub¬
scription alone, except the State was willing to bear the
expense of the survey of some. To none did the Legis¬
lature ofifer any aid, but it authorized a lottery to raise

ACADEMIES BY THE DOZEN

359

$50,000 to be vested in stock in the Cape Fear and Yadkin
and Pee Dee Railroad.

The Attorney-General, Romulus M. Saunders, having
accepted an appointment from the President as Commis¬
sioner under the act of Congress for carrying into execution
the convention between France and the United States, some
thought such an employment vacated his office as Attorney-
General, and a resolution to that effect was adopted by the
House ; whereupon Saunders resigned as Attorney-General,
and John R. J. Daniel of Halifax replaced him.

Originally, on the destruction of the Capitol, the Presbyte¬
rian congregation had offered its church building and ses¬
sion room for the use of the Legislature, but the Govern¬
ment House having been already prepared for the Legis¬
lature by Governor Stokes the offer was not accepted; but
now in December, 1833, a committee was raised to consider
the question.

Banks

Despite the hostility to banks, when the time came to
wind up the existing banks, they were all either rechartered
or replaced by other similar institutions. At the session of
1833 acts were passed to recharter the Bank of Cape Fear,
to establish the Merchants Bank at New Bern, and the Al¬
bemarle Bank at Edenton ; and to establish “The Bank of the
State of North Carolina.” The people were to have all the
currency they needed.

Academies

There were more than a dozen academies incorporated at
this session: among them, the New Garden School; the
Greensboro Academy and Manual Labor School ; the liter¬
ary and manual labor institution in the county of Wake,
known as “The Wake Forest Institute.” Manual labor
schools were much in vogue in other states, and there were
several in North Carolina.

Moses Griffin of New Bern having devised property to
Edward Graham and William Gaston and others to estab-

1833

360

SWAIN GOVERNOR

Appropri¬
ation for
Capitol

Senate
Journal, 114

House
Journal, 253

lish a free school at New Bern, the devisees were declared
trustees and were incorporated as such to establish the
“Griffin Free School.”

Levi, Silliman Ives, Jarvis Baxton, Duncan Cameron,
Thomas Ruffin, George E. Badger and others were incor¬
porated as trustees of “The Episcopal School of North
Carolina,” and a boys’ school known as “St. Mary’s” was
started by them in the suburbs of Raleigh.

The act making an appropriation of $50,000 for rebuild¬
ing the Capitol directed that “the general plan shall be the
same as the former building, and the lowrer story at least
shall be of stone.” When the commissioners began the
work, Mrs. Polk’s experimental railway was ready for use ;
and the commissioners made a stone foundation that was so
substantial and costly that at the next session an additional
$75,000 was allowed for the construction.

The west again disappointed

On January 10, 1834, there was introduced in the Senate
a bill from the select committee to provide for ascertaining
the sense of the people relative to a convention. It passed
the first reading 32 to 29.

An amendment was offered to strike out the clause that
provided for taking the sense of the people on amending
the 32d section of the Constitution, prescribing qualifica¬
tions for office. The proposed amendment was rejected.
Mr. Mendenhall moved to amend by striking out the clause
that future General Assemblies shall not abolish slavery.
That was lost 16 to 44. The bill having passed the Senate
31 to 30, was indefinitely postponed in the House by 64 to
59. It proposed to submit certain amendments of the Con¬
stitution to the people. Its failure wras a great blow to
the western members who were defeated at all points, save
alone in the formation of Yancey County.

Judge Gaston

In August, 1833, Chief Justice Leonard Henderson hav¬
ing died, the State mourned his loss as one of the strongest

The State Capitol. Begun in 1833; completed in 1840

GASTON ON THE BENCH

361

and purest jurists that had adorned the bench; to succeed
him as Chief Justice, the members of the court chose Judge
Ruffin; and to fill the vacancy on the bench all eyes were
turned to William Gaston,* who while he felt no scruples
because lie was a Catholic, conferred with others before he
concluded to allow his name to be used.

On November 28, he was elected by the Assembly on the
first ballot without serious opposition. He perhaps de¬
serves to rank as the first among the distinguished men born
in the State. His manner, at that period, was grave, cour¬
teous and unostentatious. He was affable with dignity and
companionable without familiarity.

Among the earlier opinions he filed was that for the court
in the case of State v. Will, a slave, who was convicted of
murder for slaying his overseer. A special verdict had been
found which showed great provocation and cruelty on the
part of the overseer. Judge Gaston said: “In the absence
then of all precedent directly in point, or strikingly anal¬
ogous, the question recurs, if the passion of the slave be
excited into unlawful violence by the inhumanity of the
master or temporary owner or one clothed with the owner’s
authority, is it a conclusion of law that such passion must
spring from diabolical malice? Unless I see my way clear
as a sunbeam, I cannot believe that this is the law of a civ- Reports’ 121
ilized people and of a Christian land. But the appeal here
is to the common law which declares passion, not transcend¬
ing all reasonable limits, to be distinct from malice. The
prisoner is a human being, degraded, indeed, by slavery,
but yet having ‘organs, senses, affections, passions like our
own.’ ”

In the case of State v. Hoover the court sustained a ver¬
dict of murder against a master for killing a slave. In
State v. Manuel Gaston said: “Slaves manumitted become

*In 1829 Ruffin had been appointed to the court, and in 1832, J. J. Daniel.

In August 1833, Chief Justice Henderson died and Gaston was, in Novem¬
ber, elected to the vacant place in the court. The practice was for the
Justices to select their Chief Justice; so a question arose who should be the
Chief Justice. When the court met in December, Ruffin insisted that
Gaston should be, and Gaston insisted that Ruffin should be; and Daniel
declared he would not choose between them. So Ruffin and Gaston tossed
up a coin, and Gaston had his way: Ruffin became Chief Justice. So Judge
Gaston wrote to Judge Story of Massachusetts.

362

SWAIN GOVERNOR

freemen and, therefore, if born within North Carolina are
citizens of North Carolina, and all free persons born within
20 n. c. the State are born citizens of the State." These and simj-

Reports, 44 jar 0pini0ns of the Supreme Court at once attest the sense
of justice that animated its members, and are evidence of the
humane sentiments that pervaded the people of the State.
That it was not until 1834 that the question involved in
Will’s case was presented to the court, illustrates the general
management of the slaves, while the conviction of a master
for murder in killing his slave is equally suggestive. While
these decisions of the court were not questioned, being in
accord with the enlightened sentiments of the people, yet it
was fortunate that it fell to Judge Gaston’s lot to elucidate
the principles on which they rested. Instead of his losing
popularity, he became more popular than ever, and was
later asked to represent the State in the United States Sen¬
ate, but he declined to allow his name to be brought for¬
ward, saying that he preferred to continue in a judicial
career. ■ ' i

CHAPTER XXIII

The Convention

Jackson forbids deposits in Bank of United States. — Panic en¬
sues. — The Senate censures the President. — Benton moves to ex¬
punge. — The people divide. — Mangum leaves Jackson. — Gales
turns Whig; and retires. — Succeeded by Weston Gales. — Philo
White publishes the Standard. — iStwain urges revision of Consti¬
tution, a division by Congress of public lands, and internal im¬
provement and schools, and to arrest emigration. — First move¬
ment for a railroad. — Whitfield to have steamboats on Neuse. —
The Legislature instructs Senators to expunge. — A limited con¬
vention proposed for the people to call. — The west prevails. —
The sectional vote. — The delegates. — Convention sits in the Pres¬
byterian Church. — Borough representation abolished. — Suffrage
confined to whites. — Representation in the Assembly. — The de¬
bate. — The cause of emigration. — Gaston’s speech. — The final out¬
come. — The east loses 35 members. — Term of office fixed at two
years. — The religious test. — Speeches of Gaston and Toomer. —
The election of Governor. — Convention adjourns. — The- sectional
vote on ratification. — Death of Polk, Ashe, Caldwell. — Swain
president of University. — Taney, Chief Justice. — Spaight, Gov¬
ernor. — Governor Swain’s final message. — The amendments
adopted. — Election of Governor provided for. — Railroad charters.
— Steamboats for Pamlico River. — Gold mining companies. — The
frost year.

At Washington

President Jackson thought that the Bank of the United
States had sought to prevent his election, and that it was
using its power in making loans to secure an extension of
its charter. It had twenty-five branch banks throughout the
states, and could exert a potent influence. Jackson took
strong ground against the bank. In May, 1833, he aP"
pointed R. B. Taney to be Secretary of the Treasury, the
only officer who, under the law of Congress, could divert
public moneys when collected from being deposited in the
vaults of that bank. In September, Taney made an order
that no more collections should be deposited in that bank.
Immediately, the bank began to call in its loans, thus creat¬
ing a demand for currency, and this soon led to a panic.

Deposits in
Bank of
U. S. for¬
bidden

364

THE CONVENTION

1834

The Senate
censures

Jackson

men

dominant

Gales

adverse

The friends of the bank attributed the situation to the
President.

At the election a majority of the Representatives chosen
were supporters of Jackson, but the Senate was of a differ¬
ent complexion. There the bank had the most friends. On
March 28, 1834, after much discussion and agitation, the
Senate adopted a resolution censuring the President for his
action. It was a novel performance. Immediately, Sena¬
tor Benton offered a motion to expunge that resolution from
the record of Senate proceedings; but the majority of the
Senate were of a different mind. The matter remained
open. The country took up the controversy, which entered
into politics. The friends of Jackson demanded that the
Senate should reverse itself. Senator Brown had stood by
the President, but Mangum sustained the vote of censure.
Elected as a supporter of Jackson, Mangum cast his for¬
tunes with the opposition, now beginning to be known as
“Whigs.”-

When- the Assembly met, the same officers were reelected.
One of the first matters of interest was the election of a
Senator to succeed Bedford Brown. On the proposition to
go into the election, much opposition was manifested. In
the House while 73 favored it, 54 were opposed; and so in
the Senate the vote stood 33 to 28. Then filibustering set
in, but the majority soon carried their point and on No¬
vember 20, Brown was reelected. The Jackson supporters
were dominant.

When the Governor was to be chosen, W. D. Moseley, the
Speaker of the Senate, was brought forward against Gov¬
ernor Swain and at first there was no choice, but the next
day, Swain was continued in office as Governor.

Joseph Gales, who had been a leading Democrat for so
many years, never was an adherent of Jackson, and now
went with Mangum to the Whig opposition. However,
he soon left the sanctum, his son, Weston R. Gales, taking
his place as editor of the Register. But his influence con¬
tinued, for he had years before purchased an interest in the
National Intelligencer at Washington, conducted by his
son, Joseph, and his son-in-law, W. W. Seaton, which was

IMPORTANT RECOMMENDATIONS

365

considered the most important of all the newspapers of the
country. Mr. Gales, upon his retirement, resided in
Washington.

At this session, Philo White, a man of culture and at¬
tainments, who had for some years been a Democratic
editor and was publishing the Standard at Raleigh, was
elected public printer.

Swain’s recommendations

In his message Governor Swain said that the matter of
first importance was to amend the State Constitution. It
was first introduced in 1787 and for half a century has con¬
tinued to command public attention. He urged its revision.
He advocated that the public domain should be divided out
among the states by Congress, thus giving North Carolina
a fund for the prosecution of internal improvements and for
schools. He again adverted to the subject of emigration,
saying: “The continually increasing current of emigration,
which is depriving us of many of our most intelligent and
enterprising citizens and a large portion of our wealth,
particularly in the section of the State regarded as the most
populous, imparts to this subject a powerful interest; and
he urged action to overcome the disadvantages that beset
the prosperity of the State. The Legislature having au¬
thorized the appointment of commissioners to revise the
statutes, he had appointed William H. Battle, Gavin Hogg
and James Iredell. In the Senate there was some response
to the Governor’s recommendation for internal improve¬
ments and the first movement towards State aid for a rail¬
road was made on December 17, 1834. On motion of Mr.
Montgomery of Orange, the committee on Internal Im¬
provements was directed to inquire into the expediency of
building a railroad from the seaboard to Raleigh and thence
to the Yadkin, the State to take two-fifths of the stock, but
the Assembly was not ready for such expenditures.

To promote water transportation, Needham Whitfield was
vested with the exclusive right, for fifteen years, to navi¬
gate with steamboats the Neuse from New Bern up as far

The

Standard

The

Assembly

366

THE CONVENTION

1834

Mangum

instructed

as the boats could ascend. At that session, the Halifax and
Weldon road not having been then begun, three more years
were allowed for its construction.

Governor Swain had ignored Federal matters, but the
Jackson men were not so complacent. On November 28,
Mr. Potts of Edgecombe introduced a resolution declar¬
ing the right of the Assembly to instruct Senators and in¬
structing Senator Mangum to vote to expunge from the
record of the Senate the resolution censuring President
Jackson which Mangum had voted for. For a week the
resolution was not considered, and then for a week it was
daily discussed, the opposition filibustering against it ; but
eventually on December 11, it passed the House by 69 to 57.
Sent to the Senate, there was a protracted filibuster against
the resolution. The Assembly had agreed to adjourn
over on Christmas Day, but at fifteen minutes after 12:30
a.m., December 25, the hundredth motion to adjourn was
voted down, and the Senate continued in session. Then
Senator Owen Holmes of New Hanover, a leader favoring
the resolution, allowed an adjournment. Finally two days
later, the Senate passed the resolution by 33 to 28.

The Convention called

Late in the session, December 27, when the members
were thinking of final adjournment, Kittrell of Anson, to
whose committee had been referred a bill for a convention,
reported a substitute. The substitute was agreed to 68 to
61. Then there were various amendments. As there was
no provision in the Constitution for amending that instru¬
ment or for calling a convention, it was considered that
only the people themselves could take legal action, so the
question whether there should be a convention or not was
first to be submitted to a popular vote. Then the character
of the convention was considered, whether it was to be
limited to amending certain specific articles, or could abro¬
gate the existing Constitution in whole. The bill was so
cast as to confine the changes to particular subjects and
articles. There was much diversity of opinion ; but eventu¬
ally at a meeting of leaders in their rooms, the form and

CONVENTION CALLED

367

scope of the bill was so adjusted that it would receive
support from some of the eastern members. On December
31, it passed the House by 66 to 62. In the Senate, it was
amended, and passed January 3 by 31 to 30.

On January 5, the House concurred in the Senate amend¬
ments, and at last the long waiting of the west was over.
For fifty years there had been a desire and purpose to amend
the Constitution, often strongly manifested, and now the
victory was won, the way was clear.

The Convention

The act submitting the question of a convention to the
people provided the machinery for taking the sense of the
white voters on that question. The election was to be held
at the usual voting precincts on the 1st and 2d days of
April ; the sheriffs were to make returns to the Governor,
“who, if a majority of the votes favor a convention, shall
issue a writ for holding an election for delegates. Every
county to elect two delegates, and no more ; delegates to
convene in Raleigh on the first Thursday of June; the
delegates to take an oath to observe the limitations speci¬
fied in the act.”

At last the west had accomplished its purpose. The first
step had been taken towards reforming the Constitution.
Under existing conditions the eastern counties with a
minority of the population had a preponderance in the As¬
sembly, the State being a sort of a confederation of coun¬
ties, each with equal representation : and the system was a
representative republic, all the chief offices being elected
by the Assembly. Now it was proposed to give more voice
to the popular will and to base representation on population.

The vote cast was 49,244, of which 27,550 were for the
convention and 21,695 were against it. And, as illustrating
how closely political action is allied with local interest, the
east was so solidly against the measure and the west so
solidly for it that in some of the eastern counties only four
or five voted for it, and in some of the western counties
only one or two votes were given against it. By the census
of 1830, there was in the State 97,633 white males twenty

1885

Sectional

vote

368

THE CONVENTION

1835

Convention

debates

The organ¬
ization

years of age and upwards ; and this vote also indicates that
on grave constitutional questions popular interest is so lack¬
ing that one-half of the voters took no part in the elections.
Yet that was the largest vote ever cast in the State except in
the hotly contested presidential election of 1828, when the
aggregate vote was 51,776.

When the election for delegates was held many of the
best men in the State were chosen. Among them were Nat
Macon and Weldon N. Edwards, sent by Warren, William
Gaston and Richard D. Spaight from Craven; David Out¬
law from Bertie, Governor John Owen, Bladen ; Dr. Fred¬
erick J. Hill, Brunswick; Judge Toomer, Cumberland;
Louis D. Wilson, Edgecombe; Jesse Spaight, Greene;
Governor John Branch, Halifax; Kenneth Rayner, Hert¬
ford ; Asa Biggs, Martin ; Alfred Dockery, Richmond ;
William B. Meares, Sampson; Joseph J. Daniel, Halifax;
Riddick Gatling, Gates ; and Owen Holmes of New Hano¬
ver, Governor Swain, Buncombe ; M. Barringer, Cabar¬
rus ; Calvin Graves, Caswell ; Hugh McQueen, Chatham,
John M. Morehead, Guilford ; Bartlett Shipp, Lincoln ; Ed¬
ward T. Broadnax, Rockingham, Charles Fisher, Rowan ;
Jos. McD. Carson, Rutherford; Meshack Franklin, Surry;
Henry Seawell, Wake, Edmund Jones and James Well¬
born from Wilkes.

The delegates assembled on June 4 in a room in the Gov¬
ernor’s mansion, but before the day was over a committee
of which Governor Swain was chairman, was appointed to
find a more convenient place of meeting.

The next day the Governor reported that the officers of
the Methodist and Presbyterian churches had both tendered
the use of their buildings. It was resolved to accept the
offer of the Presbyterians ; and the next morning the con¬
vention met in the Presbyterian Church. The members
having been sworn in, the venerable Nathaniel Macon was
unanimously chosen to preside, and Edmund B. Freeman
was elected clerk.

Judge Gaston from the committee appointed to report on
taking up the business of the convention, reported that

BOROUGH REPRESENTATION

369

nineteen committees should be appointed, each to consider
some separate business.

There was diversity of opinion on every material matter.
Among- the first questions determined was as to the abolish¬
ment of borough representation. It was generally admitted
that there was no reason for retaining it except as to the
commercial towns, New Bern, Edenton, Wilmington and
Fayetteville. Governor Swain urged that the convention
was due to the votes of these towns in the Assembly, and
he appealed for the retention of the borough system. After
full debate, eventually, the vote against any exception was
103 to 23.

The most interesting question was as to depriving free
negroes of the right of suffrage. The debate on this ex¬
plored the whole subject of the condition of the African
race in the South. It was said that not only had free
negroes never voted before the Revolutionary War, but
that for years afterwards they did not vote : that they were
not citizens. The convention seemed to be about evenly
divided in opinion. John M. Morehead offered an amend¬
ment allowing those negroes to vote who possessed a free¬
hold of one hundred dollars; but the convention rejected
this by a vote of 63 to 62; and then by a vote of 66 to 61,
it abrogated in toto the right of free colored persons to vote.
Suffrage was to be confined to the whites.

When the subject of fixing the number of members of
the different houses was reached, much feeling was evoked.
Originally this, as all the other subjects, had been referred
to a committee of thirteen ; but later its membership was
increased to twenty-six. Governor Swain, chairman of the
committee, reported that the Senate should be composed of
50 members and the House of 120, the greatest numbers
specified in the act providing for the convention. The limits
imposed by the Legislature, being the compromise reached
leading to the passage of the act, were for the Senate not
less than 34 nor more than 50, and for the House not less
than 90 nor more than 120; and it was generally considered
that the convention should regard the proportion between
these suggested numbers ; and that in awarding member-
24 *

The

boroughs

Free

negroes

Represen¬

tation

370

THE CONVENTION

Wellborn

Macon

Spaight

ship to the senatorial districts regard should be given to
property; and that representation in the House should be
according to the Federal population, counting negroes at
three-fifths. The committee of 26 reported in favor of the
greatest number in each house ; but there was great diver¬
sity of opinion as to the basic number. There was also
great controversy over the incidental question as to whether
borough representation should be retained.

The compromise made in the Assembly by which the act
providing for the convention was passed was strongly urged
by those who wanted no radical change. Wellborn from
Wilkes said fifty years earlier he had brought the subject
of a reform of the Constitution before the Legislature and
it had been constantly agitated ever since. “We have asked
them for appropriations to make highways and railroads and
what has been their answer ? They said nature had sup¬
plied us (them) with the means of reaching a good market,
and we will not be taxed for your benefit. If the west had
been in power the Central Railroad from Beaufort to the
mountains would have long since been completed. The
Cape Fear and Yadkin would have been united; a vigorous
system of internal improvement would have been carried
into successful operation. . . . No wonder when a

North Carolinian goes from home he is ashamed to own
the place of his nativity.”

Macon said he “disapproved of any plan of internal im¬
provements in which the government was to take a part.
All improvements of this kind ought to be the work of in¬
dividuals.”

Spaight replying to Wellborn asked: “In what respect
had the State been degraded? He had always felt proud
of being a North Carolinian. Look at our judiciary, our
laws, at our University which stands on a footing equal to
any other institution in our sister states. As to the great
emigrations, they are equally as great for South Carolina.
The cause was the sales of our public lands ; make all the
internal improvements you choose, it will have no effect on
emigration while the land sales continue.”

LOSS BY EMIGRATION

37i

Wilson of Perquimans in the course of a very lengthy
address said that it was erroneous to think of North Caro¬
lina as degraded. He had been through Virginia, and if
“that State were in a more thriving condition than North
Carolina the evidences of it are not to be discovered. Take
the whole State, and the superiority is ours. The gentleman
for Wilkes thinks if a railroad were constructed to the west
the mountains would be converted into rich fields and
blooming gardens. He would be sorely disappointed ; nine-
tenths of their land is exhausted and not worth cultivating,
contrasted with thousands of acres annually brought into
the market in the southwestern states. Gain is the principle
that prompts men to action; and as long as the western
lands are kept in the market it is impossible to check the
tide of emigration.”

Spaight of Greene, in an elaborate speech, made similar
and even stronger statements. “South Carolina lost by
emigration even more than North Carolina.”

Gaston, in the course of a great adress, said : “An
omission to settle this question (of representation) now, in
such a manner as to tranquilize the public mind,” he should
regard as no ordinary calamity. He did not, however,
“anticipate, in that event, the result predicted by the gentle¬
man from Buncombe (Governor Swain). That gentleman
in earnest language had predicted that if a satisfactory ar¬
rangement were not now made, the people of the west would
rise like the strong man, in his unshorn might, and pull
down the entire political edifice. Sir, the strong man of Zorah,
bowing down with all his might, tugged at massy pillars
till he buried all beneath one hideous ruin. It was a glorious
deed. Should our friends in the west in a moment of pas¬
sion overthrow the existing Constitution, the mad triumph
will be a triumph over order and law, over themselves, their
friends, their country.

“There was much in North Carolina to respect and love.
In no land was justice administered with greater purity,
and in no state in the Union was there less of violence, and
malevolence and corruption of faction. But much, very
much could be done for the improvement of her physical

Wilson

Emigration

Gaston

Samson

feat

Conditions

372

THE CONVENTION

1835

Convention
debates, 120

Represen

tation

Term of
office

Religious

test

condition.” He hailed with delight the institutions spring¬
ing up in various parts of the country for the instruction
of youth ; but there was need for united efforts to accom¬
plish the intellectual and moral advancement of the State.
He closed with an earnest appeal for the education of the
poor and humble.

Spaight said : “What had principally prevented internal
improvements from being successful is, we have constantly
attempted to do too much. In the Legislature there was
not only an eastern and western interest, but there was a
Roanoke, a Cape Fear and a Neuse interest; and the result
had been to prevent anything being effectually done.”

After much hot debate, the membership in the Senate
was fixed at fifty, and then followed for several days a con¬
test over that for the House ; but again the committee was
sustained by a vote of 76 to 52.

Later, when the subject of apportioning the membership
was reached, borough representation was negatived ; and a
particular proposition to give borough representation to
New Bern, Wilmington and Fayetteville was rejected by
74 noes to 47 ayes.

The convention now threw the counties into fifty districts,
each entitled to elect a Senator, two of the small counties
being embraced in a district, which deprived the east of
ten Senators.

Lincoln and Orange were allowed four members : of
twelve counties awarded three members only one, Halifax,
was in the east ; of the twenty-six counties with a single
member, six were of the west and twenty of the east ; while
by abolishing borough representation the east lost five. Al¬
together the east lost thirty-five members of the Assembly.
The term of office of the Governor, members of Assembly
and State officers was fixed at two years, and there were to
be biennial sessions of the Legislature.

At length, on June 26, at the end of three weeks, the
question of amending the 32b section applying a religious
test for office came up. The debate on that subject was a
most notable one. There were those who considered that
the popular feeling against any modification of that section

CHANGES IN THE CONSTITUTION

373

would endanger the acceptance of the other changes in
the Constitution, but generally there prevailed a liberal
spirit in regard to it. Judge Gaston, a Catholic, made one
of his greatest addresses. He sought to show that the pro¬
hibition did not extend to a Catholic : and he said such was
the opinion of the best legal advisers in and out of the State.
That personally he would be indifferent, but as a citizen he
hoped that the section would be modified. His speech for
its fullness, learning and eloquence remains an honor to the
State.

Judge Toomer’s speech also was noteworthy. He de¬
clared that the prohibition of the sections had ever been a
dead letter; that Caswell, the president of the convention
that adopted it, had been considered a Catholic, his parents
being Catholics; that neither Jew, nor atheist nor Catholic
had ever been denied office because of the section.

It was proposed to substitute the word “Christian” for
“Protestant,” and eventually the motion was adopted by 74
to 51.

When the proposition to elect the Governor by the people
every two years was reached, Gaston and some others stren¬
uously opposed it. The Governor had only administrative
powers and duties ; the change would introduce ferment
and faction. No state was more free from such evils than
North Carolina. In reply, Wellborn asked: “How was
it that our State had been called ‘Poor old North Carolina’?
It was because we had done nothing to improve our ad¬
vantages. We need great improvements, and the time is
near at hand when we will make them.” The report of the
committee was adopted by a vote of 74 to 44. Eventually,
when all the proposed changes had been formulated, on the
final question of submitting them to the people, the vote
stood 81 to 20.

Before adjournment Gaston offered a resolution tendering
thanks and appreciation to the venerable President. Macon
feelingly responded. At the close, he said : “While my
life is spared, if any of you should pass through the county
in which I live, I shall be glad to see you.” When the ap¬
plause had ceased Carson rose and mentioned that he was

Toomer

Convention
Journal, 331

Governor
elected by
people

374

THE CONVENTION

1835

University

languishing

about to leave North Carolina to reside in the west, and he
would ever be happy to see any friend from North Carolina.

The convention having completed its work on July n
adjourned, and the proposed amendments being submitted
to the people were ratified, the vote being 26,771 in favor
and 21,606 against; a majority of 5,166. In Brunswick not
a vote was cast for ratification ; in Tyrrell 1 ; in Hyde 2 ; and
so on. In Burke one vote was for rejection; in Ruther¬
ford 2; in Surry 4; in Haywood and Wilkes 8; and so on.
But generally the east was more liberal than the west, and
the western voters were more numerous than those of the
east.

Swain President of University

On January 14, 1834, Col. William Polk, the surviving
field officer of the N. C. Continentals, passed away. Be¬
cause of his shining virtues and sterling worth, his eminence
in patriotic work and his charming personality, he was an
ornament to society, respected and revered, and his loss was
mourned throughout the State.

A year later, in 1835, there died at Fayetteville, Samuel
Ashe of New Hanover, doubtless the last surviving officer
of our Continentals. Of him George Davis, in his Uni¬
versity address twenty years later, said in an eloquent and
striking eulogy: “He was the last of all the Romans. ”

On the 27th of January, 1835, Dr. Caldwell, the president
of the University, died. He had been at its head for nearly
forty years. He was one of the best scholars and teachers
in the State. He had seen the number of matriculates rise
to 173 in 1823, but then from various causes it had fallen
to 100. The University was languishing.

On Dr. Caldwell’s death, Dr. Mitchell acted temporarily
as president. On the 20th of June, twenty-nine trustees
met and sought to secure a president. Governor Swain’s
term of office was expiring, and he desired the position.
Judge Cameron approved, and the trustees generally agreed.
He had many of the desired qualifications although he was
lacking in fine scholarship. He entered at once on his
duties and made a most successful president of the Uni-

SPAIGHT ELECTED GOVERNOR

375

versity. There were only 89 matriculates in 1835 ; in 1837,
142; and 1838, 164; and still year by year the number
increased.

Just as the convention adjourned, Chief Justice Marshall,
who had held the circuit court at Raleigh for a generation,
and was so highly esteemed that his presence was always a
beneficial influence, died at Philadelphia. Many of the pub¬
lic men of the State hoped that Gaston would be appointed
by the President as his successor, but the Attorney-General,
Taney, was selected.

The last Assembly under old system

When the Assembly met, Moseley was reelected Speaker
of the Senate, and W. H. Haywood was taken in the House.

The returns of the voting on the amendments to the Con¬
stitution had not been officially compiled, but doubtless it
was known that they had been adopted and that this would
• be the last Assembly under the old system. The Democrats
having a majority, Richard D. Spaight was elected Gov¬
ernor over his opponent, the great Cape Fear lawyer, Wil¬
liam B. Meares.

Governor Swain’s final message was full on the ordinary
topics that engaged attention. Particularly he inveighed
against the propaganda of the abolitionists, deplored the
continued exodus and urged local improvements. He said :
“In much the larger portion of the State the past year has
been a season of more than ordinary prosperity. The pro¬
duction of articles necessary- for the sustenance of human
life has been abundant and our great agricultural staple
has commanded a higher price than has been known in
many years. Our citizens always distinguished for pru¬
dence and economy are at present probably less involved in
pecuniary difficulties than at any previous time of our
history.” However, “the tide of emigration,” said the Gov¬
ernor, “continues to flow in a copious and steady current
to the new states and territories.” And he adverted to the
absence of educational facilities and of internal improve-

Death of
Marshall

376

THE CONVENTION

The day of
the change

Elections
provided for

Railroads

ments as causes swelling the emigration and giving other
states advantages of North Carolina.

On December 4, the Governor transmitted the result of
the voting on the amendments showing their adoption ; and
made his proclamation that the changes in the Constitution
would be in effect on January 1, 1836. Governor Swain,
still a young man, had the satisfaction of feeling that he
had borne a chief part in bringing about these changes in
the Constitution of the State which the western people had
so much at heart as possibly leading to the material ad¬
vantage of that section of the State. He had exhibited
a capacity for securing results that singled him out as one
of the most influential men of his generation.

Under the changed Constitution, the Legislature now had
to provide for the election of a Governor and of Assembly-
men. The sheriffs were directed to open the polls in their
several precincts for the election, on the same day in 1836,
as for the Assembly theretofore, and biennially thereafter ;
and make their returns for Governor to the Secretary of
State who was to deliver them to the Speaker of the Senate.

The Legislature incorporated the Raleigh and Gaston
Railroad Company, but did not subscribe for stock. It
also incorporated the Raleigh and Fayetteville Railroad, and
a road from Milton to Salisbury. The charter of the Wil¬
mington and Raleigh Company was amended to allow that
company to construct its road to meet the Petersburg and
Portsmouth roads at Roanoke River.

South Carolina and other states had chartered the Cin¬
cinnati and Charleston Railroad Company, and the Assem¬
bly passed an act of similar effect.

William Tannahill and Bryan Saunders were vested with
the privilege of running steamboats on the Pamlico and
Tar rivers for eighteen years. The Wilmington Marine
Hospital was incorporated. Eight academies were incor¬
porated including the Episcopal School at Raleigh, and
nine gold mining companies were chartered.

The Assembly also adopted strong resolutions on the
subject of the Abolitionists, whose activities knew no

COLD SUMMER

377

bounds and whose object was to excite the negroes to in¬
surrection and massacre.

The frost year

Notwithstanding the happy picture of conditions drawn
by the Governor it has been understood that the year 1835
was distinguished for its numerous frosts in the central part
of the State. A letter, written in June, 1835, by Wesley
Heartsfield of Wake County to his brother, who had moved
to Florida, says: “You requested me, in the first place,
to write you how I come on in the married state — and that I
will do with pleasure. I was married on the fifth of March,
and I had a very cold time of it, for there was at that time
three snows on the ground, one on the others ; but I did not
mind that ; the company was very agreeable at both places.
I have got a pretty, kind, decent, good-natured, obedient,
smart, pious, loving wife, and, of course, we get along
pretty well. The weather is cold enough this morning to
sit by a fire, and on the twenty-third of May we had a little
frost, but not to bite anything.

“I saw Mr. Wiggins the other day and he wishes you to
write him word whether or not you think he would be ben¬
efited in selling off and coming to that country.

“We have hard times here and worse are coming. Every¬
thing sells high. Corn sells at $4.50 and $5.00 per barrel.
Fodder and oats, $1.50 per hundred. Negroes are very
high indeed.”

A letter of 1923 from the Assistant Attorney-General,
Frank Nash, says : “There was an old man, and a very ex¬
cellent man, who lived in Orange County, named Holden.
He died some ten or twelve years ago upwards of ninety
years of age. When he was about sixty-five years of age
a horse ran away with him, threw him out of his buggy and
dislocated his neck, but as above said, he lived to be over
ninety years of age. At the time I saw him, his mind was
entirely clear and he told me that he recalled distinctly the
famous year in which crops were destroyed by excessive
cold. He said that he had a field of wheat just in bloom
when a freeze came the latter part of May and blasted it

1835

The women

378

THE CONVENTION

as though hot water had been poured upon it. His recol¬
lection was that the year was 1835.

“Dr. William Strudwick told me that his father told him
that there was only one month in that year in which there
was no frost and that was July. According to these ac¬
counts, the only crops raised that year were Irish potatoes
and corn, and the corn crop was very short.”

The Raleigh Register of February 10, 1835, said: “Sun¬
day last is thought to be the coldest day ever felt in this
latitude. At six o’clock in the morning, February 8, the
thermometer was one degree below zero. ... At Fay¬
etteville it was two degrees below.”

In its issue of August 23, 1830, the Register said: “The
weather destroyed or greatly damaged the crops, which
were burned up by heat and drought.” Such disasters to
crops were elements in the movement to other localities.

CHAPTER XXIV

Railroad Beginnings

General conditions. — Great land sales. — The public debt ex¬
tinguished. — Distribution of surplus among the states. — Van Bu-
ren and Hugh White nominated. — Dudley for Governor by the
Whigs. — The Raleigh and Gaston road. — The Wilmington road
goes to Weldon. — Dudley President. — Democrats nominate
Spaight. — Van Buren elected. — The Assembly against Mangum.
— Strange chosen. — Nash, Pearson and other new judges. — The
west jubilant. — Spaight’s message. — Stocks made personal prop¬
erty. — Surplus fund for schools. — Committee recommends invest¬
ing in railroad and bank stock. — Morehead opposed to Wilming¬
ton and Weldon road. — The fund invested. — County of Davie. —
Cherokee lands open for entry. — Lake Mattamuskeet to be drain¬
ed. — The Halifax road to be absorbed by the Wilmington. — The
Cape Fear and Yadkin to be extended. — Caldwell’s project. — New
projects. — The cotton manufacturing companies at Fayetteville,
Rocky Mount, Lexington, Yadkin, Randolph, Weldon, Cane
Creek, Milton, Salem. — Other incorporations. — Davidson College,
Wake Forest. — The silk craze. — The arsenals. — Chang-Eng. — The
financial crash. — Progress of railroad construction. — Conflicting
interests. — Wilmington seeks the trade of Greensboro. — Dudley
reelected. — His pronounced views. — To send our products
through our own ports. — The Internal Improvement Committee.
— Laid on table. — Aid given to roads. — Nags Head Inlet. — Com¬
mon schools established. — The expunging resolution. — The
Whigs avoid instructing. — The Senators do not at once resign.

General conditions

Jackson’s last year in the presidency had been full of
serious questions. In 1833, he had directed that no more
public moneys should be deposited in the United States
Bank, and thereafter they were deposited in State banks.

About that time an era of inflation and speculation set in.
The purchase of government lands largely exceeded all ex¬
pectations. Funds came in so rapidly that by January,
1836, the public debt was entirely extinguished and $25,-
000,000 had accumulated as a surplus. By June the sur¬
plus reached $40,000,000.

The great deposits in the State banks led to wild specula¬
tion, and as a remedy, Congress in June, 1836, passed an
act to distribute the unnecessary surplus among the states,
in four quarterly installments, beginning January 1, 1837.

1836

Surplus
to be

distributed

380

RAILROAD BEGINNINGS

The Whigs
organize

And to check the purchases, the President in July, directed
that payment for land, except in the case of actual settlers,
should be made in specie.

In May 1835, the supporters of the President held a con¬
vention in Baltimore and unanimously nominated Van Buren,
who was the Vice President, to succeed Jackson. For some
reasons Van Buren was not acceptable to all the former sup¬
porters of Jackson, while there was very strong opposition
to him by the Whigs. Although his nomination consoli¬
dated the Democrats of the North, it stimulated the Whigs
in the opposition.

When the Legislature adjourned, the Whig members had
a meeting and organized their party by appointing commit¬
tees in every county. A month later, the Raleigh Whigs
put up for President, Hugh L. White, a native of Iredell
County, who had had a highly honorable career in Tennes¬
see and in the Senate ; and for Governor, they selected
Edward B. Dudley of New Hanover, who was well known
as one of the champions of internal improvements.

The railroads

There had been a road chartered to run from Raleigh
to the Roanoke River, known as the Raleigh and Gaston.
The promoters of this route met at Raleigh on January 2
and large subscriptions being made, the company was or¬
ganized on February 4, the Whigs taking the lead; and
actual construction began in June. There was likewise a
proposition to build a road from Raleigh to Fayetteville,
and perhaps this may have determined Raleigh not to sub¬
scribe for the line to Wilmington. At any rate, the in¬
corporators of the Wilmington and Raleigh road meeting
with no substantial aid from Raleigh and having obtained an
amendment to their charter allowing the road to be built
to the Roanoke, now considered changing this route to
Weldon. On March 14, the company organized at Wil¬
mington, determined to go to Weldon, and elected Edward
B. Dudley president. Mr. Dudley was originally of On¬
slow County, but having come to Wilmington as a soldier
during the war of 1812, he remained there. His subscrip-

POLITICAL ISSUES

38i

tion to the railroad was $25,000 and that of Wilmington was 1836
correspondingly large. The Whigs had taken the initia¬
tive in these enterprises and they stood before the people
as the particular friends of internal improvements.

Meetings in the counties brought forward, naturally,
Governor Spaight as the Democratic candidate for Gov¬
ernor, and soon the Standard put up his name at the head
of its column. Similarly, Whig meetings brought out ^ fi
Edward B. Dudley and these became the contestants for contest
Governor at the first election by the voters of the State.

Great interest was aroused; and while the main issues dis¬
cussed were those growing out of Federal politics, yet Dud¬
ley representing active exertions in the cause of internal
improvements, offered some hope for the future. Such
were the conditions when the election came off in August,

1836.

The campaign turned largely on Jackson’s course in re¬
gard to the United States Bank and on the right of the As¬
sembly to instruct Senators. And as Mangum had appealed
to the people against the Assembly, an issue was made that
involved him particularly, and he had many friends, but
he had taken a stand against the Jackson administration, and
Jackson was near to the popular heart. The result of the
changes in the Constitution had been very distasteful to
the east, where apparently much bad blood was engendered ;
while at the west the reverse was evident. There many
counties that had before only two representatives now had
three, and the privilege of voting for the Governor imparted
a zeal before unknown. The scepter had. departed from
Israel ; the course of empire was to the west. Although the
Democrats stood faithfully to Spaight, yet Dudley was the
favorite, and in the fullest vote cast, 63,948, won over House
nis competitor, bor some reasons, the votes of three coun¬
ties were not embraced in the official returns. Dudley’s
majority was 4,043.

After his election, Dudley resigned as president of the
railroad, and was succeeded by General James Owen, a
brother of Governor Owen, under whose management the
road was constructed and operated for four years.

382

RAILROAD BEGINNINGS

Van Buren elected

In the presidential election the opposition to Jackson
was not united, the Whigs not being yet thoroughly or¬
ganized. Clay seeing he stood no chance of an election
would not be a candidate. General Harrison received the
chief Whig support, but Webster was voted for as well
as White. In North Carolina the Democrats put every
should^* to the wheel. Even Macon, who had sought re¬
tirement, allowed his name to head the electoral ticket. His
influence was still great. He and the other Van Buren
electors were chosen. But it was his last, expiring effort
for his party. Seven months after his attendance on the
electoral college, June 29, 1837, he passed away, sincerely
lamented by the people of the State. Van Buren carried
15 states, with 170 electoral votes; Harrison 7 states with
73 electoral votes; White, Georgia and Tennessee; Massa¬
chusetts voted for Webster. Later, when the South Caro¬
lina Legislature met, Calhoun gave that State to his friend
Mangum.

1836

Journals,
40, 294

Strange

Senator

The Assembly

In the Legislature the parties were about evenly divided.
When it met, Hugh Waddell of Orange was chosen Speaker
of the Senate over Moseley, the former Democratic Speaker,
by two votes, there being one member absent and one va¬
cancy. In the House, William H. Haywood, brother-in-law
of Dudley, was successful over William A. Graham by
seven votes, there being seven seats vacant.

Mangum now considered that he had lost in his contest at
the polls. He realized that the Assembly was adverse to his
position and he tendered his resignation. On December 3,
the election of his successor came on, the nominees being
Robert Strange and Thomas Settle. In the Senate the vote
was Strange 24, Settle 25, in the House, Strange 61, Settle
58. On joint ballot, with one absent from each House,
the Democrats had a majority of two votes. Three weeks
later an election came off for the full term and Strange was
chosen, receiving seven majority in the House. Robert

NEW CONDITIONS

383

Strange was a native of Virginia, who had early in life
come to this State, and was associated with the most ac¬
complished of our public men. Of Judge Strange, it has
been said : “As a writer, his style is highly imaginative ;
his taste, chastened by an intimate acquaintance with the
most approved authors in every age, is classic and beautiful.
His eulogy upon Judge Gaston cannot but affect the heart,
improve the feelings and delight the mind of all who may
have the pleasure of reading it.” He once ventured into
the realm of fiction and wrote a novel. As a jurist, he ranked
among the most eminent men in the State. At that session
to fill vacancies on the Superior Court bench, Judges Nash,
Pearson, Bailey and Toomer were elected. After ten years,
Judge Nash had returned to the bench and Richmond Pear¬
son now began his judicial career, both being destined to win
high honor and to wear the robes of the Chief Justice.
Owen Holmes of Wilmington was likewise elected a judge,
but on notification he declined.

The new conditions

The western members and those who had favored the
change in the Constitution were now in high elation. The
past was behind them, the future offered hope and the rain¬
bow of promise was in the heavens. And coincident was
the fortuitous distribution of the surplus revenue. Not
only was the power to proceed in their hands but the in¬
strumentality was provided. The line between old things
and new things was sharply drawn, and the Governor
elected by the people was a progressive.

Governor Spaight, accepting his defeat with equanimity,
opened his message with a reference to the unexampled
prosperity of the country and to the termination of the dis¬
turbing questions that “have made us a divided people.”
He hoped that “all differences, antipathies and dislikes, if
not hatreds, arising from the agitation would now termi¬
nate although we could not expect ‘that hatred or dislike
could immediately be succeeded by love and affection.’ ”

He mentioned the act of Congress requiring the public
funds to be deposited with the states, saying: “The faith

Wheeler,

130

Judicial

changes

384

RAILROAD BEGINNINGS

House

Journal,

1836

of the State is pledged for its return. ... If you re¬
ceive it, it should be so invested as to be returned on de¬
mand.” He submitted communications from Maine, Massa¬
chusetts, Connecticut, New York and Ohio and six other
states on the subject of “Incendiary publications, abolition
and slavery.”

Now the prospects of having a fund that might be in¬
vested in improvements and in the advancement of educa¬
tion awoke the liveliest interest. A select committee of
five from each house was provided for. Mr. Jordan on
December 3 reported a bill from the committee for acepting
the deposit which was unanimously passed. Another was
passed to make stock in incorporated companies personal
property ; for stock in railroad companies had been consid¬
ered as savoring of the realty.

The Senate having concurred in accepting the offered
deposit, a committee of one from each congressional dis¬
trict on the part of each house was raised to recommend
the disposition of it. This important committee consisted
321 of Senators Polk, Hawkins, Morehead, Kelly, Davidson,
Hussey, Spruill, Skinner, Whitaker, Rhinehardt, Carson
and J. W. Bryan. The House branch was Raynes, Moore,
Smallwood, Hooker, Sloan, Fisher, Blount D. Jordan, Gra¬
ham, Lee, Cansler, Patton and Courts.

The new fund

William A. Graham for the committee made the report
that the State debt of $400,000 be purchased ; that the bank
stock and $187,800 of cash to be invested in bank stock, all
amounting to $1,000,000 shall belong to the Literary Fund;
that $200,000 be expended in draining the swamp lands ; that
the State should subscribe for two-fifths of the capital
stock of the Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad and of the
Fayetteville and Western Railroad; that the profits should
go to the public schools.

An amendment was proposed to subscribe $200,000 to the
Raleigh and Gaston Railroad but was voted down 27 to 66,
and an amendment prepared to subscribe to the Central
Railroad was at first likewise voted down, but when the

VAVIE COUNTY ESTABLISHED

3§S

committee prepared a bill to give effect to the resolution,
they included among the railroad beneficiaries the Central
road, and in a motion to strike that out, the vote was 19
to 74. The bill passed 61 to 42 nays.

In the Senate, Mr. Reid moved to amend the bill by sub-
scribing two-fifths of the stock of the Milton and Salisbury
Railroad, but this failed by 6 to 33. Mr. Morehead, evi¬
dently much dissatisfied, then moved to strike out the Wil¬
mington and Weldon Railroad, the vote being 11 to 28.
Failing in that, he moved to postpone the bill indefinitely,
but he again lost the vote by 13 to 26. On the final passage,
the vote was 26 to 13, Morehead and a dozen others oppos¬
ing it.

Eventually the “surplus revenue” was apportioned as fol¬
lows : After paying $300,000 on the State debt and the
same amount for stock in the Bank of Cape Fear, and for
draining the swamp lands, the Board of Internal Improve¬
ments was to subscribe for two-fifths of the stock of the
Wilmington and Weldon Railroad when three-fifths had
been subscribed and paid in by individuals. And in like
manner two-fifths of the stock of the Fayetteville road
running to the narrows of the Yadkin, and likewise two-
fifths of the capital stock of the N. C. R. Central from
Beaufort to Fayetteville, when the other three-fifths had
been paid in by individuals. But no aid was offered to
the road projected from Raleigh to the Roanoke. Among the
acts passed were those extending the charter of the Cape
Fear Bank to i860 and conferring banking privileges on the
Louisville, Cincinnati and Charleston Railroad Company.

The people of the west now had the satisfaction of es¬
tablishing a new county, called Davie. Population was
thickening in the mountain section, so all the lands bought
from the Cherokees in 1818-19 were now opened to entry,
except such tracts as were awarded to the Indians as a
reservation. The swamp lands were to be drained and also
Lake Mattamuskeet.

All of the profits accruing to the State from the invest¬
ments were vested in the board of the Literary Fund. And

so it came about that through the sales of the public lands
25

1836

Morehead’s

dissatisfac¬

tion

The

distribution

Davie

County

Cherokee

lands

opened

386

RAILROAD BEGINNINGS

Acts

1836-37,

p. 126

The Cape
Fear and
Yadkin

donated to the Union by Virginia and North Carolina, and
otherwise acquired, this State in 1837 was able to enter on
enterprises of the greatest importance to its prosperity and
to create a fund for the endowment of a public school sys¬
tem that promised a general diffusion of education and the
elevation of the citizenship.

Among other legislation were acts to incorporate the
Raleigh and Columbia Railroad Company, from Raleigh
to Rockingham and then to Columbia ; and to allow the
Halifax and Weldon Railroad to subscribe its stock to
the Wilmington and Weldon Company.

The Cape Fear and Yadkin Railroad Company had large
views, and now was authorized to run one branch of its road
from the narrows to Wilkesboro, and the lower branch to
cross the Catawba and intersect the Charleston and Cincin¬
nati Railroad. The company was also granted the powers
of the Cape Fear Navigation Company to clean out and
navigate the Yadkin River. If the road from Beaufort
should connect with this road, then preference in transpor¬
tation was to be given to that company. Caldwell’s pro¬
posed road was to turn to the west by way of Raleigh, the
new project in contemplation was for the main line to go
farther to the south through Fayetteville. But again the
North Carolina Central Road was chartered from Beaufort
through New Bern, Trenton and the central part of the
State to the Tennessee line, or to go by Fayetteville and con¬
nect with the Fayetteville and Yadkin Railroad. A road
from Edenton to Norfolk was likewise chartered, and the
Raleigh and Columbia Road also.

Manufactures

Various manufacturing companies were incorporated.
The Phoenix Company at Fayetteville, under the control
of Charles P. Mallett and his associates ; the Rocky Mount
Manufacturing Company, the Battles being the incorpor¬
ators ; the Lexington Company under the Hargraves ; the
Yadkin Company under Charles Fisher and his associates;
the Randolph Company under John B. Troy; the Weldon
Company under Andrew Joyner and his associates, “Near

COLLEGES CREATED

387

Weldon on the Roanoke Canal” ; all of these to manufac¬
ture textile fabrics and the High Shoals Company to manu¬
facture iron, under Henry Fulenwider. The Cane Creek
Cotton Manufacturing Company; the Milton Manufactur¬
ing Company; the Salem Manufacturing Company, all
making cotton goods. Then, there were the General Min¬
ing and Manufacturing Company; and the Mutual Insur¬
ance Company at Fayetteville; and the North Carolina
Mutual Fire Insurance Company with its principal office
at Elizabeth City.

Several institutions of learning were incorporated, chiefly
for the education of females ; among them the Greensbor-
ough Female College and the Caldwell Institute. The de¬
sire of the western counties to establish a western college
of a high order of merit, had not been gratified. Every
effort had proved unavailing. Now Davidson College was
incorporated, the trustees to be selected by the Presbyte¬
rians of Concord, Morganton and Bethel and such other
Presbyteries as should become associated with them in the
undertaking. The Literary and Manual Labor Institution
of Wake County was created a college, under the name of
Wake Forest.

Somewhat earlier the culture of silk had been agitated
and the Morus Multicaulis, a species of mulberry, was in¬
troduced with a view to promoting the rearing of silk worms.
That idea spread so rapidly that it was eventually known as
the “Morus Multicaulis craze.” Evidently to aid this in¬
teresting enterprise, the Legislature passed an act to en¬
courage the culture and manufacture of silk and sugar, un¬
der which any six or more persons subscribing a capital of
$2,000 could form themselves into a joint stock company for
the growth or manufacture of silk or sugar. The conditions
were favorable to the growth of the silk worms, but perhaps
there was no sufficient market for the cocoons and while
in the homes there was some silk made, the industry did
not succeed.

There were arsenals for the public arms at Fayetteville
and Raleigh, and there were at least 5,000 muskets and
1,750 rifles on hand. The rifles were directed to be stored

1836-7

Greensboro

Female

College

Davidson

College

Wake Forest

Silk

Public arms

388

The arsenal

RAILROAD BEGINNINGS

at Morganton and Salisbury for the western militia and the
muskets at Fayetteville, Wilmington, Raleigh, New Bern
and four other towns in the east ; at the next session the
Federal government was authorized to take possession of a
tract of land in Fayetteville for a Federal arsenal, that be¬
ing the origin of the United States arsenal there.

Chang-Eng, Siamese twins who had been touring the
country on exhibition having settled near Salem, complained
to the Legislature that the sheriffs were exacting money
from them. Having married they had separate farms and
residences for their respective families.

At last, on January 23, the longest session of the Legisla¬
ture on record came to an end. As it was the beginning
of the biennial sessions, the succeeding session would be
in 1838.

Tlie financial crash

In May 1837, two months after Van Buren’s inauguration,
the financial conditions resulted in a crash. The banks sus¬
pended specie payments. The government deposits being
in State banks could not be transferred in ordinary course
to the centers where they were needed for payment. Van
Buren devised a new plan of Treasury finance, holding the
funds in the Treasury vaults at Washington. For this
there was no particular regulation prescribed by Congress
but Van Buren persisted, and such was the origin of the
present sub-treasury system.

The panic had its effect in North Carolina as elsewhere,
but there were no great disasters incident to it.

The railroads

In the meantime work was progressing satisfactorily on
the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad and on the Wilmington
and Weldon, which absorbed the little road from Halifax
to Weldon, but the individual stockholders in neither of
the other roads subscribed enough to obtain the State’s aid.
In some measure local interests determined the attitude of
localities toward the various projects. Fayetteville with
its western trade and connections was anxious for the con-

CONFLICTING INTERESTS

389

struction of the Yadkin road, usually called the Fayetteville
and Western. Wilmington, the seaport of Fayetteville, was
in favor of this projected line, but when it was proposed
to make Beaufort the seaport of Fayetteville, Wilmington
suggested a road from deep water in Bladen along the
South Carolina line to the west, cutting out Fayetteville.
These interests were not concerned with the connection
from Raleigh to Gaston and Petersburg.

When the Petersburg road approached the Roanoke, it
proposed to have Blakely, above the rapids, on the northern
side for its terminus. The road from Raleigh to connect
with that line had for its original terminus a point above the
rapids that was called “Gaston” in honor of Judge Gaston.
The passengers and freight were transferred across the
river over a bridge. The Portsmouth road had obtained a
right to construct a bridge across the river at Weldon, and
when that bridge was completed, trains starting at Halifax
in December, 1837, ran through to Norfolk. While Wil¬
mington and Raleigh had their northern lines in progress
and there seemed no hope for east and west lines, Morehead,
the actual leader of the central west, wanted a road from
Salisbury to Milton. Roads were proposed from New Bern
to Waynesboro and from Raleigh to Waynesboro, but the
country west of Raleigh was considered too rolling for
a railway and a turnpike was proposed in that direction.

Conflicting interests

As the time for the election of a Governor approached,
Dudley desired to retain the office. The Whigs generally
approved, but the Guilford interests were not forward in
his support. They were in favor of Morehead and the Mil-
ton railroad. Dudley, however, became the Whig candi¬
date and Governor Branch, likewise an eastern man, was
his Democratic opponent. The success of the Wilmington
and Weldon due to its southern connection inspired the
Raleigh interests connected with the Raleigh and Gaston
to promote construction on the Raleigh and Columbia
scheme, while the eastern counties sought an outlet for
their own products. About that time some South Caro-

December,

1837

Morehead’s

road

Dudley and
Branch

390

RAILROAD BEGINNINGS

1838

Wilmington

seeks

Greensboro

Konkle :
Morehead,
186

linian had applied the name “Rip Van Winkle" to North
Carolina and it became a favorite in popular use. Wil¬
mington, however, was wide awake, and called attention
to the fact that in six months she had dispatched 152 ves¬
sels to foreign ports and 150 coastwise, taking out a million
dollars worth of exports; and confessedly in the interests
of Wilmington and Fayetteville a proposition was made
to hold “a commercial and agricultural convention” at
Greensboro, with the expectation of promoting a line from
Fayetteville westward that would connect Greensboro with
Wilmington. On July 4, 1838, such a convention was held,
Governor Dudley, a Wilmington man, presiding. More-
head, a member of the convention, took no great part in
the proceeding unless it was to stifle action, so that “the
only specific measure decided on was a Raleigh Convention
to be held early in December when the Legislature was in
session.” Greensboro was more interested in a northern
connection than in an eastern port.

The election

The result of the election for Governor could have been
easily forecast. The tide was with the Progressives. Dud¬
ley held his own at the August election, and Branch fell
behind Spaight some nine thousand votes. While the Cape
Fear Democrats stood firm, the loss in the northeastern
counties and from Granville west was notable. Dudley’s
majority was 14,156. Although the Democrats virtually
held their Congressional districts, they lost both houses of
the Legislature. The Senate was at first, apparently, evenly
divided ; Lewis D. Wilson of Edgecombe and Andrew
Joyner of Halifax, being the contestants for the speaker-
ship at first tied, but Carson of Rutherford abandoned
Wilson and gave Joyner the majority. In the House, Wil¬
liam A. Graham had 61 votes to 49 cast for Michael Hoke
of Lincoln, a strong Democratic county. .

Dudley’s message

Governor Dudley had confidence in his convictions. In
his message, he proposed that the State should unite all her

HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION PROPOSED

39i

resources in one great State bank with a capital of ten mil¬
lions, absorbing all the then existing banks, and offering it
as a depository for the Federal revenue. He suggested that
this bank, if established, should subscribe half a million
dollars to the Fayetteville and Western Railroad, a propo¬
sition that was not in line with the ideas prevailing in the
section of which Guilford was the center. He adverted
to the languishing state of agriculture and the want of at¬
tachment of families to their farms and homes, and as a
remedy proposed a homestead exemption for each family,
dependent on the size of the family. But after all, he de¬
clared that the permanent prosperity of the State depended
on internal improvements, which alone could benefit the
people and remove the existing temptation to emigrate.
‘'Temptation is around them, the stimulants to emigration
are almost irresistible.”

The only road that had benefited by the Legislature al¬
lowing the State’s subscription was the Wilmington and
Weldon. “Ninety miles of this road is now in use, and
continued by stages and steamboats of the best description,
carrying travelers from the Roanoke to Charleston, . . .

and the road will be completed next year.”

The required individual subscriptions not having been
made to permit other companies to apply for the State’s
subscription, he urged that the State should take even three-
fourths of the stock of the Cape Fear and Yadkin Railroad
as he considered that road of vital importance to the western
counties. Indeed, he declared, if necessary he would have
the State subscribe for all the stock to insure its being con¬
structed. South Carolina and Virginia were calculating on
drawing all our trade to those states. He proposed a road
from Bladen west to meet the South Carolina attempt, and
to open the inlet at Nags Head to arrest the Virginia oper¬
ations. Some twelve hundred vessels, said he, “now cross
the Ocracoke bar annually, and produce of the value of
one million passes through the canal (to Norfolk) besides
immense quantities in other directions to the Virginia
markets.” Among his other suggestions was one of a road
from Raleigh to New Bern. His general proposition was

1838

The

W. & W.
R. R.

Commerce
of the
sounds

House

Journal, 293

392

RAILROAD BEGINNINGS

Internal Im¬
provements
Convention

to conserve State interests by sending out our products
through our own ports. The bank panic, with its suspen¬
sion of specie payments and incidental business depression,
had interfered with the construction of the two railroads
then being built. Both now needed aid.

When the Internal Improvement Convention met, “it
compared favorably with that of 1833.” Judge Saunders
presided. It memorialized the Legislature to carry out the
program contained in the Governor’s message. Instead of
a railroad to Greensboro it recommended a survey for a
turnpike from Raleigh to Greensboro. To meet these ex¬
penditures it recommended that the State should borrow
$3,000,000. All of these important matters were referred
by the Assembly to the committee on internal improvements,
which reported December 26 :

' 1. That the State should guarantee a loan of the Raleigh & Gas¬

ton Railroad on good security.

2. That a subscription should be made of % of the stock of
the Fayetteville and Yadkin road.

3. That the 4th installment of the State’s subscription to the
Wilmington & Weldon Railroad be immediately paid.

4. That the State subscribe for % of the stock of the Roanoke
Inlet Company.

5. For the survey of a route of a McAdamized road from Raleigh
to Greensboro.

6. That the State borrow $2,600,000 for the above purposes. In
another report the Committee recommended that a road be
built from Beaufort to Waynesboro, the State taking % of the
stock.

This was the original movement for what afterwards took
shape in the construction of A. & N. C. R. R.

David Stone writing from Raleigh said: “The Governor
in his message recommended four magnificent projects
for Rip Van Winkle, but I apprehend his recommendations
will hardly be met, as we are rather too sober and prudent
a people to make high adventures. The States’ Rights men
hold the balance of power, as neither of the old parties can
make a majority without their aid. So far they have moved
with the Whigs, and I suppose will continue to do so.”
These were the men in sympathy with Calhoun and South
Carolina, and out of line with the administration. On the
subject of internal improvements, they justified Stone’s
views of conservative action. On December 31, on motion

NAGS HEAD AND OCRACOKE

393

of Hoke, the proposition to borrow $2,600,000 was stricken
out in the House from the resolutions. Then the House
struck out the clause authorizing a subscription of four-
fifths of the stock of the Cape Fear and Yadkin Railroad,
and refused by a vote of 53 to 56 to substitute a three-
fourths subscription ; that vote being the nearest approach
to agreement. Thereupon on motion of Mr. Erwin of
Burke, the entire report and resolutions were laid on the
table.

In the Senate, likewise, on motion of Mr. Dockery the
entire set of resolutions was laid on the table. The Senate,
however, passed a bill to aid the Raleigh and Gaston Rail¬
road by 30 to 18. When this bill came to the House it was
at first laid on the table, but eventually passed 54 to 52.
The Treasurer was to endorse the company’s bonds up to
$500,000, taking a mortgage on the property as security.

On a tie vote the bill to pay the subscription to the Wil¬
mington and W eldon passed the Senate ; but in the House
it was amended and it was not thereafter considered in the
Senate. The Senate, however, on motion of Mr. More-
head passed a resolution that the subscription should be
paid only as the private subscriptions were paid. The State
eventually agreed to take three-fifths of the stock in the
Fayetteville and Western road. But still looking at our
water transportation, the Assembly required the Board of
Internal Improvements to have some engineer of distinction
to report on the practicability and cost of opening a chan¬
nel between Albemarle Sound and the ocean at Nags Head.
Our Senators and Representatives in Congress were re¬
quested to obtain an appropriation by Congress to open that
inlet. There was at that time a fear that Ocracoke Inlet
was closing.

As the Raleigh and Gaston road connected with the Pe¬
tersburg road at Gaston, a charter was granted for the con¬
struction of a road under the name of the Weldon Railroad
from Littleton or some other point on the Raleigh and Gas¬
ton to Weldon, to connect with the Portsmouth road. Res¬
olutions were passed looking to the establishment of a lu¬
natic asylum and also to the construction of a penitentiary.

Senate
Journal, 188

Ibid., 220

Nags Head
Inlet

The Weldon
road

394

RAILROAD BEGINNINGS

1838-9

House
Journal, 296

Ibid., 536

The school
bill

Common schools established

The Governor had mentioned that now the income of the
Literary Fund would be from $120,000 to $150,000, suffi¬
cient to warrant establishing a public school system. One
of the greatest drawbacks, said he, was the absence of
teachers, so he urged the opening of a school for the train¬
ing of teachers, and also the employment of a permanent
commissioner to superintend that branch of the service.
No longer was there need to defer action, and the Assembly
now responded to the Governor’s suggestion. By far the
most important act of this session was the long-postponed
Common School bill.

On December 1, Senator James O. K. Williams of Beau¬
fort offered a resolution that the Committee on Education be
directed to report a bill establishing free schools in every
county, and the resolution passed unanimously. Senator
William W. Cherry of Bertie was chairman of that com¬
mittee. On December 27 he reported the bill to the Senate
and on January 2 it passed unanimously. In the House,
the next day, Dr. Fred J. Hill, of Orton, Brunswick County,
called it up and offered an amendment, providing for the
election of a Superintendent of Public Instruction, “whose
duty shall be to visit and examine the schools in every sec¬
tion of the State and confer with the school committees,
modeling the school houses, seeing that the teachers are
competent, select textbooks, require reports and collect gen¬
eral statistics and report to the General Assembly.” The
Senate bill was taken up in the House January 5, all after
the enacting clause was stricken out and another bill sub¬
stituted and the substitute passed. Two days later, the
Senate refused to concur ; the House would not recede. * A
Committee of Conference was appointed. On the same day,
Cherry from the Committee of Conference, reported a bill
agreed upon by the committee, composed of Cherry, Shep¬
herd and Mosely, Senators, and Boyden, Hill and Gilliam
of the House. The Senate passed it unanimously and thq
House concurred. Its chief provisions were that at every
election precinct, at the next election, polls were to be opened
and all voters in favor of raising by taxation one dollar,

PUBLIC SCHOOL SCHEME

395

for every two dollars to be furnished by the Literary Fund,
was to vote for “Schools/’ those opposed “No schools.”
In such counties as voted for the tax, the justices were to
elect not more than ten superintendents of common schools.
These superintendents were to divide their counties into
school districts, not more than six miles square, and they
were to appoint not more than six school committeemen in
each district. Twenty dollars was to be collected by taxa¬
tion in each district, and the Literary Fund was to supply
$40 ; and the schoolhouses were to accommodate at least 50
children. At last the beginning was made, such as it was,
for the education of all the white children of the State.

There was much other business done. The largest cor¬
poration authorized was the Washington Mining Company,
in the county of Davidson; Roswell King, John W. Thomas
and their associates being the stockholders and the capital
was fixed at half a million dollars. As the State House was
now nearing completion an appropriation was made for the
reconversion of the “Government House” into a residence
of the Executive.

The changes made in representation had not destroyed
partisanship. In the Whig House there was a proposition
made to establish a new county at the west to be called Jef¬
ferson. That name was objected to and as a substitute
Blakely was proposed, but unavailingly. Then Madison
was suggested, but the House rejected that also, the vote
being 29 to 83. The bill eventually passed the House by
eight majority, 61 to 53. It, however, failed in the Senate.
The Senate could not stomach Jefferson.

The persistence of Senator Benton had eventuated in the
United States Senate reversing itself in its action censur¬
ing President Jackson and that body had, by a vote, ex¬
punged its former resolution. Rayner, an active partisan,
sought with the aid of the Calhoun men to bring about the
resignation of the two Democratic senators, Brown and
Strange, who had voted for the expunging resolution,
without, however, resorting to the Democratic doctrine of
“instruction.” He offered resolutions declaring that the
LTnited States Senate ought to again reverse itself and

House

Journal, 359

Expunging

resolution

Rayner’s

move

396

RAILROAD BEGINNINGS

Position of
the Senators

“ought now to pass resolutions condemning that act and
rescinding the expunging resolution/’ And further de¬
nouncing Jackson's administration, the last of his resolu¬
tions was : “Resolved that our Senators in Congress will
represent the wishes of a majority of the people of this
State by voting to carry out the foregoing resolutions.’’
When these resolutions came up in the House, a motion to
postpone them was lost by 54 to 58. They were then daily
considered for a week. On December 21, Hoke moved to
amend them by adding: “Provided, we do not mean hereby
to condemn the patriotic efforts of our late President against
the United States Bank,” but this failed, yeas, 56 to 63
nays. Another amendment offered was: “And our Sena¬
tors are hereby instructed so to do” ; this also, was lost, 54
to 64. The Whigs would not instruct. The resolution
passed 63 to 56. In the Senate, the same proposed amend¬
ments were voted down, 23 to 25, and the resolutions were
passed by the same vote.

During these proceedings, Rayner, the author of the reso¬
lutions, on December 5, long before they were passed,
wrote : “I believe it is now pretty well understood that we
shall have no Senators to elect this winter, as it is the im¬
pression of both parties that neither of our present Sena¬
tors intend to resign as was once contemplated.” But, not¬
withstanding, the proceedings were carried to a conclusion.
On hearing of the adoption of the resolution, and before
they had been officially informed of them, the Senators ad¬
dressed a communication to the Legislature saying in sub¬
stance, that “if instructed thev would either obey or re¬
sign, but they must infer that the Legislature did not intend
to exercise the right of instruction”: and thev asked “if
they were wrong, to be informed.” When this communi¬
cation was read in the Senate, Senator Cherry offered a
resolution that, “the resolutions passed by the Legislature
were sufficiently plain and intelligible to be comprehended :
and we believe the inquiry is not in good faith ; that it
would be inconsistent with the self-respect of the General
Assembly to make any reply to it,” which was agreed to.

BROWN AND STRANGE

397

When the Senate communicated its action, the House
concurred, 59 to 44, and then refused to let the communica¬
tion of Senators Brown and Strange be entered on the
Journal of the House. The two Senators, however, were
not complacent, and not being instructed, but rather referred
to the wishes of a majority of the people, they held on until
in February, 1840, when, a new election coming on, the
people could give expression to their wishes. They then
resigned.

CHAPTER XXV

The

northwest

Conditions in 1840

The small increase in population. — The Cumberland Road. —
Removals from New England. — The North Carolina emigrants. —
Those at home. — The State Bank. — The Federal deposit. — Agri¬
culture. — Commerce. — Wilmington; other ports. — Ocracoke. —
Nags Head Inlet. — Cotton factories. — Internal Improvement Con¬
vention. — North and south lines. — Fayetteville’s efforts without
avail. — Few capitalists at the 'west. — Western highways. — The
Capitol. — Bechtler’s coins. — Schools. — The facilities. — Academies.
— The Senate willing, the House opposed. — Denominational ef¬
forts. — Davidson College; Wake Forest; Trinity. — Partridge’s
military schools. — Raleigh and Fayetteville. — St. Mary’s. — The
other seminaries.— Marshall Ney. — Relative illiteracy. — Pupils
at school. — The Wilmington and Weldon Railroad. — The Raleigh
and Gaston. — The celebrations. — The steamboats. — The press. —
The Cherokees. — Sequoya. — The Indian removal. — Some remain.
— General Scott’s operations. — The boom in prosperity. — The
Robeson and Person County Indians.

Population

By the census of 1840 North Carolina had a population
of 484,870 whites, 22,732 free negroes, and 248,807 slaves.
During this decade there had been no increase in the slaves
and but 12,027 in the whites, being less than three per cent
increase in that period, while a normal increase would have
been about 16 per cent. The removal of white population
was apparently about 68,000. No wonder Governor Dud¬
ley inveighed so strongly against it ! But the removal of
whites in South Carolina was even relatively greater, for the
increase in whites in that State was only one-half of one
per cent. Similarly in all the other Atlantic states there was
a tide of emigrants westward. Nor was New England be¬
hind. The Cumberland road to the west was authorized
in 1806 by Congress to be built with Federal appropriations,
beginning at Cumberland on the Potomac and running to
near Steubenville on the Ohio River. It was to be four
rods wide and constructed as a turnpike, slight grades,
hard surface. It was continued through Ohio in 1831 and

MOVING OUT WEST

399

through Indiana and Illinois in 1835. This Cumberland
road played an important part in the settlement of the north¬
west. The New England states vied with those of the
South Atlantic in this work of expansion. In the appor¬
tionment of Representatives under the census of 1840 all of
the northern states lost representation ; and the increase of
population in Connecticut, the land of steady habits and
common schools, was for the decade four per cent, being
only slightly more than in North Carolina. The movement
from New England is indicated by Irving in describing
Ichabod Crane’s fancied journey from Sleepy Hollow, hav¬
ing taken to wife the blooming Katrina, moving “with a
whole family of children, mounted on the top of a wagon
loaded with household trumpery, with pots and kettles
dangling beneath, and he himself bestriding a pacing mare,
with a colt at her heels, setting out for Kentucky or Tennes¬
see — or the Lord knew where.”

George C. Mendenhall writing from Columbus, Ohio, in
July, 1837, after mentioning the wonderful growth of
towns in Ohio, almost in sight of each other, the rapid
improvement, with fine, sturdy and splendid buildings,
added : “I am, however, left with a strong impression fa¬
vorable to North Carolina.” North Carolina’s share in be¬
stowing on the Union the states of Missouri, Alabama,
Mississippi, Arkansas, and Florida, and in building up Indi¬
ana, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia was im¬
portant, although it was at her own great sacrifice. Among
her citizens who had migrated before 1849 were 37 who
represented other states in the Federal Congress. Besides
these, there were a multitude of other North Carolina emi¬
grants who attained eminence in their new homes, adorning
the professions and filling state offices. The “Alabama
fever" had especially prevailed, and a large proportion of
the population of that State was of North Carolina nativity.
While a dozen native North Carolinians represented Ten¬
nessee in Congress, at least ten represented Alabama. And
among those emigrants were many men of the first class,
men of substance, carrying with them so many slaves that
there was no increase of slaves in the State. Particularly
should be mentioned Presidents Jackson, Polk, and Andrew

Emigrants

The

Alabama

fever

400

CONDITIONS IN 18W

Johnson; and Vice-President W. R. King; and among the
Senators Thomas H. Benton of Missouri, William Allen of
Ohio, Dixon of Kentucky, McLean, Illinois ; Gabriel Moore
and Israel Pickens and Senator Dixon H. Lewis who
weighed 500 pounds of Alabama, and Jesse Speight and
Thomas H. Williams, Mississippi ; Hugh L. White and John
Williams, Tennessee, as were Luke Lea and Emerson Eth¬
ridge; C. C. Cambreling, who located at New York, was
among the most influential of the public men of his day.
Among these of North Carolina descent were Bishop Gal¬
loway, Basil Manly, Bishop Green, Davis, Hawks, Dr.
D. R. McAnally, John B. New and Joseph New, “pioneer
preachers in Indiana”; Archibald Yell, Governor of Ar¬
kansas; Alfred W. Arrington, author; John Shoebridge
Williams, founder of the American Pioneer , Cincinnati,
editor and author. Miles Darden, who moved to Tennessee,
was 7 feet 6 inches tall and weighed 1,000 pounds. A. J.
Pickett, the historian of Alabama, Richard Jordan, the
Quaker missionary, and Richard Jordan Gatling, the in¬
ventor of the rapid fire gun. The loss of such men to the
State was deplorable indeed.

By this withdrawal of the emigrants and the sale, often
at a great sacrifice, of their property, the value of the land
was kept down, and stagnation promoted. As compared
with the valuation of 1815, the assessed value of the lands,
despite the addition of a million and a half of new entries,
was still two millions of dollars below the old level.

Ideals of the public men

In any view of the State one should not omit to note the
superior excellence of the galaxy of really great men who
adorned life in the Commonwealth. Whatever were the
limitations imposed upon them by the unfortunate physical
conditions of the State, they themselves were possessed of
great personal merit. The order for Canova to make a statue
of Washington is but an illustration — while the Capitol itself
was at the time of its erection one of the most remarkable
buildings in the LTnited States — an example of perfection in
architecture.

STATE BANKS

401

The judges of the State took high rank in judicial circles,
and the “bar’’ was of superior merit. Dr. James McRee,
a correspondent of the French Academy and of the Royal
Society at London, was distinguished as a man of science,
and famous as a botanist. Hardy B. Croom was likewise
famous as a botanist, as was also Dr. Moses A. Curtis.
There being no considerable urban population and the towns
being small, the spirit of authorship was not fostered. Be¬
sides Mrs. Gales, only Judge Strange ventured into the
realms of fiction. But later C. H. Wiley followed their ex¬
ample. • Oratory, however, was practiced, and there were
many, who like Cherry and Hill, were particularly dis¬
tinguished for excellence.

Finances

During the year 1836, the new State Bank went into
full operation. The State had borrowed $400,000 to pay
for its stock, and had 4,058 shares. The capital stock was
$1,500,000, which now was all paid in. There were branches
at New Bern, Fayetteville, Tarboro, Elizabeth City; and
agencies at Charlotte, Wilmington, Morganton, Leaksville,
Milton and Windsor. The State also owned shares in the
Bank of New Bern and the Bank of Cape Fear. Under the
new act for assessing property, the aggregate value in
1837 exceeded that of 1836 by $11,916,488; being about five
millions less than it would have been under the standard of
1815. There was an apparent want of uniformity in the
valuations.

The “surplus revenue” deposited by act of Congress gave
a new coloring to public affairs. It had to be so invested
that it might be returned. The general result is evidenced
by the increased valuation of lands. That was the last year
of the service of Samuel F. Patterson as Public Treasurer.
His successor was David W. Courts who received in 1837
three installments of the surplus revenue, amounting to
$1,433,757-

402

CONDITIONS IN 18J+0

Industry and commerce

Ruffin
Letters III,
188

While agriculture languished yet here and there were men
of intelligence and of means whose operations set an example
that others might well have followed. Indeed nearly every
public man was engaged in planting. Chief Justice Ruffin
had a fine farm in Alamance, and in Orange should be men¬
tioned Paul C. Cameron, who early delivered addresses be¬
fore the agricultural societies that are models. And in his
farming operations he was ahead of the times. He wrote
from Farintosh: “We have finished our crop of wheat;
800 bushels have been seeded. I am devoting a large part
of our labor to manure making. Shall shorten our crop of
corn and cotton and enlarge the tobacco crop.” Others
were equally advanced in their operations. Near Wil¬
mington, rice planting was remunerative. The prosperous
plantations of the Dan and Roanoke rivers found their
markets in Virginia. The middle west traded with Fay¬
etteville, and Fayetteville’s port was Wilmington. Robert
W. Brown writing about this time of that town says that
“he has had goods delivered at Fayetteville from New York
within a week and ten days. . . . Our produce is par¬

ticularly adapted for the markets of the West India Islands ;
and the shipping of Wilmington and of the northern states,
as well as foreign vessels, load here and depart for the West
Indies, in as many directions as there are islands, their car¬
goes assorted with sawed lumber, staves, shingles, flour,
rice, pork, bacon, lard, butter, naval stores, etc. A large
proportion of our produce is transported coastwise to va¬
rious ports' — New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Bos¬
ton principally, and vice versa, the merchants and dealers of
Wilmington and Fayetteville, embracing two extensive in¬
teriors of the State are furnished with a variety of mer¬
chandise from sundry ports of the northern coast, especially
from New York. Regular packets ply between Wilmington,
New York and Philadelphia. Steamboats of good capacity
ply on the river below Wilmington. Indeed it was shown
that Wilmington in six months had dispatched 152 vessels
abroad and 150 coastwise, carrying a million dollars of
exports.” Likewise, the Internal Improvement Convention

INDUSTRIES AND COMMERCE

403

of 1838, in its memorial to the Legislature, said that “the
tonnage of vessels employed in the foreign and coast trade
of Wilmington exceeded that of Norfolk, Richmond and Pe¬
tersburg combined, although Norfolk was visited by more
foreign vessels than Wilmington. . . . Cotton, now mostly
packed in square bales, similar to that of South Carolina or
Georgia — freight to England one-half to five-eighths. Ship¬
ments to France direct are made from Wilmington: Rice,
200,000 bushels, equal to any. Charleston dealers send for
it to clean there and export it. . . . Tobacco is uni¬

formly purchased from the planters by the merchants at
Fayetteville and sent down to Wilmington for sale and to
be shipped. Flour and wheat from Fayetteville. Flax seed
is brought in wagons to Fayetteville. The seed is sown
with no other view than to produce flax for domestic pur¬
poses. Crops in former years about 3,000 tierces. No other
market in the southern states. Tar, turpentine — in abun¬
dance. The several distilleries working up turpentine in the
home market now consume weekly 1,500 barrels of that raw
material and it has become a great item of business here.
They produce rosin, spirits of turpentine, and make varnish
and pitch, lumber, staves, shingles.”

While we have no similar account of the trade from New
Bern, Edenton and other ports, yet in 1838 the Governor
reported : “Some twelve hundred vessels now cross the
Ocracoke bar annually — and produce of the value of one
million of dollars passes through the canal, besides immense
quantities in other directions to the markets of Virginia.”

The importance of securing better facilities for the pro¬
motion of this commerce had led to persistent endeavors to
open a new inlet at Nags Head. Surveys had been made
and the feasibility of the enterprise was declared by com¬
petent engineers. Congress therefore was appealed to for
assistance.

Chronicles
of the Cape
Fear, 157

House
Journal
1838, p. 291

Cotton factories

The spinning jenny and hand loom were still in use in
every part of the State. Cotton, wool and flax were abun¬
dant ; and hatters here and there plied their trade. And the

404

CONDITIONS IN 181+0

Chronicles
of the Cape
Fear, 131

Western Carolina, proudly boasting of western enter¬
prises, pointed to the cotton factories at the west; one at
Lincolnton, two at Fayetteville, one at Greensboro, others
at Milton, Mocksville, Salem, in Randolph, at Lexington ;
and in Orange County, and nine others building! Then
there were those in the eastern counties, particularly in
Edgecombe.

Internal improvements

In 1833 uiany meetings were held in the interest of inter¬
nal improvements and on the 4th day of July a committee
assembled at Raleigh, 120 delegates being in attendance,
representing 21 counties in the eastern and western sections
of the State. Governor Swain presided, Treasurer Samuel
F. Patterson and Charles Manly were secretaries.

In this convention Hon. William A. Graham urged as
the policy of the State three north and south lines of rail¬
roads. He was antagonized by Joseph A. Hill of Wilming¬
ton, who advocated the old Caldwell idea of east and west
lines, marketing the products of the State through North
Carolina ports. Hill won the victory. The convention
adopted resolutions to the effect that the Legislature ought
to raise by loans such sums as will afford substantial as¬
sistance in the prosecution of the public works. That no
work should be encouraged for carrying produce to a pri¬
mary market out of the State ; that the Legislature be asked
to take two-fifths of the stock of the companies; that a
corresponding committee of 20 be appointed in each county ;
and that a second convention be held on the 4th Monday in
November. In November the second convention met —
and the General Assembly held a joint session at which the
members of the convention were received — and their me¬
morial was delivered to the Assembly. The recommenda¬
tion of this convention as to the proposition of State aid
became the basis of legislation.

The first real effort to open up the interior was by Fay¬
etteville, and east and west lines were kept in view. In
March, 1833, the city of Favetteville beine authorized to
borrow $200,000 to be invested in the Cape Fear and Yadkin

ROADS AND MAIL ROUTES

405

road, it was hoped that enough private subscriptions could
be obtained to build the road. But in May such subscrip¬
tions as had been made were returned to the subscribers,
it being stated that the project was abandoned because the
western people took no interest in it and would not subscribe.

It sufficiently appears that there was but slight accumula¬
tion of funds for investment at the west, as the field prod¬
ucts yielded only small net returns, and there were measur¬
ably few capitalists in that section. The project of water
communication between the Yadkin and Cape Fear had
failed; that of a highway between Fayetteville and the
Rapids had failed, and, now, the hope of a- railroad from
Fayetteville to the west virtually faded away, although for
several years there continued to be efiforts made to secure
subscriptions for such a road, but they were unavailing.
The old dirt roads and turnpikes that led to the western
counties continued to be the only channels of transportation.
Of these there were some. There had long been roads to the
Watauga settlement, and before 1800 several roads led out
of Asheville, and in 1824 the Buncombe turnpike was started
and four years later completed from Saluda Gap by the
Warm Springs to Tennessee. Later, the turnpike, known
as the “State road” from Asheville southwest was con¬
structed; and when General Scott was in the mountains he
cut some other roads.

In 1834 the mail route from Saluda to Asheville was by
way of Lincolnton and Rutherfordton. The Warm Springs
was a resort in the early days, “and in 1828 when Billy Vance
kept the Warm Springs Hotel, old-fashioned stage coaches
ran between Asheville and Greenville, Tennessee.

The new methods of transportation by steamboat and loco¬
motive brought no changes to Western Carolina. While
the east was building important facilities for transportation,
at the west turnpikes were being constructed — some in part
by the State and known as the State roads — those being
particularly through the mountain region. But from Fay¬
etteville to the Buncombe turnpike, more than 250 miles,
there was neither navigable stream, nor “railroad turnpike”
nor “Macadam highway.” And “the roads from Raleigh

Chronicles
of the
Cape Fear,
1307

Arthur :
History of
W. N. C.,
243

House
Journal
1842, p. 411

406

CONDITIONS IN 1840

Konkle :

Morehead,

409-411

Sou. Hist.

Assn.

Papers,

X, 67

and Fayetteville west are the worst in the State. . . .

The productions of the Yadkin Valley therefore go to
Camden and Columbia; and those of the farther west, to
Augusta and Charleston. . . . Cotton is going there

at six cents, corn at $i.oo a barrel, and wheat so low that it
takes one-half to transport the other half to market.”

The Capitol

Work on the Capitol having been begun and the plan
being for a grand building, a number of skilled artisans
were brought from Scotland for that work, and year by
year appropriations averaging about $75,000 were made for
the purpose. At first there were changes made in the per¬
sonnel of the commissioners, but finally, when State
pride was aroused by the splendor of the structure as it
progressed, entire satisfaction prevailed. The building for
which at first there was a question whether the appropria¬
tion should be $20,000, or $50,000, when completed, cost
$530,000. Among the commissioners were William Boy-
lan, Duncan Cameron, Judge Henry Seawell, Judge Saun¬
ders, Samuel F. Patterson, Charles Manly, Beverly Daniel,
Alfred Jones and Charles L. Hinton, whose services to the
State and to posterity entitle them to gratitude. The archi¬
tect of the Capitol was David Paton, whose account of the
plan shows that many of the beauties of the structure are
modeled after famous specimens of architecture that
adorned ancient edifices.

Bechtler’s coin

In 1830 a skilled worker in gold and silver, Bechtler, a
native of the Grand Duchy of Baden, being then about fifty
years of age, came to this State, and because of the native
gold in the southwestern counties he began about 1832 to
mint it into dollars. His assays were so just that his coin¬
age was accepted not only by the community but by the gov¬
ernment officials as being of standard value. There were
two brothers, one of whom had a son ; and all were engaged
in this work. They struck off both $1 and $5 pieces.

SLOW PROGRESS OF SCHOOLS

40 7

Probably their coinage amounted in all to about two mil¬
lions of dollars. Somewhat later the gold fever became
so pronounced that hundreds of people flocked to the mines
and some planters carried their negroes from the east to
wash for gold. But the profits did not justify the operations
and the fever died out.

Schools

In the absence of statistics we can only surmise that
illiteracy was on the increase in the State. There were no
free schools. However, the individual efforts that had long
been made were not unavailing. The University, at first
of only a “preparatory” rank, now furnished a classical
education. And there had for a generation been many fine
schools and academies of merit, although these were pat¬
ronized only by the children of educated parents who could
pay the tuition.

In 1801 it was recorded that there were many respectable
academies in the State. “In 1810, the progress in ten years
in civilization and education had been greater than during
the preceding fifty years. In Edgecombe, fifty years earlier,
“there was not more than one or two schools in the county.
. . . Progress was slow, until the last two or three

years. In 1812 it was said there were seventeen county
schools, with 400 pupils, but no academies. However, con¬
ditions were deplorable, two-thirds can read, one-half of
the men write, but not two-thirds of the women.”

With Edgecombe as a sample, we can imagine the general
condition, except in the communities where schools had long
been established.

In 1822, it was remarked that “Within the last twenty
years, academies have been established by individual subscrib¬
ers and individual exertions in almost every county in the
State.” Besides the academies, there were old field schools,
taught for say two months only. It was doubtless to the
teachers in these schools that President Caldwell referred
in saying, virtually, that they were a disgrace to the State
and to the communities that employed them. That they
were inefficient is sufficiently indicated by the unfortunate

Coon :
Public
Education,
199

408

CONDITIONS IN 181+0

Religious

conditions

condition that prevailed in the counties where a considera¬
ble part of the people could neither read nor write. And
all the counties were measurably alike in that respect. The
need for free schools was apparent, but the State was more
an association of counties then a unified community; and
the opposition to taxation was insurmountable. In 1818 Mr.
Martin had offered a bill establishing schools by taxation.
It passed the Senate almost unanimously but was postponed
in the House. Six years later Charles Hill of Franklin
proposed to create a fund for public schools, the Senate
passed it two to one. It failed in the House. Mr. Sam
P. Ashe offered a bill, making a direct annual appropria¬
tion to each county. It failed. The Western Carolinian
said : “Mr. Ashe is for completing the whole system at
once. His zeal in the cause has misled him.” From Edge¬
combe came a cry: “Free schools on whatever plan,” but
the cry was without avail. Among the academies, the fe¬
male school at Salem was of the first reputation, then those
at Raleigh, Warrenton, New Bern, Wilmington and Fay¬
etteville were deservedly in the front rank. The schools
of Bingham and Rogers stood high.

In the progress of events the several denominations felt
the need of more active exertions. A more religious spirit
diffused itself throughout the State. Atheism that had
somewhat prevailed, perhaps in sympathy with French
thought, had subsided, and the life of a new generation was
quickened under the ministrations of strong and earnest
preachers and teachers, who were in entire accord with the
notable characteristics of the people, reverence for law and
an attachment for the Christian virtues.

And so at this period all the denominations were actively
at work. The Presbyterians and Methodists had for years
been organized. The Episcopalians organized in 1823 by
selecting a Bishop, and in 1830 the Baptists held their first
convention at Greenville in Pitt County.

Education was one of the objects all denominations pro¬
posed to promote. In 1820 the Presbyterians of the north¬
western counties broke ground for a western college to be
of the same rank with the University, and at a meeting at
Lincolnton trustees were appointed ; but the endeavor was

1. Samuel Wait
4. Calvin H. Wiley

3. David L. Swain

2. Robert H. Morrison
5. Braxton Craven

COLLEGES ESTABLISHED

409

not then successful. The necessary subscriptions were not
obtained. Robert H. Morrison, who had in 1826 established
at Fayetteville the first religious newspaper published in
the State, was much interested that the Presbyterians should
start a school. And he was a believer in the principle of a
manual labor school and saw the practical bearing of such
a movement, that it would be interesting to the Presbyterian
farmers, and at length, in 1835, at the instance of Rev.
James E. Morrison, his cousin, the Presbyterians of Con¬
cord, Bethel and Morganton resolved to establish a manual
labor seminary, and to call it Davidson College. On March 1,
1837, the institution was opened, Rev. R. H. Morrison,
D.D., being its president. Dr. Morrison was easily one of
the first men of his generation. Stonewall Jackson, General
D. H. Hill, Gen. Rufus Barringer and Judge Avery were
fortunate in marrying his daughters.

In 1833, the Wake Forest Institute, a manual labor school,
was opened in Wake County, and at the Baptist State Con¬
vention that November, a board of five trustees was ap¬
pointed, and in 1835 Judge Gaston delivered the address
before the two literary societies. In 1839 it was called
Wake Forest College. The manual labor feature was soon
dropped. Its first president was Rev. Samuel Wait, D.D.,
who was indeed the father of the institution.

In 1839 Brantley York opened a school in the neighbor¬
hood of Hopewell and Springfield, called the Union Insti¬
tute and then the Normal College. In 1841 Braxton Craven
was employed as a teacher. The next year he became the
principal, and from that grew Trinity College under the
patronage of the Methodists. And this was the beginning
of the great institution of that name. Of Braxton Craven it
may be said that perhaps no other educator of this State
left a finer and better impress on a considerable number of
students than he did.

It will be observed that “manual labor schools” were in
the public mind ; indeed they seem to have been favorably
regarded at that period when public education was in its
infancy. In Washington City, Congress incorporated two
institutions of that character.

Davidson

Wake Forest

Trinity

4io

CONDITIONS IN mo

Military

schools

St. Marys

Female

academies

About 1829, Captain Partridge, who had long conducted
a famous military school in Connecticut, visited North Car¬
olina and determined to establish two schools similar to his
own in the State. Mr. D. H. Bingham opened the first of
these schools at Littleton; but, after moving it to Oxford,
finally located it in Raleigh, occupying the former residence
of Chief Justice Taylor. The other was located at Fayette¬
ville. This Major Bingham built the Experimental Rail¬
road at Raleigh, in 1833, but later became the construction
engineer of a railroad in Alabama.

The Episcopalians started a boys’ school at Raleigh under
the general supervision of Bishop Ravenscroft in 1824, the
principal being Mr. George W. Freeman (afterwards Bishop
Freeman). This school was continued, perhaps with some
interruption, for a decade. In 1834 it was under the di¬
rection of Joseph G. Coggswell, who afterwards was the
librarian of the Astor Library of New York. Later, the
school was under the famous Dr. Moses A. Curtis, and Dr.
Adam Empie. It was located on the grounds known as
“St. Mary’s,” and the two old stone buildings still in use
were then erected and occupied. In 1840 it was discon¬
tinued as a male school ; but after some years was reopened
as a female school under Dr. Aldert Smedes, and has ever
since been a noted female seminary.

The Greensboro Female Academy had been started in
1829 as a department of the Greensboro Academy; and now
the Edgeworth School was opened at Greensboro, that was
destined to exert a most beneficial influence over that section
of the State, as the female schools at Murfreesboro, War-
renton, Halifax, Pittsboro, Louisburg, New Bern, Wilming¬
ton, Fayetteville, Raleigh and elsewhere were similarly ex¬
erting in their respective communities.

Indeed, in nearly every county was a school of merit. At
Greensboro in 1821 Jonathan Worth was a teacher, and in
Caswell, Bartlett Yancey had been a teacher.

Among the teachers who left their impress on many fami¬
lies in the western counties was one who called himself
Peter S. Nev, and it was currently believed that he was
Marshal Ney. He evidently had the training of a soldier.
He came to this State in 1819, and taught school in Iredell

WOODEN TRACK RAILROADS

411

County and elsewhere till his death in 1846. He was, says
Judge Murphey, “a well-educated, intelligent Scotchman. ”
His son who died at Indiana about 1912, when over a hun¬
dred years of age, bore the name of Neyman. He caused to
be inscribed on his tombstone: “Son of Marshal Ney of
North Carolina.” For nearly a generation, this “Marshal
Ney” taught many of the boys of the better class in the
western part of the State.

While, therefore, education had not been furnished to the
poor children of the State, it must not be forgotten that in
other states the same conditions then prevailed; and that
illiterates among our people had their counterpart in every
other state of the Union.

Nor was there any other state with a white population no
larger than that of North Carolina that had so many pupils
at school in 1850.

Railroads

As the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad and the Raleigh
and Gaston Railroad were being constructed, each from its
terminal, stage coaches were used to fill the gap, but finally
early in 1840 both were completed.

The first train ran through from Weldon to Wilmington
on March 7, 1840. The construction was begun in October,
1836, Governor Dudley being the president, but when elected
Governor he retired and General James Owen became pres¬
ident. The chief engineer was Walter Gwynn with Mat¬
thew T. Goldsborough of Maryland in charge of the southern
division and Francis N. Barbasin of the northern half. The
last spike was driven near Waynesboro, and the point be¬
came the town of Goldsboro.

The road like all others of that date was laid with wooden
rails, on which were fastened plate iron, two inches wide
and about half an inch thick. At the time this company
was chartered, the railroads, being in their infancy, were con¬
sidered as having the nature of turnpikes ; and the provision
was made in the charters that others could run their own
vehicles or carriages over them as turnpikes. The com¬
panies were authorized to establish toll gates and charge tolls

412

CONDITIONS IN 1840

Chronicles
of the
Cape Fear

At Raleigh

for the use of the roadway ; and they had authority to buy
such carriages and horses as they would themselves need in
transportation.

But in 1840 locomotives were already in use. Twelve
locomotives were running on the Wilmington road, two
built in England ; five at Philadelphia and three at Richmond.
They were named for the eleven counties the road ran
through, and Bladen. There were eight coaches, patterned
after stage coaches, but with eight wheels; also fifty freight
cars. Four steamers of the first class, owned by the com¬
pany, continued the route to Charleston.

In that nascent period, it has been said “engines were
doll-babies.” The coaches were somewhat like the stage
coach they superseded. While the engines could make speed,
say ten miles an hour, they had but little traction. Some¬
times the end of an iron rail would become loose and, ris¬
ing, would be forced up by the wheel, and would pass up
into the coach, occasionally impaling a passenger. The last
unfortunate occurrence of that kind recalled was when about
1845, daughter of Governor Dudley was returning from
Petersburg with her infant son, later Judge Purnell. The
iron rail struck the infant on the forehead and penetrated
the nurse, causing her death. But about 1845 the flat iron
was replaced by the improved U rail, which soon gave
place to the T rail.

The construction of the Wilmington and Weldon Rail¬
road was easy, as the land over which it passed was level,
and its course generally straight. The Raleigh and Gaston
had more difficulties to overcome, and when it was pro¬
posed to build a line from Raleigh to Greensboro, it was
held that the hilly country rendered it impracticable.

While the locomotives had been running on the Wilming¬
ton road, then the longest railroad in the world, and on the
•upper part of the Gaston road, it was not till towards the
end of March, 1840, that the first locomotive entered
Raleigh. The Raleigh road to Gaston having completed
its 86 miles, the Tornado, the largest of its engines, came
rolling into the city. There was the greatest enthusiasm.
“The bells rang, the artillery roared, and the people cheered.”
The engines used wood for fuel, and their puffing was a

TRAINS TO WILMINGTON

4i3

new sensation. All sorts of quirks and jibes were in the
mouths of the people.

Chew — Chew — to go ahead
Chew — Chew — to back her.

The completion of the roads produced much excitement.
At Wilmington, beginning April 5, they had three days of
rejoicing and 160 rounds of artillery were fired. At
Raleigh, the Capitol having been finished, a joint celebration
was arranged, beginning June 10 and continuing three days.
It attracted distinguished and patriotic people from every
section, and in some respects was the greatest celebration
in the annals of the State. The Gaston road was built un¬
der George W. Mordecai as its president ; but when com¬
pleted Samuel F. Patterson, of “Happy Valley,” who was
distinguished for his capacity and business abilities, and
who had served as State Treasurer with great credit, was
elected president and administered its affairs.

Steamboats had been a success. They plied on the eastern
waters. At Fayetteville the Cape Fear and Western Steam¬
boat Company now was incorporated with a provision that
its charges should be 20 per cent less than those previously
allowed the Henrietta Company. The four fine steamers
running between Wilmington and Charleston in connection
with the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad Company were
equal to the best then built. Passengers, freight and the
mail from the north to the farthest south now came by way
of Wilmington to Charleston ; and from the first, the possi¬
bilities of that route were realized.

The press

In the State there were some temperance, religious and
other publications, but the newspapers were chiefly political ;
of these there were twenty-five, the Whigs controlling two-
thirds of the number and generally having superior editors.

At Raleigh, Joseph Gales, who had given a high tone to
the press, had urged Sunday schools, Bible societies and
every innovation that promised to promote a higher civili¬
zation, as well as such propositions as would advance the

The

rejoicing

Steamboats

414

CONDITIONS IN 18J0

prosperity of the State, had given place to his son, Weston,
who continued in his footsteps. And the Standard, started
in 1834 by Philo White, was now published by Thomas
Loring, and led the Jackson Democrats. At Fayetteville
Edward J. Hale had established the Observer, a powerful
Whig advocate, extensively circulated at the west. At New
Bern, the Spectator was well edited, the Greensboro Patriot
under Lyndon Swaim, took rank with the first papers in im¬
portance. At Hillsboro, Dennis Heartt continued the Re¬
corder. Salisbury had the Carolina Watchman under J. J.
Bruner; and at Lincolnton were the Republican and the
Courier. At Wilmington were the Messenger, afterwards
known as the Journal when published by Fulton and Price,
and other papers of consequence. There were some twenty-
five of these political papers located at nearly every town
but many having only a limited circulation. Still they kept
politics at a boiling heat.

Nearly every newspaper man had a bookstore, and also
a print shop, publishing such books as were offered.

The Indians

Under a treaty of 1817, over six thousand of the Cher-
okees who occupied territory east of the Mississippi and
reaching into North Carolina, moved to the far west ; but
many who did not wish to go remained.

These eventually formed a government patterned after
that of the United States. Indeed, they were undergoing
a process of civilization, and about 1821 a half-breed known
as Sequoya, but called by the whites George Gist, invented a
Cherokee alphabet ; and soon many of the Indians could
read and write in it. Newspapers and books were printed
in this alphabet, and a Cherokee grammar was eventually
printed.

This performance was in after years so highly esteemed
that upon the discovery of the great redwood trees in Cali¬
fornia, which American botanists at first called “Wash¬
ingtonians” and the British Wellingtonians, an Italian gave
them the name of Sequoya, and this name was adopted for
them.

INDIAN TREATIES

4i5

At length the treaty of 1836 was agreed to by most of the
head men of the Indians and the United States commis¬
sioners, under which the Indians were to remove. But not¬
withstanding the terms in the treaty as agreed upon by the
chiefs, a large number of the Indians did not wish to give
up their eastern residence. Nevertheless President Jackson,
in submitting the treaty to the Senate for ratification, said
he had determined that none should be allowed to remain
but all should go out together. This treaty was ratified by
the Senate with this as a supplementary article ; which,
however, does not seem to have been assented to by the
Indians.

The Indian territory extended eastward to the Nantahala
Mountains, and in 1835 the Indians in North Carolina num¬
bered 3,644. In this treaty it was said that this tribe was
so civilized that whenever Congress should provide for ad¬
mitting a delegate from the tribe, it should be entitled to
have one. By a treaty of 1835 it was provided: “Such
heads of Cherokee families as are desirous to reside within
North Carolina subject to the laws of the State should be
entitled to 160 acres of land, so laid off as to include their
present dwellings.” Under such circumstances, all the lands
obtained from this tribe by the State, was at this period
opened to entry; and at the session of 1838, a new county
was cut off from Macon, called Cherokee. Then further
east, another new ‘county was laid off called Henderson.
The west was now increasing in population. Buncombe,
Burke, Rutherford, Lincoln, Iredell and Wilkes were among
the counties polling the heaviest vote in the State. When
these Indians were to be removed beyond the Mississippi,
only about 2,000 went voluntarily. General Scott at the
head of a force, numbering 7,000 men, was charged with
their removal. He established his headquarters at New
Echita, which had been the capital of their government,
and began his operations. He erected a fort at the junc¬
tion of the Little Tennessee and Nantahala, and another
twenty miles up the Nantahala, and others at points where
now stand Robbinsville, Hayesville, Old Valleytown and
Murphy. The Indians fled to the mountains. Various de-

Statutes at
Large VII.
488

Indian
treaties, 483

4i 6

CONDITIONS IN 18k0

Arthur :
Hist.

w. n. a

576

Wheeler,

206

Moore’s
Report
Leg. Doc.
1848

plorable incidents occurred ; and at length it is said the
General made an agreement that i,ooo might remain, and
about that number were not removed.

Ten years later, a treaty was made recognizing their right
to remain, adjusting their rights under the treaty of 1836.

About 1830, You-na-gu-ska, the principal chief of the
Cherokees about Qualla, assembled his people and got them
to abandon the use of spirituous drink, and they became so
civilized that soon “each family was capable of reading the
Scriptures in their own language, and manufacturing their
own clothing, and they understood farming and the mechan¬
ical arts as well as their white neighbors.”

General Scott’s army remained in our mountains about
two years, and as it had to be supplied with provisions from
the country, the farmers in the vicinity reaped a rich har¬
vest. Everybody was prosperous. Lands rose in value.
Hundreds of settlers pressed forward and entered lands.
When the State had a public sale of lands, they brought
three times their former value, part of the payment being
deferred. Later, when the boom was over, the purchasers
were in distress, and the State had to compromise with them.
In addition, large entries had been made within the Indian
territory before the State had title, and litigation ensued.

W. and M.
Quarterly,
1923,
p. 153

Robeson and Person Comity Indians

In addition to these Indians, there is a community in Rob¬
eson County, formerly considered as negroes, but having
such Indian blood in them that the Legislature has desig¬
nated them as Indians. They probably derived their In¬
dian descent from the local tribes of the Cape Fear, and
the first admixture of white blood was probably with some
of Steed Bonnett’s pirates who may have escaped in 1719.

In Person County there is a similar community extending
well into Virginia. These likewise were formerly consid¬
ered free negroes, but now are designated as Indians. In
1714 the Governor of Virginia set aside a reservation south
of the Meherrin River, for the Saponies, Occoneechees and
Tollero Indians who inhabited central North Carolina.

The origin of the Person County Indians may be con¬
nected with these old North Carolina tribes.

CHAPTER XXVI

The Great Campaign

State organization. — Morehead and Saunders for Governor. —
Harrison nominated for President. — Owen declined to be nomi¬
nated for Vice-President. — Tyler taken. — Democrats nominate
Van Buren. — Birney also runs. — The campaign. — Internal im¬
provements. — Morehead and Saunders. — The distribution of the
public lands. — Attitude towards the negro. — Log cabins. — Hard
cider. — Coon skins. — The Whig triumph in August. — The demon¬
stration at Raleigh. — The ship. — The Old North State. — The rol¬
licking campaign. — The Assembly. — Mangum and Graham Sena¬
tors. — Dudley’s message urges penitentiary and asylums. — Nags
Head Inlet. — Pungo and Alligator Canal. — Progress in draining
swamps. — Transportation from New Bern to mountains. — The
depressed values. — The protest against personal liability for cor¬
porate debts. — A view of the west. — Hall and Battle Judges. —
Cleveland, Caldwell and iStanly incorporated. — Aid to the rail¬
roads. — Turnpike in Buncombe. — Proposition to repair statue of
Washington. — Manufacturing companies. — Education. — The new
school law. — Morehead inaugurated. — Congressmen to be elected
in May. — Badger Secretary of Navy. — Special session of Congress.

— Election. — Death of Harrison. — The Whigs break with Tyler. —

The Federal and the Republican Whigs. — Mangum. — The State
campaign. — Henry and Morehead. — Adams petitions to dissolve
the Union. — State matters subordinate to Federal concerns. —
Morehead elected. — Death of Lewis Williams. — Democrats have
the Assembly. — The railroads. — Morehead’s recommendations. —

The schools. — New apportionments. — The senatorial contest. —
Haywood elected. — The instructions. — The effect of Morehead’s
message as to public land, etc. — Fires at Wilmington. — Sir
Charles Lyell.

The election

Prior to the change in the Constitution providing for the
election of the governor by the popular vote, there had 1840
been no statewide election. The nearest approach was the
choice of electors for the districts, those candidates re¬
ceiving the highest aggregate vote in the entire State being
chosen. Practically the counties of the State had been the
repositories of power and the system was a representative
republic. With the advent of the Whigs, there were local

418

THE GREAT CAMPAIGN

Sargeant’s

Clay,

198-199

committees and central committees, and county committees,
in a word, State organization.

In 1839 the friends of Morehead, who had long been one
of the most important western members of the Assembly,
began to bring him forward as the successor of Governor
Dudley. County after county in the central west followed
the lead of Guilford in presenting him ; and when the State
Whig Convention met at Raleigh, on November 12, it
unanimously nominated him. On January 9, 1840, the
Democrats selected Judge Romulus M. Saunders, who
being on the bench, at once resigned. For four years the
candidates had been of the east; now the west was arrayed
against itself. Both candidates announced themselves in
favor of common schools and internal improvements; but
Saunders did not favor going into debt.

Earlier, the “Democratic-Whig Convention” met at Har¬
risburg, December 5, James Barlow presiding. While
Clay was perhaps the favorite of the North Carolina Whigs,
it was deemed improbable that he could be elected. For
two days the delegates canvassed the situation, and it was
found that General Harrison, who had been the candidate
of the northern Whigs four years before, was deemed the
most available candidate, and he was selected. Governor
Owen was chairman of the nominating committee, and it is
understood that he could have been nominated for Vice-
President, but his position seemed to him inconsistent with
the acceptance of the proffered honor, and he declined ;
whereupon, John Tyler of Virginia, a delegate, who was
thought to be in line with the convention on all important
questions, was selected as the candidate.

The Democratic Convention met at Baltimore and Presi¬
dent Van Buren was again presented as the Democratic
nominee ; but the nomination of the Vice-President was re¬
ferred to the states. In June the Democratic Central Com¬
mittee called a State convention for July 9 and R. M. John¬
son of Kentucky received the endorsement of the conven¬
tion for Vice-President.

MO REHEAD AND SAUNDERS

419

The campaign

There was now another candidate in the Presidential
field — James G. Birney, abolitionist, set up by the “Liberal
party” — but the people of all the states generally adhered to
their old party organizations. Everywhere the campaign
was warm and interesting, but nowhere more so than in
North Carolina. The railroad celebrations, where the
Whigs emphasized their devotion to internal improvements,
had a particular bearing on the campaign. Then in June
the Senators resigned, to be effective when the Legislature
should meet. While asserting that the resolutions passed
by the last Legislature were not instructions to resign, they
yet desired, they said, to submit the matter to the people.
Thus as two Senators were involved, unusual interest cen¬
tered in the result of the election ; besides, while the cam¬
paign generally throughout the Union was one of intense
popular interest, it was particularly so in this State and fa¬
mous for its picturesqueness. Every party device was called
into requisition. There were most thorough local organiza¬
tions, committees in the precincts, meetings and joint discus¬
sion. The press teemed with invective and fierce pamphlets
were distributed.

The campaign formally opened at Hillsboro with a joint
discussion between Morehead and Saunders. The latter
was thought to have had the best of it. While the joint can¬
vass was not continuous, these principal figures in the contest
often met on the hustings. In April and May they made
their campaigns in the northeastern counties. At Snow
Hill, Greene County, they met on May 14. A correspondent
wrote: “This has been a great day for Snow Hill. Never
since the days of the giants, have our sandhills been the
arena of so great intellectual war as we have witnessed
today. ... As a Whig, I may be pardoned for be¬
lieving that Mr. Morehead bore away the palm. His broad
and smiling countenance, lighted up with perfect good
humor, is occasionally irresistible. He has winning ways
to make men love him. The strength and energy and un¬
wavering directness of his attacks tell with tremendous
effect. But he who supposes that General Saunders is but

Morehead

and

Saunders

420

THE GREAT CAMPAIGN

Federal

questions

a plaything for Mr. Morehead, or anybody else, has mis¬
taken the man. Some parts of his speech were truly
eloquent.

Of Morehead, the Carolina Watchman said : “There are
few men who can combine so many popular qualities as
John M. Morehead, highly gifted by nature, with an elo¬
quence, strong, clear and convincing, he combines the rare
qualities of genuine wit.” On May 22, the candidates met at
Oxford. “Judge Saunders opened the debate, spoke three
hours and a half, and delivered a speech that did him much
credit; for a Van Buren man, it was candid and open. We
were somewhat uneasy and began to think that his ingenuity
could not be successfully answered.” But this Whig re¬
porter was later comforted. “Morehead’s speech was ad¬
mitted on all hands to equal, if it did not surpass, any
speech ever delivered here. At times the audience was
enchained by his eloquence, and then again amused beyond
expression by the introduction of humorous caricatures of
the powers that be.”

At Raleigh the Whig paper was to the same effect. It
sufficiently appears that the candidates were well matched,
although Morehead doubtless had more humor in his ad¬
dresses. It was indeed a contest of fine intelligence and ac¬
quirements and highly creditable to the State. Among the
points in these and other debates was the Whig proposition
to distribute the public lands or their proceeds between the
old states. The national Democrats had taken a position
against that ; and that question would not down, but re¬
mained in the political arena until the opening of the Civil
War. Another was the attitude of the national candidates
toward slavery, and in some measure that involved the
record of each of the candidates, for both had been equally
kindly disposed towards the negro. Van Buren was much
inclined to abolitionism, and that, and the charges against
the administration of extravagance made against the whole
Democratic ticket. As had long been the case, Federal pol¬
itics and Federal questions were given greater prominence
than purely State matters, and the Whigs were the attack¬
ing party, thus having an advantage. Then, besides, an effort

“LOG CABIN ” AND “HARD CIDER”

421

to belittle General Harrison, who at least merited fair treat¬
ment by his fellow citizens, reacted to his benefit. Some
Democratic editor thought to stigmatize him as a common
backwoodsman, saying: “Give Harrison a log cabin and a
barrel of hard cider, and he will not leave Ohio.” The
Whigs took up the gauntlet and the campaign became known
as the “Log Cabin” campaign, every town and county hav¬
ing its “Log Cabin,” as the meeting halls of Whig assem¬
blages were called, and “hard cider” and “coon-skins”
played an important part. From Maine to Louisiana and
Missouri, hills and valleys rang with the echoes of the Whig
war cry. In this State, there was a multitude of meetings,
the greatest being the assembling of Whigs from sixteen
counties at Salisbury in July, where the utmost enthusiasm
prevailed. Following fast on that demonstration came the
August election. Old Zip Coon carried the day. The
Whigs were triumphant even beyond their calculation.
Morehead carried forty-one of the sixty-one counties and
rolled up a popular majority of 8,581, with a strong Whig
Legislature at his back. Four years earlier although
Dudley carried the State by 14,000 majority, Van
Buren received the electoral vote in November. The Whig
leaders did not propose that such a reverse should occur
again, and the presidential campaign now became intensified,
the leaders on both sides redoubling their efforts. But the
Whigs were the most astute. They held a great convention
at Raleigh in October, where enthusiasm knew no bounds.
Every device to heighten the excitement was resorted to.
While it was a week of “Log Cabins,” of music, proces¬
sions, songs and addresses, Wilmington contributed a spec¬
tacle that particularly appealed to the inland people. Ear¬
lier in the year that community had been visited by a ter¬
rible conflagration that swept from the river across the
business portion of the town, even beyond the courthouse,
devouring everything in its path. But notwithstanding such
a loss, the political energy of the Whigs did not abate. A
ship, full-rigged and beautiful to look on, was built at the
shipyard. It was named the Constitution. A crew of
captain and six men were aboard, and bedecked with flags

Attack on
Harrison

At Raleigh

The ship

422

THE GREAT CAMPAIGN

The new
Capitol

and colors she was brought to Raleigh. Here she was the
center of attraction and was borne in the procession amid
constant cheers. When the great demonstration had closed
the ship was left, to be awarded to that county whose vote in
November showed the greatest relative increase over the
previous vote. Surry County won the trophy. In the pro¬
cessions, the counties carried banners such as “Whig in
1776 and Whig in 1840,” emphasizing their devotion. On
the second day, the convention sang Judge Gaston’s song,
“The Old North State Forever,” then for the first time
published. This song, now famous, had been written by
Judge Gaston incidental to an exhibition by an Austrian
troupe at Raleigh, who sang a Hungarian song. The music
appealed to Miss Taylor, Miss Lossie Hill and others. The
girls hummed the music to the Judge, who wrote the words
to the tune. Of the Whigs during that long campaign,
some one has written : “If one could imagine the people
declaring a holiday or season of rollicking for a period of
six or eight months, and giving themselves up during the
whole time to the wildest freaks of fun and frolic, singing,
dancing and carousing, he might have a notion of the extra¬
ordinary scenes of 1840.” Nor was the enthusiasm without
result. Four years earlier, the total vote in North Carolina
was 52,656, now it was 79,491. The Harrison vote was
46,316 and that for Van Buren 33,175. Wilkes County
went for Harrison nearly fourteen to one; Montgomery,
nearly eleven to one, and other large western counties, six
to one.

When on November 16, 1840, the Legislature assembled
in the new Capitol, “A noble building, and honorable to the
State, and will descend to posterity as a proud monument
of the spirit of the age,” assuredly, the Whigs were proud
indeed. What the Governor called “This peaceful revolu¬
tion” had been accomplished. “The people had declared
against the administrations of the Federal and most of
the State governments,” and now the Whigs are to “calmly
survey the position we occupy and prepare ourselves with
energy and dignity to meet the crisis.”

In the halls were assembled many of the most famous of
the public men, representing each party. In the Senate

MAN GUM AND GRAHAM

423

were Strong, Joyner, Shepard, Speed, Mangum, Worth,
Dockery, Clingman, Gaither, Bynum, Hawkins, Whitfield,
Arrington, Kerr, McDiarmid, Reid, Wilson and Edwards;
and in the House men of equal stamina and reputation.
Joyner was chosen Speaker of the upper branch by seven
majority over Lewis D. Wilson, while in the House, where
the Whigs had thirty majority, William A. Graham was re¬
elected without opposition.

The first business was to elect Senators to replace those
who had resigned. A correspondent of Judge Ruffin wrote
him : “The Legislature will do nothing until they have made
the elections of Senators. Mr. Mangum is the first choice of
all, as it is said, the victory will not be complete until he is
restored to his seat. Judge Gaston has but to say that he
would go into the service, and no one would stand in his
way.” Mangum and Graham were chosen over the former
Senators. It was a proud day for Mangum, who now had
the popular verdict in his favor. And while both Brown
and Strange were equal to the high duties of Senators, yet
Mangum and Graham suffered nothing by the comparison.
Governor Dudley had now served four years, one year
.longer than any other Governor since the time of Alexander
Martin and in his last message he gave a disquisition on
political affairs that indicates his mastery of the subject.

The two railroads had not made money and were em¬
barrassed. He recommended an increase of a million dol¬
lars in the capital stock of both the Bank of the State and
Bank of Cape Fear, and the State to take stock, on condi¬
tion that they lend the roads three or four hundred thousand
dollars. He urged the construction of a penitentiary, of
lunatic and orphan asylums and houses of refuge. And he
mentioned that “most of the counties had adopted the com¬
mon school system; that Major Walter Gwvnn had made a
survey of Nags Head showing that the inlet ought to be
opened there ; that the draining of the swamp lands had
progressed ; Pungo Canal was finished and the Alligator
Canal half done; and some 15.000 acres of land were ready
for market. He urged that Neuse River be rendered nav¬
igable as high up as practicable and a railroad be built from

The

Senators

Dudley’s

message

Canals and
swamps

424

THE GREAT CAMPAIGN

Depression

House

Journal, 615

The

railroads

aided

there to Raleigh, and a turnpike on to the mountains. Private
subscriptions had not been obtained' to secure State aid to
the Fayetteville and Western Railroad. While the panic
had not perhaps been so disastrous in its effect in North
Carolina as elsewhere, yet Governor Dudley put on record :
“We see every species of property greatly sunk in value;
slaves depreciated at least 50 per cent ; land yet more ; and
lots in our most favored places scarcely selling for the costs
of improvements. Very few farms yield legal interest and
in the aggregate not two per cent of their value.”

Water powers and manufacturing

When the bill incorporating the Little River Manufac¬
turing Company was before the House and an amendment
was offered and adopted, making the stockholders individ¬
ually liable for its debts, a strong and lengthy protest was
entered by Ham Jones, B. F. Moore, Dr. Fred Hill and
a dozen others. In it these members, after mentioning
the water powers in the western part of the State and the
stimulus given to manufacturing, said “the natural fruit of
the peculiar position of the western half of the State is al¬
ready disclosing itself in factories for the fabrication of-
yarn and cloth, while the local riches of its mines are be¬
coming daily the subject of attention and industrious enter¬
prise, through the operations of combined capital, united
under the advantages of corporate powers. But capital
is scarce.” This protest is a masterly presentation of the
subject, and it affords evidence of conditions in 1840 that
is highly illuminating.

Judges Saunders and Toomer having retired from the
bench, the Governor had appointed Edward Hall of Warren
and W. H. Battle. The Legislature now elected these gen¬
tlemen, this being the beginning of Judge Battle’s long, use¬
ful and illustrious career on the bench. Several new coun¬
ties were proposed; and Cleveland, Caldwell and Stanly
were incorporated. The west was coming into its own.
The railroad companies needing financial aid, the Wilming¬
ton and Weldon Company was authorized to issue $300,000
mortgage bonds which the State was to endorse; and, sim¬
ilarly, the Raleigh and Gaston Company was authorized to

INDUSTRY AND EDUCATION

425

issue $300,000 of mortgage bonds, which the State was to
endorse and besides the mortgage of the road, the stock¬
holders were to execute their personal bond for $500,000
which was to be renewed every two years. And in case that
company failed to pay its interest, the Governor was to ask
the court to appoint a receiver, and in case of nonpayment
of principal, the Governor was to foreclose the mortgage.
A similar proposition with regard to the Wilmington and
Weldon Railroad was defeated by yeas 45, nays 62; and the
bill to aid that road passed in the House by four majority.
To make it easier for the North Carolina Central Railroad
Company from Beaufort to the Wilmington Railroad to
organize, the charter of that company was amended, fixing
the capital stock at one million, but there was a proviso that
the State “shall not be bound” to take any part of the
capital stock. A company was incorporated to construct a
turnpike from Rutherford County into Buncombe, the capi¬
tal stock to be $10,000, of which the State was to subscribe
one-fourth.

The Whigs being now in full control adopted a political
resolution affirming the position of the Southern Whigs in
regard to the public lands, and requesting the congressmen
of the State to have a division of the proceeds of the sales
of the public domain among the states. Another resolution
authorized Mr. John Frasier, a native artist of New York,
to repair the statue of Washington, but nothing came of that
action. Among the corporations authorized were the Little
River Manufacturing Company, the Crow Creek Company,
and the Beaver Creek Company — Cumberland County at
least was awake to a manufacturing spirit ; the Salisbury
Manufacturing Company, the Concord Manufacturing Com¬
pany, and the North Carolina Land and Mining Company
with a capital of one million. Nor was education forgotten.
Floral College was incorporated, as were academies at
Asheville, Rutherford and Kenansville ; and to aid Wake
Forest College ten thousand dollars was lent to that insti¬
tution. The first payments of the State to the counties for
common schools, were: 13 school districts, Tyrrell; 16
school districts, Cherokee ; 22 school districts, Richmond ;

House
Journal, 540

New

corporations

Education

426

THE GREAT CAMPAIGN

The tax
clause

New school
law

Morehead

Governor

1841

9 school districts, Macon : up to November, 1840, only
$2,400; but the next year the payments were $32,836; and
in 1842, there were $65,277. A new school law was intro¬
duced in the Senate and passed, but in the House there was
much opposition, based on the Federal plan of distribution,
and also on the levying of any tax by the county courts.
O11 this last proposition the vote stood 42 against the tax,
and 69 to retain the tax; and strange to say some of those
who opposed the tax were strong men and chiefly from the
west. But there was no provision for a State Superintend¬
ent. The school law as amended required the dis¬
tribution among the counties of the net income of the Lit¬
erary Fund ; and that the counties should raise by taxation
one-half of the amount it would receive under the distri¬
bution ; also that the school committeemen should be elected
by the voters of the districts ; and, along with many other
regulations, statistical reports were required to be made to
the Board of the Literary Fund. The great stumbling block
in regard to the school bill was whether the fund should be
distributed on the basis of the white population or on the
Federal basis, adding in the negroes at three-fifths ; the east
being for the latter. In the House it was proposed to take a
vote of the people on that question but the motion failed
33 to 76. Governor Morehead was inaugurated with great
ceremony on January 1. Under the statute, representatives
in Congress would have been regularly elected in August,
but in case of an emergency, the Governor was authorized to
hold an earlier election.

In Congress

The adjournment of the Assembly was soon followed by
the inauguration of the Whig President who invited Judge
Badger to take a place in the Cabinet as Secretary of the
Navy. Such was one of the first fruits of the national
victory, and the Whigs were enthusiastic. Already in the
State they had replaced Democratic judges, solicitors and
other officers with their own political associates, and their
spirits were high, for now, with a Whig Congress and
President, they would undo the Jackson measures which

WHIG POLICIES

427

they had denounced as so harmful to the country, and sub¬
stitute their own policies.

The President lost no time in calling a special session of
Congress to convene in May, and under the new act the
Governor being empowered to call an election of Represent¬
atives, Governor Morehead fixed the date of the election
May 12. The time was short, the campaign vigorous, the
Whigs having the ear of the people, and the result was fa¬
vorable to the administration, only five Democrats being-
chosen, among whom was Judge Saunders who now entered
national politics.

But there was trouble in store for the administration.
On April 4, 1841, when in office but one month, President
Harrison died, and Vice-President John Tyler succeeded
him. Congress now prepared to carry out the Whig meas¬
ures founded on Clay’s principles. The proceeds of the
public lands were to be divided among the states : the Sub-
Treasury act of Van Buren’s administration was repealed,
and a bankruptcy act was passed, and to these President
Tyler assented.

In the opinion of some of the Whig leaders the most im¬
portant of all the measures of the time was the establishment
of a national currency that would pass at par in every part of
the Union. This was of particular interest to North Carolina,
for our banks had suspended specie payments and there
was much pecuniary distress ; now hope arose that the finan¬
cial troubles might be remedied. Indeed, the general con¬
dition of the country was extremely bad. Some of the
states had made great debts, chiefly for internal improve¬
ments, which they could not pay. Repudiation was urged
in some of them and, indeed, Mississippi did resort to it.
Now, however, resumption of specie payments was ex¬
pected and sound finances were in view when, without warn¬
ing, the Philadelphia successor to the Bank of the United
States, conducted by Biddle, again suspended payments and
the bank troubles at once became acute. Such was the sit¬
uation in the early days of the session of Congress, when
Henry Clay addressed himself to the preparation of a new
bank bill. It passed, but President Tyler deemed such an act

Tyler

President

Bad

financial

conditions

428

THE GREAT CAMPAIGN

The Whigs
revolt
against
Tyler

Two

divisions of
Whigs

Mangum
president of
the Senate

not warranted by the Constitution and vetoed it. Congress
then passed a modified bill, which he likewise deemed uncon¬
stitutional and vetoed. He urged that the subject might be
left open until the regular session, but those in favor of the
bank would now brook no opposition. Three days later
the session closed, amid terrific denunciations of the Presi¬
dent; and in November the Cabinet, except Webster,
resigned.

There was, however, much diversity of opinion among
the Whigs on the subject of the bank as on other subjects.
They had consolidated in opposition to the Van Buren ad¬
ministration but widely differed among themselves on other
subjects; in every state there being similar divisions. In
North Carolina, Gaston, Badger and Graham stood with
Clay as “Federal Whigs” — Mangum, Owen and Dudley
were “Republican Whigs.” Governor Morehead was strong
for states’ rights, but was a mere Whig without any addi¬
tions, and, indeed, whenever they had to encounter the com¬
mon adversary, Whig leaders submerged their differences
and stood solidly together. In particular it is to be men¬
tioned that Mangum, who had not been devoted to Whig
Federal policies, now in the Senate, took such strong
ground against the President that he rose to a high place
in the esteem of the Whig Senators, and in May, 1842, he
was chosen President pro tern of the Senate, occupying the
position of Vice-President, so in case of a vacancy in the
Presidency he would have succeeded to that office ; and, re¬
markable as it is, in February, 1844, President Tyler es¬
caped death by only a few moments when two of his Cabinet
were killed by an explosion on the Princeton in February,
1844.

Morehead and Henry

With the opening of the new year, the Democrats held
a convention at which rallying speeches were made bv
W. W. Avery, Thomas Bragg, David S. Reid, John W. El¬
lis and Louis D. Henry. The latter was presented as the
candidate for governor, while three of the others after¬
wards became governors. Three months later, the Whigs

MO REHEAD AND HENRY

429

met in convention and nominated Henry Clay for President,
Morehead being their choice for Governor.

Already Henry had entered on his campaign, and now
Morehead announced his own appointments. The canvass
chiefly involved matters of Federal concern. Henry’s health
was poor and he made the western circuit in hopes of being
benefited. On May 20, his followers had a grand rally at
Salisbury, where many of the western leaders assembled and
delivered addresses.

At length Morehead and Henry met at Fayetteville in
joint debate, the Governor opening and speaking three times,
and Henry twice. They each occupied over five hours, the
debate lasting ten hours and a half, and the candidates in¬
dulging in charges and counter charges. In particular
Morehead adverted to Henry’s inconsistencies, saying that
in Henry’s letter of acceptance he had spoken of debts for
internal improvements, as gambling debts created for the
prosecution of wild schemes’ of improvement, whereas Henry
himself had favored borrowing five millions of dollars for
State improvements and favored that the State should take
two-fifths of the stock, where individuals would take three-
fifths ; and in certain great works Henry had even favored
that the State should take all the stock. Henry affirmed that
he still stood with the recommendations of the Internal Im¬
provement Convention of December, 1833.

Morehead did not then develop what he himself stood
for, but in his message when the Assembly, opened he said :
“I would recommend that whatever schemes of expenditure
you may embark in, that you keep within the means at the
command of the State ; otherwise the people must be taxed
more heavily or the State must contract a loan. The pres¬
sure of the times forbids the former, the tarnished honor
of some of the states should make us, for the present, de¬
cline the latter.” If Henry had inveighed against wild
schemes, certainly Morehead did not approve of them ; and it
seems as if there were no great differences between the can¬
didates on that subject. But on Federal matters the differ¬
ence was patent.

1842

The joint
debate

43°

THE GREAT CAMPAIGN

Petition for
dissolution
of the Union

1842

Democrats
carry the
Assembly

Aug. 1842

Mangum

Dickens

The special session of Congress ending in September was
closely followed by the regular session in December, the
Whig leaders in violent opposition to the President.

With the opening of the year, January 21, John Quincy
Adams brought the slavery question again to the front in
Congress by presenting a petition signed by some of his
Massachusetts constituents, praying for a dissolution of the
Union because they could not abolish slavery. That and the
attendant circumstances raised a commotion that doubtless
had some political effect on the ensuing campaign.

For ten years the compromise tariff policy had been ob¬
served. Now, however, the needs of the treasury required
increased revenue, while the Clay Act to distribute the pro¬
ceeds of the public lands among the states cut off that
source of supply. After months of heated discussion a
tariff act was passed, which the President vetoed on June 29,
and this, too, had its resultant influence on the country.

Such were the conditions during the political campaign,
when State affairs received but slight attention and Federal
matters were deemed of the highest consideration. More-
head’s campaign was vigorous and he was aided by all of
the Whig leaders, but while the Democrats generally were
equally active, Henry was forced by ill health to abandon
the field. The trend was against the Whigs ; however, at
the election Morehead won by 3,532 majority, his vote be-
ing 6,500 fewer than he received two years earlier, and
Henry polling 1,500 fewer than Saunders. Now, however,
the Democrats elected both branches of the Assembly. The
adverse decision of the people was a great blow to the Whig
leaders, but Governor Morehead’s retention still gave them
hope that they could hold the State for Henry Clay.

The session of Congress beginning December 6, 1841,
lasted until August 31, 1842, and on May 4, 1842, Mangum
became President of the Senate which he continued to be
until March, 1845. While he presided, Asbury Dickens, also
of North Carolina, was secretary of the Senate. Dickens
was elected in December, 1836 and continually thereafter,
until July, 1861.

DEMOCRATS IN CONTROL

43i

On February 23, 1842, Lewis Williams, who had been the
representative of the Surry district continuously since 18th
of March, 1815, died at Washington, his remains being in¬
terred at Panther Creek. His service of 27 years had not
been exceeded, and he was called “The Father of the House.”
Only 56 years of age he was still in the prime of his man¬
hood, and ranked high among the members. At a special
election Anderson Mitchell of Wilkesboro was elected his
successor. Congress had revised the representation in the
House, according to the census of 1840, and North Carolina
under the new act lost four representatives, having only
nine instead of thirteen. Since the last Assembly, Governor
John Owen, William B. Meares, Edmund Jones and Doctor
McPheeters, all men of great excellence and superior char¬
acteristics, had passed away.

The Legislature

When the Assembly met November 21, 1842, the Demo¬
crats had a considerable majority. Wilson and Joyner were
again contestants for Speaker of the Senate, and Wilson
was chosen by ten majority. In the House Calvin Graves
of Caswell was elected over Daniel M. Barringer of Ca¬
barrus by sixteen majority. While the territory within
fifty miles of each railroad line had shown marked improve¬
ment yet the previous cessation of business, the stagnation
of the entire country, had had a disastrous effect on the
earnings of the railroads. Governor Morehead in his mes¬
sage mentioned that under previous legislation, the State had
endorsed for the Raleigh and Gaston $800,000; and for the
Wilmington and Weldon $250,000, and was a stockholder to
the amount of $600,000. They were both embarrassed, and
their affairs needed attention. He recommended the con¬
struction of a line from Gaston to Weldon, connecting
Raleigh directly with the roads at Weldon. He inveighed
heavily against improvident debts and repudiation. He
urged turnpikes to be built to the west, and particularly a
west turnpike from Raleigh, which should also be extended
east to Goldsboro. On all matters of public concern, the
message was progressive, strong and forcible.

Williams

Loss of
represen¬
tatives

Deaths

1842

Morehead

urges

turnpikes

4 32

THE GREAT CAMPAIGN

The public
schools

Graham

The financial condition had so far improved that the banks
had resumed specie payments. The State Bank proposed to
wind up and this attitude of the private stockholders awoke
a strong resentment among the members of the Assembly;
but the trouble blew over and no action was taken. The
bank continued in business.

The school law had now been in operation about two
years, and the disbursements by the Literary Fund for
schools in 1842 had reached $65,277, being twice as much
as for 1841. By the census taken in 1840, based on the
statistics of the previous year, North Carolina had in
attendance on all schools 19,453 pupils, and in common
schools 14,937. The system of public education was then
in its infancy. Three new counties had come into it in
1842, and now the Legislature amended the school law, re¬
quiring the polls to be opened at the next election in every
county that had not entered the system, and again submit¬
ting the matter to the people. Year by year progress was
made until the next census showed over 104,000 children in
the public schools.

New legislation

There was now no demand for new railroad building, and,
indeed, only little for turnpikes. But as recommended by the
Governor, the terminus of the Raleigh and Gaston road
was eventually moved to Weldon, some fifteen miles east
of Gaston. The Nantahala turnpike was chartered to be
along the “State road,” in Macon County. The Legislature
yielded to the wishes of the people interested and estab¬
lished the new counties of Union, Catawba and McDowell.
It apportioned the representatives anew, and laid off the
counties into fifty senatorial, eleven electoral, and nine con¬
gressional districts. It incorporated ten academies, and sev¬
eral insurance companies and manufacturing companies.
There was much discussion over the railroads that were in
such trouble, but while no important action was taken the
wishes of the companies were acceded to.

William A. Graham had been elected to the Senate to re¬
place Judge Strange. Senator Graham greatly impressed

DEADLOCK BROKEN

4 33

himself on the public men at Washington and was active in
matters pertaining to North Carolina. He urged the gov¬
ernment to make a survey of a canal across the banks for an
entrance into the sound, which was done by army engineers ;
and in 1842, a bill was passed to erect a United States ma¬
rine hospital near Ocracoke because of the large number of
seamen engaged in commerce passing into the sound; but
if the department erected the hospital it does not seem to
have been maintained. Senator Graham’s term would ex¬
pire March 3, 1843. To fill the vacancy an election was
had. Judge Strange had returned to the practice of law and
was solicitor of his district. He did not seek a reelection,
Bedford Brown, who had been “instructed out” by the
Whigs along with Strange, was a candidate. But Judge
Saunders, who now was in the House, desired to go up
higher, and he also stood. Neither of the aspirants would
retire, and for eighteen days the balloting continued with no
change ; the Whigs voted for Graham. At length, Thomas
Bragg, tired of such a display, proposed the name of the
late Speaker, William H. Haywood. Haywood was not in
Raleigh, but absent in a distant part of the State. Bragg’s
suggestion found favor; and after a few more fruitless bal-
lotings both Brown and Saunders withdrew, and Haywood
was elected by the Democrats. When notified of his elec¬
tion he wrote a letter of acceptance; which after a month,
on the day before adjournment, the Speakers presented to
the Legislature. Under the circumstances it was a very
singular document. He declared that he was a Democrat
and a party-man ; but strongly urged that party policies or
tactics should not extend to every question or matter. He
declared that, he “dare not surrender the State to party.”
This unusual discussion of such subjects in a letter of ac¬
ceptance seemed to indicate that coming events sometimes
cast their shadows before. When the election of a Senator
was first taken up, on December 17, a set of resolves was
introduced declaring the right of instruction ; that the State
will never consent to a protective tarifif ; and denouncing the
tariff law that Congress had just passed, with such pro¬
visions in it as to meet with the approval of the President,

The

unavailing

contest

Haywood

elected

Haywood’s

Letter

House

Journal, 592

434

THE GREAT CAMPAIGN

Morehead’s

message

Confla¬

grations

Chronicles
of the Cape
Fear, 230

and which indeed remained unchanged for the next four
years. The resolutions also voiced the disapproval of the
bankrupt bill, and demanded the return to Gen. Andrew
Jackson of the fine imposed on him at New Orleans. These
resolutions after being before the House more than a month,
and fought at every step with great zeal by the Whigs,
eventually passed the House by 65 to 37 on January 24.

The session at length ended, long drawn out by the fili¬
buster of the Whigs. The financial situation was such that
nothing could reasonably be done but to ease matters along
until more favorable conditions. Governor Morehead’s
message attracted much attention out of the State and won
praise for his sterling statesmanship. Particularly, his ar¬
raignment of those who rush into debt and tarnish the
honor of their states was applauded, and the Richmond
Whig took a wider view. Its comment was: “Upon the
whole we must say that the government of North Carolina
is obviously in a most undemocratic state. It is not in
confusion ; it is not in debt ; its moneyed institutions are some¬
what more than so-called. Its public honor seems unshaken,
the authority of its laws gently but firmly maintained over
an orderly and moral people,” etc. Such was Whig com¬
mendation based on the reelection of Morehead and admira¬
tion of his message. Governor Morehead mentioned that
“portions of our State have been visited with affliction and
with physical causes destructive to the hopes and labors of
the husbandman,” and besides, the State had suffered from
fires. Among the notable conflagrations were several suc¬
cessive ones at Wilmington. In 1840 the Courthouse Square
and other squares were destroyed; and in April, 1843, a
great conflagration swept away a large part .of the town,
including the railroad shops and warehouses. Indeed this
fire was a terrible blow to the Wilmington and Weldon Rail¬
road Company then suffering from an accumulation of
debt. Colonel Cowan in after years referring to this fire,
said: “When your offices, your warehouses, and your work
shops, and all of your machinery, which was not then in
actual use, were laid in ruins by the terrible fire of 1843;
when a heap of smouldering embers marked the spot where
all of your possessions in Wilmington had stood, when your

WILMINGTON REBUILT

435

most ardent friends had begun to despair, when your own
merchants had refused to credit you, when your long-
sinking credit was at last destroyed and your failure seemed
inevitable, Governor Dudley came forward and pledged
the whole of his private estate,” and saved you. As de¬
structive as these fires were, the enterprising citizens soon
rebuilt the town. Reference is made to these two fires
by Sir Charles Lyell, the famous geologist who was in
Wilmington in December, 1841, January, 1842, and again
in December, 1845. Writing during his last visit, he said:
“The streets which had just been laid in ashes, when we
were here four years ago, are now rebuilt, but there has
been another fire this year.”

Dudley’s

action

Chronicles
of the
Cape Fear
144

CHAPTER XXVII

Chronicles
of the Cape
Fear, 521

Holden

The Whigs in Control

W. W. Holden editor. — Congressional election. — Death of Gas¬
ton. — Judges Nash and Caldwell. — Calhoun Secretary of State.
— Annexation of Texas. — Clay’s tour. — Enthusiastic meetings. —
His Raleigh letter. — Clay and Polk. — The iState conventions. — -
Graham and Hoke. — Graham elected. — Hoke dies. — The tariff
ignored. — Polk elected. — The Assembly. — The railroads. — The
Governor authorized to purchase Raleigh and Gaston Railroad. —
The schools. — Proposition to divide the State. — To establish a
penitentiary. — School for deaf and blind. — The Democratic
opinion as to internal improvements. — Goldsboro. — Wheeler’s
History. — State flag. — The Cherokees. — Morehead. — A railroad
west of Raleigh impracticable. — Texas annexed. — Dobbin in Con¬
gress. — Death of Cherry. — Saunders minister to Spain. — McKay’s
tariff. — Haywood resigns.

The Standard

Loring had been the editor of the People's Press at Wil¬
mington, but had moved to Raleigh. He was a man of
“great energy, perseverance, marked ability, and had a
thorough familiarity with political history.” He was editor
of the Standard. At this session he differed with some of
the leading Democrats on the matter of the State banks, and
proposed to retire as editor of the Standard.

In May, 1843, William W. Holden was employed to suc¬
ceed him. Loring then returned to Wilmington where he
continued in the newspaper business many years. The ad¬
vent of Holden as the editor of the Standard marked an
epoch in the State press. Holden had been a poor boy at
Hillsboro, employed in the office of the Hillsboro Recorder,
and, while imbibing Whig doctrines, he had likewise nat¬
urally fostered an aversion to Whig aristocracy and was in¬
clined to a broader democracy. However, locating in
Raleigh he found employment on Lemay’s Star, the organ
of the Republican Whigs, as the Register was the organ of
the Federal Whigs. When he assumed the editorship of the
Standard, the Whigs jeered; but the Democrats had nothing

CLINGMAN ENTERS POLITICS

437

to regret. The Standard became the most important polit¬
ical factor in the State and for two decades wielded a great
power in party matters.

In the new arrangement of the congressional districts, nine
districts instead of thirteen, the Democrats had the advan¬
tage, Arrington of Nash, Daniel of Halifax, McKay of
Bladen, Reid of Rockingham and Judge Saunders of Wake
being elected ; while Rayner of Bertie, Deberry of Mont¬
gomery, Barringer of Cabarrus and Thomas L. Clingman of
Buncombe were the Whig members. This was the en¬
trance into Federal politics of Clingman, a man of unusual
mental powers, who was destined to exert a great influence
in the western part of the State. Abraham W. Rencher of
Chatham, a man of unusual powers and fine characteristics,
who had served four terms in Congress, was now appointed
Charge d’Afifaires at Portugal where he acceptably repre¬
sented our government for four years; and ten years later,
he served as Governor of New Mexico from 1857 to 1861.

The congressional elections throughout the Union were
favorable to the Democrats, and John W. Jones, a Demo¬
cratic Representative from Virginia, was elected Speaker of
the House in December, 1843.

Death of Gaston

Judge Gaston when in Raleigh occupied a detached build¬
ing on the premises of his adopted sister, Mrs. Fauntleroy
Taylor, at the corner of Hargett and Salisbury streets. The
Supreme Court being in session on the 23d of January,
1844, he occupied his seat on the bench and listened to an
argument in a case until near the hour of adjournment, when
from a sudden attack he became faint and was taken to his
room. He revived during the evening and entertained
friends who called to see him. He told of a party he had
attended at Washington when one of the guests, a public
man, avowed himself a free thinker in religion; and he
added: “A belief in an all-ruling Divinity, who shapes our
ends, whose eye is upon us, and who will reward us accord¬
ing to our deeds is necessary. We must believe and feel
that there is a God, all-wise and almighty.” He rose to

1843

January,

1844

43§

THE WHIGS IN CONTROL

’ Morehead’s
message

Annexation
of Texas

give emphasis to these words. There came a rush of blood
and he fell back and expired. Such was the passing away of
a man whose life was of singular purity and who stood first
in the estimation of his fellow citizens in the ideals of noble
manhood. His body lay in the parlor of Mrs. Taylor, ad¬
joining which was the conservatory. When the funeral
rites were being held, the door of the conservatory was
opened, warm, moist air came into the cold death cham¬
ber, and presently snow began falling on the remains and on
those assembled around the bier.

Governor Morehead and his Council appointed Judge
Frederick Nash to the vacant place on the Supreme Court;
and David F. Caldwell of Salisbury to replace Judge Nash
on the Superior Court.

Governor Morehead urged the distribution of the pro¬
ceeds of the public lands, pointing out the great benefit
North Carolina’s share in the distribution made in Jackson’s
time had been to the State. But the Democrats adhered to
their policy against it, and so this Whig proposition, so ap¬
pealing to popular sentiment, continued for decades to
bother Democratic leaders and to imperil their party
organization.

On February 28, 1844, by an explosion on the Princeton,
Upshaw, Secretary of State was killed ; and John C. Cal¬
houn succeeded him in the Cabinet. Texas had gained her
independence from Mexico in 1836, and had been recognized
as an independent sovereign state, both by the United States
and Great Britain, and for eight years had been under a
government similar to that of the United States. She had
early applied for annexation to this country ; but her wishes
had not been assented to. Now, President Tyler being ap¬
prehensive lest she might seek annexation to Great Britain,
made a treaty of annexation with her which he submitted to
the Senate in April, 1844. The Senate committee, however,
held the treaty up some time without action.

In the meantime Clay made a tour of the South. On Feb¬
ruary 23, he was at New Orleans. He visited Mobile,
Montgomery, Macon, Charleston and intermediate towns ;
everywhere his journey was similar to a triumphal proces¬
sion. A large committee went from Wilmington to Charles-

HENRY CLAY IN RALEIGH

439

ton to accompany him to North Carolina. They returned
with him on the steamer Gladiator , and he received a great
ovation. The Whigs of the Cape Fear turned out en
masse to welcome him. He left on the train for Raleigh ;
and on April 12, some ten thousand Whigs received him.
He was the guest of Governor Morehead at the Governor’s
Mansion ; and in the morning, a great procession, headed by
an open landau, drawn by four gray horses, in which were
the Governor and Clay, conveyed him to the Capitol. The
great crowd was entirely enthusiastic. One of the incidents
was the presentation of a silk vest made for him by a Gran¬
ville County lady.

He remained at Raleigh some five days, and while there
he felt it necessary to write a letter explaining his position
on the proposed annexation of Texas. It was a long and
well-considered letter. He declared that “annexation and
war with Mexico are identical.” He considered it as a
measure “compromising the national character, involving
the United States in war certainly with Mexico, probably
with other foreign powers, dangerous to the integrity of the
Union ; inexpedient in the financial condition of the country,
and not called for by any general expression of public
opinion.”

Later Stephen F. Miller, earlier of New Bern but then an
editor in Alabama, addressed him an inquiry as to this letter,
and he replied that he had no personal objection to the annex¬
ation of Texas, and, indeed, would be glad to see it without
dishonor. “I do not think that the subject of slavery ought
to afifect the question one way or the other.”

A fortnight later, on May 1, the Whig convention met at
Baltimore and declared against the annexation of Texas and
unanimously nominated Clay for the presidency, and event¬
ually selected Frelinghuysen as his running mate. On the
27th of May, the Democratic convention was likewise held
at Baltimore. One of the most active of the delegates was
Judge Saunders. He called the convention to order, and at
once introduced the two-thirds rule, a rule that had in 1832
been adopted to secure the nomination of Van Buren for the
vice-presidency. Now, the object in bringing it forward

1844

Clay’s tour

Konkle :

Morehead,

269

Clay’s letter

Sargeant’s
Clay, 227

The two-
thirds rule

440

THE WHIGS IN CONTROL

Polk

nominated

was to prevent Van Buren from -being nominated for the
presidency. Van Buren had already been defeated by Harri¬
son; and besides he was against the annexation of Texas be¬
cause that was deemed favorable to slavery and to the
power of the slave states ; and Van Buren was much of an
abolitionist. Van Buren’s manager, B. F. Butler of New
York, protested and protested, but Saunders carried his
point by a vote of 148 to 118. Because of the settled op¬
position to Van Buren, that rule virtually eliminated him, al¬
though he continued to get some votes from the North
Carolina delegation and for several ballots received the
greatest number of votes given to any candidate.

The North Carolina delegation voted at times for Lewis
Cass, and finally on the ninth ballot, after a stormy session
of three days, voted solidly for James K. Polk, who was
nominated on that ballot. Then George M. Dallas of Penn¬
sylvania was nominated for the vice-presidency. Said
General Jackson on June 14: “Let Texas be the watchword,
and victory is certain,” for Jackson was still wroth against
Clay as formerly. Quickly following these conventions in
June the Senate rejected the treaty of annexation; and the
issue was made at the polls.

The campaign

The Whigs had entered early on the State campaign, hold¬
ing their convention at Raleigh on December 8, 1843.

There was no other thought than that Senator Graham
should be the standard bearer ; the nominee for Governor.
A week later the Democratic convention nominated Michael
Hoke as their choice. Both of these candidates were of
Lincoln County stock, and both were men of superior char¬
acter, and finely educated. They were of the highest type
of manhood, and were alike ornaments to society and ex¬
emplars of virtue and honor. A joint campaign was ar¬
ranged, but it was interrupted, for Graham was taken des¬
perately ill. However, there were some meetings on the
hustings. Apparently, while Graham was more impressive
in his delivery, Hoke was more entertaining and raised more
enthusiasm. Both were entirely courteous. The Whigs

ELECTION RESULTS

441

had a grand rally at Statesville ; and Graham, when he was
able to enter the campaign, devoted himself largely to the
west, where the Texas fever was not so pronounced as in the
eastern counties. The result was in some measure answer-
able to his expectations. He recovered some of the votes
lost two years before, getting 4,643 more votes than More-
head then received, but still 1,900 fewer than Morehead got
in 1840: while Hoke polled 39,433, being 3,530 more than
Saunders had polled in 1840. Graham’s majority was
3,153. In the Legislature the House of Commons was
Whig by twenty majority, but the Senate, when it convened,
had 25 Democrats and 24 Whigs.

In September, the State mourned the loss of the gifted
Hoke, who died from the malaria to which he had been ex¬
posed in his canvass : and before the Assembly met three
members of the House and one Senator had died.

The presidential campaign was conducted with vigor ;
but the tariff was not an issue and the people were not so
greatly interested as in former elections. The tariff act
passed by Congress had relatively small duties on manufac¬
tures and no duties on coffee, tea and sugar. It was in some
aspects free trade, and in other aspects more of a tariff for
revenue than of protection.

It worked so satisfactorily that neither Polk nor Clay
proposed during the campaign to revise it; so the tariff was
not in the minds of the people ; and they did not come to the
polls as in the gubernatorial contest. The total vote was but
62,479 as against 82,019. The Clay electors won by 3,381,
and the Whigs rejoiced. But in the Union the result was
disastrous to their hopes. The new apportionment had
altered in some measure the votes of the states in the elec¬
toral college ; and Clay failed to carry all the states that
had voted for Harrison. He carried eleven states with
105 votes. Polk carried all the others with 170 votes.
General Jackson had his revenge. Birney, the abolition
candidate received 62,127 votes, which had they been cast
for Clay would have changed the result, for Polk’s popular
vote was only 38,200 more than Clay’s. And indeed, the
Whigs charged that New York had been carried by the

1844

Graham

elected

Hoke’s

death

The tariff

Clay’s

failure

Sargeant’s
Clay, 247

442

THE WHIGS IN CONTROL

Democrats by fraudulent votes ; and had the thirty-six votes
of that state been cast for Clay he would have been elected.

The

railroads

Other im¬
provements
recom¬
mended

Tlie Assembly

When the Assembly met, while the Democrats had 25
members and the Whigs but 24, yet, as Wilson, the Demo¬
cratic nominee for Speaker, would not vote for himself, the
Democrats were unable to elect the Speaker and organize
the body. After three days fruitless balloting, on the
fourth day, the Democrats nominated Burgess S. Gaither
of Burke, a moderate Whig, who received 40 votes, the
Whigs offering no opposition. In the House, Edward
Stanly of Beaufort received 68 votes and Calvin Graves
48. Governor Morehead’s message dealt very intelligently
with the embarrassments of the State Treasury because of
the action of the previous Legislature to aid the railroads,
and with the condition of the railroads themselves. The roads
were embarrassed because of the indebtedness incurred in
their construction. The cost of the Wilmington and
Weldon was $2,000,000, while the stock paid in was only
$1,350,000; the cost of the Raleigh and Gaston was $1,500,-
000 while only $650,000 had been paid in on stock. The
State had endorsed the bonds of the Raleigh and Gaston
to the amount of $800,000 and in addition to taking $600,-
000 of stock in the Wilmington and Weldon had endorsed
its bonds to the amount of $300,000. Hampered with these
debts and the interest, the roads found difficulty in paying
running expenses. With regard to the Wilmington and
Weldon, Governor Morehead said: “It is believed from the
success attending the operations of this road, notwithstand¬
ing its heavy losses by fire and sea (two steamships having
collided at sea) that if indulged for a few years, it will be
able to meet all its liabilities, and extricate itself from debt
and appreciate the value of its stock.” But the condition of
the Raleigh and Gaston was hopeless. A bill in equity had
already been filed to appoint a receiver of its property; and
it was believed that its receipts for years would not suffice
to pay interest and keep the road in operation. The Gov¬
ernor suggested a sale under the mortgage, and in order to

COMMON SCHOOL SYSTEM

443

increase receipts, to build the Weldon road and construct a
turnpike from Raleigh to the west. These two improve¬
ments he thought would add to the business of the road.
In their embarrassments the North Carolina railroads were
not alone. The Portsmouth and Roanoke Railroad was in
similar distress, and that part of its line within this State
had been sold for debt and the purchaser had taken up its
rails.

With regard to further improvements, he urged that some
locks and dams should be constructed on the Cape Fear and
that the Neuse be made navigable; that a ship canal be cut
from Pamlico Sound to Beaufort ; and a ship channel be
opened at Nags Head.

He urged a turnpike from Fayetteville to the Yadkin, and
a turnpike or railroad from the end of navigation on the
Neuse westward and likewise, similar transportation facili¬
ties from the Tar and Roanoke.

The common schools system had appealed to the people.
It had awakened an interest in every part of the State.
Only two counties had not voted for it and the State had
distributed in 1844 $92,027. But the Governor was not
satisfied with its efficiency and recommended an adjunct
similar to that originally proposed by Dr. Fred Hill and
later by others : “The appointment of a State agent, well
versed in the subject of common schools, to travel over the
State, visit the counties, advise and direct the county super¬
intendents and school committees and awake interest in pop¬
ular education.” He urged that action should be taken for
the building of asylums for the afflicted and for the insane
and that a penitentiary be established.

The appointments made by the Governor and Council to
the Supreme and Superior courts were received with favor
by the Assembly, and the appointees elected. A joint com¬
mittee was raised to make a report on the death of Judge
Gaston, and the committee reported on December 31. The
two houses considered the report on that day and adopted
resolutions expressive of the sense of the Assembly at the
loss to the State of that eminent citizen.

A resolution offered in the House by Atkins that Texas
ought to be annexed was rejected by a vote of 49 to 60;

House

Journal, 418

The schools

House

Journal,

421

December,

1844

House

Journal

634

Ibid., 538

444

THE WHIGS IN CONTROL

1844-45

Ibid., 251

A new
State

Ibid., 842

Raleigh and
Gaston R. R.

and a resolution offered by the Whigs to request the Sena¬
tors and Representatives to urge a distribution of the
fourth installment of the surplus revenue derived from
public lands passed the Senate by the casting vote of the
Speaker on January i, and the House by 65 to 49. Proposi¬
tions to incorporate the counties of Jefferson, Gaston and
Graham were defeated, and a resolution offered by Francis,
the Senator from Haywood, to take the sense of the people
of Western North Carolina on the subject of a cession of ter¬
ritory for a new state was laid on the table. A proposition to
establish a penitentiary by taxation was submitted to the
popular vote. A bill to appropriate $5,000 for teaching
the deaf mutes and blind was passed. Such was the be¬
ginning of the institution for that purpose. It was carried
in the Senate by the casting vote of the Speaker. A bill
was introduced to consolidate the school laws. The school
age in the bill was put at four years. Mr. Shepard moved
to amend by providing for a general superintendent, but this
failed by a large vote, the Democrats being in opposition.
The bill, itself, however, passed with only two votes in the
negative — western members. The recommendations of the
Governor relative to internal improvements and providing
•to meet the conditions of the two railroads led to a royal
battle between the parties. The proposition to lay off and
established a turnpike road from Raleigh to the Buncombe
turnpike failed in the Senate by six votes, but the Assembly
authorized the Governor to have a survey made of a turn¬
pike from Raleigh west to the Buncombe turnpike and then
on to the Georgia state line, and a survey made for a road
from Fayetteville to some point on this road near the
Yadkin.

Democratic conservatism

When the bill to foreclose the mortgage of the Raleigh
and Gaston Railroad came up, every Democrat in the Senate
voted against it, but the casting vote of the Speaker passed
it. The Democrats proposed an amendment declaring it
to be the opinion of the Legislature that the members of the
Legislature of 1838 who passed the bill to endorse the

ECHO OF MACON’S PHILOSOPHY

445

$500,000 bonds of that road are responsible for the State’s
loss and that received twenty-two Democratic votes. That
being defeated, a second amendment was offered that the
members of the Legislature of 1840 who voted to endorse
the additional $300,000 were responsible for the State’s
loss, and that received twenty Democratic votes. As drawn,
the bill directed the Governor to bid not exceeding $300,000
on the sale of the road, and if he purchased it for the State,
to appoint directors to manage it and to operate the road.
The bill then passed the Senate 24 to 24, the Speaker giving
the casting vote. Although Mr. Macon was now dead, his
political philosophy found an echo in these propositions.

The conditions of the Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad
Company were not so bad. It needed only further time.
The House passed a bill allowing that company to issue
$100,000 bonds to replace the same amount of bonds there¬
tofore issued. The Democrats in the Senate stubbornlv

■S

opposed the proposition and offered amendments making the
stockholders personally liable for the indebtedness of the
company. But the bill finally passed 24 to 24, with the
Speaker voting for its passage. The two sections of the
Wilmington and Weldon Railroad met at a point near
Waynesboro, and a station was located there named Golds¬
boro, after one of the engineers who constructed the road.
It was now provided that the county seat of Wayne County
might be moved to Goldsboro if the people of the county
should vote for the change.

The previous Legislature had elected John H. Wheeler,
State Treasurer. He had been superintendent of the mint
at Charlotte and was the choice of his party for Treasurer,
but this Assembly being of a different political complexion,
he was succeeded by Mr. Hinton, who had been his prede¬
cessor. Colonel Wheeler now devoted himself to the prep¬
aration of a history of the State and produced a most
valuable volume that appeared in 1851, the first attempt
by any North Carolinian to collate facts relating to the
counties.

Some eight academies were incorporated, and there being
a military academy at Raleigh, the Legislature allowed the
cadets to be equipped with the material, guns, etc., in the

Senate
Journal, 163

Ibid., 274

Ibid., 259

Goldsboro

Wheeler’s

History

446

THE WHIGS IN CONTROL

State flag

The

Cherokees

Governor

Graham

Richardson,
IV, 345

State Arsenal, and then a similar bill was passed in regard
to the students at the Raleigh Academy. A resolution was
passed for the Governor to procure a State flag, which was
to bear the arms of North Carolina.

“As the Cherokee Indians in the State are conducting
themselves in an orderly manner under the influence of tem¬
perance and religious societies, and are improving in the
mechanic arts, agriculture and civilization and those in the
town of Qualla and other towns are beginning the manu¬
facture of silk” they were encouraged by having the pro¬
visions of the act of 1836 extended to them.

On January 1, Governor William A. Graham appeared in
the Common Hall, where the Senate had likewise assem¬
bled, and having delivered an inaugural, took the oaths of
office and qualified as Governor. His inaugural, the first de¬
livered by any Governor, received many compliments and
the Assembly ordered that it be printed. Governor Graham
brought to his office full information of State affairs, a clear
mind, fine talents and a purity of purpose that ranked him
among the foremost men of the State. The session ended
on January 16, and the Whigs had cause to congratulate
themselves on having carried through virtually all of their
propositions, but the unfortunate condition of the two rail¬
ways in the State had prevented any effort to build others,
and the only hope of the time was to construct turnpikes
westward. Indeed, Governor Morehead by a personal ex¬
amination ‘of the country between Raleigh and Greensboro
had concluded that it was impracticable to construct a rail¬
road in that region.

I11 Congress; Texas annexed

While the Assembly was in session, Congress met and on
December 3, President Tyler in his message dwelt on the
great question of the campaign just ended, the annexation
of Texas. He said that the matter had been determined
by the election, a majority of the states and of the people
having voted for annexation, and he urged that a resolution
should be passed accepting it. A bill was introduced in the
Senate by Senator Haywood providing for annexation, but

ANNEXATION OF TEXAS

44 7

it failed. Later, a resolution was introduced in the House
of Representatives. It provided that new states might be
made out of the territory; those north of 36 degrees 30 min¬
utes should be free; those south of that line might be free
or slave as the people might desire. In the Senate Mangum
voted against annexation and in the House the Whigs like¬
wise voted against it, but it passed at the close of Tyler’s
administration, and he at once dispatched a messenger to
give effect to it in Texas. The great contest was ended.

The congressional contest of 1845 was notable, since it
was the beginning of district conventions for the nomina¬
tion of congressional candidates. Saunders had been in
hope of being invited to take a Cabinet position and being
disappointed, would not ask to be returned to Congress.
He was succeeded by James C. Dobbin of Fayetteville, a
man of fine talents and of the highest personal character.
The brilliant and eloquent W. W. Cherry had been nomi¬
nated in the Albemarle district, but died during the cam¬
paign, much regretted. He was thought to be the finest
orator in the State of his generation. Asa Biggs, Democrat,
was elected in that district so the Democrats gained a mem¬
ber. Jonathan Worth ran in his district but Alfred Dockery
contested the field with him and won.

As North Carolina had not voted for Polk, the President
doubtless felt that Cabinet positions should be awarded to
other states, but he appointed Judge Saunders Minister to
Spain and, during the four years of Judge Saunders’s service
in Spain, he negotiated a treaty for the purchase of Cuba,
the price being $100,000,000, but when the negotiations be¬
came public the offer was rejected.

The McKay tariff

In 1843, James J. McKay, who had long been a Repre¬
sentative and was then chairman of the Committee of Ways
and Means, brought in a bill to revise the tariff, but it failed
to pass. His report on the subject of the tariff was, how¬
ever, widely distributed, and had a great effect in consoli¬
dating Democratic opinion on the subject. It was a very
able exposition of the tariff. In Polk’s inaugural he had

1845

Public men

Saunders
seeks to buy
Cuba

Biog. Hist.,
Ill, 392

448

THE WHIGS IN CONTROL

Senator

Haywood

resigns

declared that tariffs should be for revenue with incidental
protection for our industries. At the first session of the
new Congress, McKay introduced a tariff bill that he and
Robert J. Walker, the Secretary of the Treasury, had pre¬
pared that thus became an administration measure. It
passed the House but when it came to the Senate its fate
was doubtful. At the session of the Legislature when
Senator Haywood was elected, resolutions of instructions
with regard to the tariff were passed by the Legislature and
there was no other expectation but that he would vote for
this Democratic measure. But he felt that he could not
vote for it and could not properly vote against it. So when
the vote was being taken on July 24, 1846, he handed to
the Vice-President his resignation. The vote being a tie,
the Vice President gave the casting vote, and the bill be¬
came a law. Mr. Haywood later published a long address
to the people of the State, explaining his action, but it did not
satisfy his Democratic friends. He passed out of public
life. This McKay Tariff Act was the lowest that had ever
been enacted since the early years of the government and
in its effects it was the best ever passed by Congress. It
was followed by a period of great prosperity, although
it is true that other circumstances combined to promote the
fortunate conditions that then existed in this country. So
well satisfied did the people become with the operations of
this McKay measure that for fifteen years no effort was
made to repeal it, and in 1856 no reference was made to the
tariff by any political party.

CHAPTER XXVIII

The Whig Regime

Purchase of Raleigh and Gaston Railroad. — Graham and Shep¬
ard contest for Governor. — War with Mexico. — A regiment called
for. — Governor Graham calls for volunteers. — The prompt re¬
sponse. — The Whigs carry the State and Assembly. — Badger and
Mangum Senators. — The benefit of the railroads. — Governor Gra¬
ham urges road from Raleigh to Fayetteville, then to Charlotte
and Camden. — All counties in the school system. — National flag
over Capitol. — Regimental officers. — Morganton Supreme Court. —
Railroad projects. — The Wilmington and Manchester. — Other in¬
corporations. — Gaston, Alexander and Polk counties established.
— The telegraph company. — Dr. Mitchell’s report. — The route
from Fayetteville to Salisbury. — Louis D. Wilson. — Lieutenant
Hoskins. — The congressional districts. — The Albemarle fisheries.
— The new inlets. — The school for the deaf and dumb. — The North
Carolina regiment organized and officered. — Payne, Colonel. —
Hoke’s and Clarke’s companies. — The regiment conveyed to the
Brazos. — Its hard service. — Payne’s wooden horse. — The soldiers’
meeting. — The colonel kills a private. — The officers protest. —
General Wood acts. — The court-martial. — The war ends. — The
troops return. — Patriotic reception. — The Whigs successful in
congressional election.

Purchase of the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad

Under the act of Assembly proceedings had been instituted
to foreclose the mortgage on the Raleigh and Gaston Rail¬
road, and the property of that company was brought to sale
on January i, 1846, and purchased by the State at $300,000;
and Wesley Hollester was appointed president and superin¬
tendent and W. W. Vass, treasurer, and the road was there¬
after operated by the State.

Contemporaneously with this sale, early in January, the
two parties held their conventions for the nomination for
Governor. The Whigs naturally were unanimous for the
reelection of Governor Graham.

Many were the aspirants for the honor of nomination by
the Democratic convention, but Charles Fisher of Salisbury
was the favorite. However, he declined to be a candidate,
and the convention had to look elsewhere. Now, for the
29

1846

Graham and
Shepard

450

THE WHIG REGIME

1846

Sprunt
Mon. 15,

p. 106

The election

first time, the nomination was made by a ballot of the coun¬
ties, and Green W. Caldwell was nominated. But he, too,
later declined because of ill health.

Walter F. Leak of Richmond County being brought for¬
ward in county meetings announced himself, but the Demo¬
cratic State Committee announced that James B. Shepard of
Wake should be the candidate. About the middle of May
Leak withdrew, but the Democratic party had been handi¬
capped by the differences. The Democrats also were thrown
into some confusion by the action of Senator Haywood in
regard to the administration tariff bill — and his resignation.

The war with Mexico

Because of differences arising from the annexation of
Texas between this country and Mexico, a state of hostilities
was declared and in May, 1846, the President made a requi¬
sition for one regiment of North Carolina volunteers to
be enrolled to aid in the prosecution of the war.

At once Governor Graham issued an order calling for
volunteers by companies, and with commendable promptness
more than three times the required number volunteered.
The companies to be taken were selected by lot, and the regi¬
ment was in waiting for organization ; but although the
troops were then sworn in no further steps were taken
until November.

It was while the war fever was at its height that the elec¬
tion came on. The Democrats were somewhat disheartened
because of Senator Haywood’s resignation and the family
troubles over their candidate for Governor, while the Whigs
were proud of Graham, their Governor.

Graham gained 1,000 votes over his previous one, and
Shepard fell behind Hoke nearly 4,000 — Graham’s majority
running up to 7,859 ; and the Whigs had control of the Leg¬
islature, having three majority in the Senate and ten in the
House.

Eventually, on November 16, the War Department called
for one regiment of troops for immediate service, the service
to continue during the war. These terms being different,
only one company of the ten that had previously volunteered

JOYNER AND STANLY SPEAKERS

451

accepted them, that of Captain Richard W. Long at Salis¬
bury. The others disbanded. Thereupon Governor Graham
in December called for volunteers under the new terms as
he had done in May.

The Assembly

When the Assembly met, the Speakers elected were
Joyner in the Senate and Stanly in the House. To succeed
Senator Haywood, Judge George E. Badger was elected to
the Senate, the Democrats voting for Asa Biggs ; and
Senator Mangum was reelected to succeed himself, the Dem¬
ocratic choice being J. J. McKay, the chairman of the Com¬
mittee of Ways and Means of the House.

Governor Graham, in his admirable address covering all
the subjects of interest to the State, deprecated the condi¬
tions that existed, saying that the State had been afflicted by
disease to a greater and more fatal extent than usual, and
had suffered much from drought and failure of crops and
from casualties of flood and fire. It had indeed been a very
disastrous year.

The affairs of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad were
in such condition that perhaps no further trouble could oc¬
cur because of it. The advantage of that road to the State
was now realized. It was considered that the farms had
largely increased in value along the railroad line ; and in
particular was it claimed that at Wilmington in 1840 the
population was about 4,500 and its real estate was valued
at $650,000, while now the population was estimated at
9,000, and the real estate at $1,500,000.

The Raleigh and Gaston having been bought by the State
had been operated by the State for ten months, and the re¬
sult shows the earnings for that period were $51,678 and the
disbursements (including the purchase of a locomotive)
only $36,000. So the Governor was hopeful that the road
would be self-sustaining. He urged a road from Raleigh to
Fayetteville. As roads were projected from both Wilming¬
ton and Raleigh into South Carolina, he preferred one from
Fayetteville to Charlotte or Salisbury and thence to Camden.
The reopening of the inlet at Nags Head was urged and the

H. Waddell’s
report, Leg.
Doc., 18,
1846

452

THE WHIG REGIME

The field
officers

Railroad

Governor recommended the opening of the Neuse and
Yadkin for navigation.

He mentioned that all the counties were now in the com¬
mon school system, and he urged that a commissioner of
common schools should be appointed. Governor Graham
announced to the Assembly that the last Legislature having
ordered the purchase of a national flag he had caused a flag
staff: to be erected on the Capitol, and the national flag
to be raised there whenever the Assembly was in session.

Under the law he thought the Governor had the right to
appoint the field officers of the regiment to go to Mexico,
but he submitted the question to the Legislature, which later
authorized the Governor to appoint and commission the
field officers of the regiment then called into service ; but the
men and officers of all subsequent regiments were to elect
their own field officers.

Changes in the law

At the previous session, the Legislature had enacted that
the attorneys in a case could argue the law as well as the
facts to the jury trying the case; and at this session pro¬
vision was made for the executors and administrators to
obtain a license to sell real estate for assets, the residue to
be considered as real estate. And for the convenience of the
people of the west it was directed that a session of the Su¬
preme Court should be held at Morganton in August, and
appeals from the western counties should be heard there.

New projects

Many turnpikes were provided for, and a corporation
was created to construct a canal between the Yadkin and
Cape Fear rivers.

The hard case of the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad had
not deterred enterprising citizens from proposing other
lines. Indeed two roads were now projected in aid of the
Raleigh and Gaston ; one called the Roanoke Road was to
construct a line from Weldon to Margarettsville, and also to
some point on the Raleigh and Gaston, making a northern
connection with this road ; and a company was chartered to

MITCHELL’S SURVEYS'

453

construct a road from Raleigh via Fayetteville into South
Carolina, connecting with the road to Camden. These two
extensions it was hoped would put the Raleigh and Gaston
on its feet. Similarly a road was proposed from Charlotte
to Columbia, and another was incorporated as the Wilming¬
ton and Manchester to connect the Wilmington and Weldon
with the South Carolina lines.

The survey of a turnpike to the west, authorized by the
previous Legislature was made by Dr. Elisha Mitchell of the
Lhiiversity. Dr. Mitchell in his report said : “It is most
desirable that the eastern and western sections of this great
commonwealth should be bound together by an easy and free
communication with them. An intelligent gentleman in the
western part of the State remarked to me, as things now are,
he has less to do with the people in the northern side of
Albemarle Sound than with those of some of the remotest
regions of the globe.”

Dr. Mitchell made a most interesting report of his surveys.
The road from Raleigh should go to Salisbury; and that
from Fayetteville should join it at Salisbury. “There is no
place for which so little has been done in the way of road
making between it and a market as Salisbury. A road has
never been cut out from Salisbury to Fayetteville. At 83
miles from Fayetteville sand is struck, which continues 30
miles, and through the greater part of this 30 miles there is
no road ; every person starts a route for himself. Mostly
they follow the ‘old trail’ by which the buffaloes and the
Indians used to come down to the coast. South Carolina
by her railroads is drawing more and more of the trade
west of the Yadkin.” He did not think that a railroad
would pay; nor could a railroad be built except at great
cost. He recommended a rounded dirt turnpike.

A later geologist, after mentioning the Raleigh belt of
Laurentian on the east with an easterly dip, speaks of the
more western structure, the great central mineral-bearing
slate belt. This tract extends across the State in a breadth
of 20 to 40 miles, and is composed of slates, the pebbles be¬
ing sometimes a foot and upwards in diameter. Near the
middle of this body of slates in Montgomery County is a

Mitchell’s
report, Leg.
Doc., 1846

The

difficulties

454

THE WHIG REGIME

1846

Kerr, 20 f.

Redistricting

The Inlets

very heavy ledge of silicious slates. A notable character¬
istic of this belt of rocks is the abundance of quartz veins.
The dip is west at high angles. The streams of this central
section of the State are separated by parallel ridges whose
crests descend very gradually from the northern divide,
several preserving an elevation of 600 feet, to the State line.
Near the middle of this region in a northeast direction is a
succession of elevated ridges and knobs, visible one from
another, and extending from the Uwharrie Mountains in
Montgomery to the heights in Person and Granville, some
of them rising to 1,000 feet. These hard, slaty ridges are
doubtless the remains of an ancient continuous mountain
chain.

Such were some of the natural features of the country
between the eastern and western sections that presented ob¬
stacles to transportation and led Governor Morehead and
others to think it impossible to build a railroad from Raleigh
to the west.

The Whigs were not content with the congressional dis¬
tricts as laid off by the Democrats, saying that the districts
were composed of counties that had no common interests ;
in some instances merely being continuous like a string, and
being similar to those of Massachusetts that gave rise to
the word “Gerrymander.” Therefore, the Legislature laid
off the districts anew to suit their ideas of political fairness,
and, as Rayner was the author of the measure, the Demo¬
crats stigmatized it as the “Rayner-Mander.”

The fisheries of Albemarle

The fisheries were now important. It appears that 1,000
hands were at this time employed with the seines, and more
than 100 vessels ; besides the stave getters and coopers to
make the barrels to contain . the fish. More than 50,000
bushels of salt were used. Formerly there were several in¬
lets through the banks, but these in some places were closed
and the fish had decreased. But in 1846 there were two
great storms and Hatteras Inlet was opened above Ocracoke
and near where the old Hatteras Inlet had been ; and a new
inlet broke through south of Nags Head, which at first had

THREE NEW COUNTIES

455

no name. But a merchant at Washington, W. H. Willard,
had purchased a steamboat in New York named the Oregon,
and as the vessel reached the coast north of Hatteras, a storm
arose, and the captain ran the peril of trying to pass through
the new inlet. He did so safely; and the name of the first
vessel to pass through it was given to that inlet. “The
quantity of fish taken in the sounds had increased since these
inlets were opened.”

The deaf and dumb school

Soon after the adjournment of the previous Legislature,
the Literary Board entered into an agreement with William
D. Cooke to open a school for the deaf and dumb at
Raleigh, to begin on May i, 1845, the cost was to be $160 for
each pupil. And the Board also took steps to open a school
for the blind, employing a competent teacher at Boston ; but
after all the furniture and equipment were purchased, the
teacher required “a license to discuss southern institutions
in a manner inconsistent with our laws” ; and the undertak¬
ing fell through. Mr. Cooke reported that there were 23
pupils of the deaf and dumb at his school and the Legisla¬
ture now appropriated $10,000 to build a suitable school
building for these and the blind. Such were the initial steps
taken to provide for these unfortunate children.

Common schools and new corporations

It was considered that the chief drawback to the public
schools was the want of competent teachers, and the Com¬
mittee on Schools, of which David A. Barnes was chairman,
reported in favor of a commissioner of common schools, to
be appointed by the Governor. The Assembly, however, did
not favorably respond. The system continued without a
head. Thirteen new academies were incorporated. Several
mining companies and manufacturing companies were in¬
corporated, and the Merchants Steamboat Company, and the
Henrietta Steamboat Company were chartered at Fayette¬
ville.

The counties of Gaston, Alexander and Polk were
incorporated.

Skinner,
Leg. Doc.,
1846

456

THE WHIG REGIME

The

telegraph

In 1844 the first electric telegraph line was run and
operated. It was between Baltimore and Washington, and,
it proving feasible, at this session, the Washington and
New Orleans Magnetic Telegraph Company was incorpo¬
rated in the State, with a provision that it should have an
office at Raleigh.

Wilson’s service and death

In raising military companies, volunteering was slack.
Enthusiasm had died out. In those circumstances, Louis
Wilson, the white-haired Senator from Edgecombe, about
fifty-seven years old, who had served in the Legislature, with
some interruptions, since 1815, who had amassed such a
fortune that he left $40,000 for the poor of Edgecombe
County, now proposed to set an example of patriotism. He
stimulated the embodying of a company in his county, him¬
self enlisting as a private. The organization was to take
place on January 5, 1847, and being a member of the Senate,
he asked leave of absence. The Senate, upon granting him
leave of absence on December 31, unanimously adopted most
commendatory resolutions relative to his past services to the
State and its conviction that his career in the army would be
equally distinguished for patriotism, courage and devotion.

On the organization of his company he was elected cap¬
tain and on April 9 he was assigned by the President to the
command of the Twelfth Regiment. His service, however,
was but too short. While at Vera Cruz he was seized with
fever, and after some recuperation he was assigned to com¬
mand the relief train from Vera Cruz to the front; but on
August 12 he succumbed to the disease and was buried with
high military honors. Subsequently, his remains were laid
to rest in Tarboro, and a part of Edgecombe County was
later incorporated as the county of Wilson in his remem¬
brance. To Wilson’s action in forming this company is as¬
cribed a revival of patriotic ardor ; the people early re¬
sponded, and the North Carolina Regiment was soon en¬
listed. To aid the soldiers of this State volunteering for
the Mexican War, twenty thousand dollars was appropriated.

HOSKINS FALLS IN BATTLE

45 7

Death of Hoskins

On September 21, 22, and 23, 1846, General Taylor fought
at Monterey, and the Assembly adopted a resolution tender¬
ing the thanks of the State to the gallant soldiers natives of
the State who were there engaged ; and in particular the
Legislature recorded its unfeigned sorrow at the death of
Lieutenant Charles Hoskins, killed in that battle. Lieutenant
Hoskins was of the Edenton family of that name. He grad¬
uated at West Point in 1836, and became adjutant of the
Fourth Regiment. General Grant in his personal memoirs,
speaking of the assault and retreat from the attack on Mon¬
terey, said : “I was, I believe, the only person in the Fourth
Infantry in the charge who was on horseback. When we
got to a place of safety the regiment halted and drew itself
together — what was left of it. The adjutant of the regi¬
ment, Lieutenant Hoskins, who was not in robust health,
found himself very much fatigued from running on foot in
the charge and retreat — and seeing me on horseback ex¬
pressed a wish that he could be mounted also. I offered
him my horse and he accepted the offer. The adjutant to
whom I loaned my horse was killed and I was designated to
act in his place.”

The National Intelligencer said : “Lieutenant Hoskins
possessed a quick and sagacious intellect; he cherished a
high and nice sense of honor; and was remarkable for the
generosity and chivalry of his character, and for those win¬
ning traits which ever secured the regard and respect of
those with whom he served.”

The North Carolina Regiment

Captain Wilson having organized his company at Tarboro
in December, 1846, it was called into service at Smithville
(Southport) on January 8, 1847, Captain Samuel L. Fre¬
mont being the officer to swear the troops in. This com¬
pany became Company A of the North Carolina Regiment
of Infantry. The next company to report was raised at
Goldsboro by Captain Henry Roberts. It was soon followed
by Captain Martin Shine’s company raised at Concord, and

Charles

Hoskins

Biog. Hist.,
VII, 259

45^

THE WHIG REGIME

The

regiment

Captain Tilman Blalock’s company raised in Yancey. An¬
other Tarboro company , Captain W. S. Duggan, likewise
raised in December, 1846, and mustered in January 12, 1847,
became Company E. Captain George Williamson’s com¬
pany raised at Yancey ville in January was Company F.
Captain Patrick M. Henry’s company, raised at Double
Springs, was Company G. Captain William J. Price led a
company on record as raised at Raleigh, but composed as
well of Orange County volunteers. These were sworn in
January 19, 1847. Captain W. E. Kirkpatrick organized a
company at Fayetteville and it was accepted February 12,
1847, as Company I. Company K was raised at Murphy by
Captain Samuel F. Tipton in March and sworn in April 10.
There were two other companies all ready in December to re¬
port and be sworn in ; but the Fegislature in making the ap¬
propriation for the transportation and other expenses of the
companies put on record as a preamble to its resolution that
“the war was brought on by the President and was unjust,”
etc. ; and this was so abhorrent to those who had raised the
companies that they were disbanded.

The attitude of the Whigs towards the war was very
offensive to the Democrats, but not so bitterly partisan as
that of Mr. Corwin, an influential Senator from Ohio, who
proclaimed that he hoped the Mexicans would “welcome the
soldiers of the United States to hospitable, but bloody
graves.”

Indeed, partisan feeling in the State ran high. At last,
on April 10, 1847, Governor Graham having appointed a
Whig member of the Legislature, Robert T. Paine, who had
voted for the offensive preamble, to be colonel of the regi¬
ment, and John M. Fagg, another Whig member, to be
lieutenant-colonel and Montford T. Stokes, a Democrat, and
of the family long distinguished for its patriotism and ca¬
pacity, the major of the regiment; the regiment was organ¬
ized at Smithville and was ready for service. It was con¬
veyed in four divisions in transports to the Brazos.

At the front

There were besides the above, two other companies that
volunteered, one raised by Captain Walter P. Richards in the

CAROLINIANS IN MEXICO

459

spring of 1847, of which John F. Hoke later became cap¬
tain, and one raised by William J. Clarke of New Bern.
These two companies became respectively Companies G and I,
of the Twelfth Regiment of United States troops; and when
in April, it was brought to the attention of the President that
L. D. Wilson, who was the senior captain of the North Car¬
olina Regiment, had been subordinated to Paine, the Presi¬
dent appointed Wilson a colonel in the regular army and
assigned him to command the Twelfth Regiment. The first
companies to arrive on the Brazos were A, E, B, C and D.
They were riioved up the Rio Grande to Camargo ; the other
companies followed. The march, occupying three days,
was a fearful experience, and fever was very prevalent.
Indeed because of the great heat and thirst the troops would
drink stagnant water from the lagoons, and the effect was
disastrous, half the men were stricken and there were 38
deaths in the month of July alone and four times as many
before their return.

General Taylor was in command on the Rio Grande and
now hjs seasoned troops were in the highlands of Mexico.
After the victories of Monterey, Reseca de la Palma and
Saltillo, Taylor and his troops were applauded throughout
the Union; but the North Carolina regiment was not with
the fighting force, although it was called on to do scout serv¬
ice, and Colonel Paine wrote : “I venture the assertion that
the regiment has seen more hard service than any volunteers
or regulars in this division of the army.” Towards the end
of July Captains Price and Williamson and Lieutenant
Southern were sent home to raise recruits to bring the com¬
panies up to the standard of 100 men.

In the meantime the dissatisfaction with the course of the
Whigs had led to a disposition to criticize the military con¬
duct of Colonel Paine, and while he was brave and sought
the best interests of his regiment, he was a strict discipli¬
narian and his regiment had a high reputation for efficiency
as soldiers. At Buena Vista, where he was in camp, there
were regiments also from Virginia and Mississippi. Gen¬
eral Wood was in the immediate command, Taylor being
too far away to supervise. The Colonel’s tent was sur-

Paine’s

trouble

460

THE WHIG REGIME

rounded by those of his companies, and he shared the life
of his troops ; but unfortunately some of his actions were
sometimes regarded as tyrannical by some of the men. One
day in August he had a carpenter to make for him a wooden
horse with a rude head and tail and long legs. That was
placed by his tent ; and it was given out that the men who
needed punishment would be made “to ride the horse.”
That aroused great indignation, which the North Carolina
troops disseminated among the other regiments ; and .some
Virginians one night raised a riot and destroyed the horse.
That was followed by throwing stones, large enough to
kill a man, at the Colonel’s tent. It was regarded as a
mutiny, and when some of the North Carolina officers were
directed to establish a guard and arrest men not obedient to
orders, some of the men refused to turn out and some of
the officers refrained from active exertions to maintain order
and discipline. At a particular crisis the Colonel, who cer¬
tainly was courageous and intrepid, deemed it proper to
shoot at a man, and killed him while wounding another.
The man killed was a private in Company A, the one
wounded was a Virginian. The next day many of the officers
joined in a Round Robin asking the Colonel to resign; but
at once most of them withdrew their signatures and de¬
clared their meaning was that it would be better for the
Colonel to separate himself from the men. However, Gen¬
eral Wood immediately dismissed two of the commissioned
officers and discharged two of the privates.

On this becoming known to the President, he stated that
General Wood had no authority for such action, and the
officers were reinstated, and a court-martial was ordered
to try the officers.

The court was held in February, 1848, and on the 57th
day made its report. It found that a mutiny was in prog¬
ress the preceding August, and sustained the action of
Colonel Paine in killing the man and of General Wood in
dismissing the officers, “that the crisis demanded prompt
and decisive measures, and that the best results followed.”
That the regiment was a good one is certain and it rendered
very efficient service. Early in 1848 General Scott was

PEACE WITH MEXICO

461

ordered to take command of the forces in Mexico, and an
army was concentrated at Vera Cruz, Taylor sending a
large part of his regular army from the north to Scott’s aid.
Scott hastened towards the City of Mexico, and after a series
of fine victories took possession of that city. The North
Carolina regiment, however, remained at the north. The
treaty of peace was signed in February, 1848, and the war
being over, the troops were soon ordered home. Although
not engaged in the severe fighting, hard had been their
service and important was the part assigned to them, and
well performed. A part of the North Carolina regiment,
six companies, was landed at Smithville and discharged
there August 7, while the other companies were landed at
West Point, Va., and. discharged there July 28. On their
return, all the companies were received with demonstrations
of joy and patriotic ardor and of public approval. By
the terms of the treaty, the United States acquired Cali¬
fornia and a vast extent of western territory.

Congressional election

The new arrangement of congressional districts was an¬
swerable to the purposes of the Whigs who had been very
proscriptive as to all offices, turning out every Democrat
they were able to reach.

At the August election the Whigs elected twice as many
of the delegation as their opponents; the only Democrats
retained were McKay and Daniel, but Abraham W. Venable
of Granville was likewise successful. Cumberland County
that had been in the Wake district, was now in the Bladen
district, and Mr. Dobbin retired in favor of McKay. The
other six were Whigs.

CHAPTER XXIX

1848

The Turning Point in State Life

The elections. — The Wilmot proviso. — Manly and Reid con¬
test. — Reid proposes “free suffrage.” — Taylor President. — The
railroads. — Navigation companies. — The Deep River basin. —
Plank roads introduced. — New problems. — The Assembly. — Both
houses a tie. — Gilliam presides in House; Graves in Senate. —
Graham’s recommendations. — The North Carolina Railroad. —
Partyism. — Pearson on Supreme Court. — Ellis a judge. — Waddell
versus Berry. — Alamance and Watauga counties. — The turning
point. — Manly inaugurated. — Dobbin’s speech for asylum. — The
transportation question. — Contest over the Charlotte and Dan¬
ville road. — The Ashe bill. — The great interest and opposition. —
It fails in the House. — The Fayetteville and Western plank road.
— The State Aid men rally. — The North Carolina Railroad bill
passes the House. — It awaits the Plank Road bill in the Senate. —
The tie vote. — The excitement. — The anxiety. — Graves breaks the
tie. — The joy.

The legislation of 1848

There was opposition at the North to the acquirement of
any territory from Mexico, as well as the annexation of
Texas, because it would extend slavery territory. There
were not only Birney Abolitionists, but Free-Soilers, many
of the latter being Democrats.

In 1846, David Wilmot, a Democratic representative from
Pennsylvania, offered as a proviso to a bill then pending
in the House of Representatives with respect to territory
that might be acquired from Mexico — “Provided, that slav¬
ery should be excluded from any territory so acquired."
The House accepted the proviso, but the Senate rejected
it. It, however, formulated to a large extent Northern
thought, and, as it would be a repeal of the Missouri Com¬
promise, slavery now more than ever was a subject of
agitation.

While many Democrats at the North espoused the anti¬
slavery side and Van Buren became the leader of the Free-
Soilers, yet the drift from the Whig party was much

“ FREE SUFFRAGE'’ PROPOSED

463

stronger. Among the Whigs in the State, there had long
existed a cleavage, and now some became more impressed
with the abolition tendencies of the North than others.

As Graham could not be reelected Governor, the Whig
Convention at first had presented to it many aspirants. It
decided to takes Charles Manly, a brother-in-law of Gov¬
ernor Dudley and of Senator Haywood, a man of erudition
and of agreeable manners, who for a quarter of a century
had been associated with the members of the Assembly as
Clerk of one House or the other. The convention denounced
Polk’s administration and particularly the war with Mexico,
and extolled Clay’s policies, and finally endorsed the mili¬
tary heroes, Taylor and Scott, and Clay as their favorites
for the presidency. On the 22d of February, the day the
convention met, the treaty of peace with Mexico was rati¬
fied by the Senate. Mangum voted for the ratification ;
Badger against it, along with some Northern Senators.

Nearly two months later the Democrats held their con¬
vention. While the outlook for success seemed doubtful,
there were several whose names were suggested by their re¬
spective county conventions ; but at length the name of
David S. Reid was brought before the convention and ac¬
cepted. Mr. Reid had been in the State Senate and had
served two terms in Congress, but by the “Rayner-Mander,”
was cut out. He was at his home in Caswell, and, when
notified, wrote a letter declining the nomination. At once
a messenger was sent asking him to come to Raleigh. He
came and declared that he would make the race only on con¬
dition that he might advocate a change in the State Consti¬
tution annulling the provision limiting voters for State
Senators to freeholders. He proposed ‘Tree suffrage” as
to both houses. Holden, the editor, and some of the other
leaders assented ; although there was no authority by the
convention for such a position. On that basis, Reid ac¬
cepted and entered on the campaign. When at their first
meeting he sprang that issue on his competitor, Manly, the
Whigs were dumbfounded. Th^re was some difference
of opinion, but Manly and his party accepted the issue.
While Reid was neither an eloquent orator nor a brilliant

The Whig
platform

The treaty

Reid pro¬
poses free
suffrage

464

TURNING POINT IN STATE LIFE

Manly and
Reid

man, he had profound sagacity and was adept in addressing
his audiences ; and his integrity, purity and personal charac¬
teristics ranked him high in the regard and esteem of those
who knew him.

At the election, Manly polled about the usual Whig
strength, but the Democrats rallied several thousand new
voters to their aid, and came near electing Reid. Indeed, a
change of 450 votes would have secured him the prize, his
support being 6,000 more than Shepard’s two years before.
In the Senate, and in the House as well, the parties were
tied, the Democrats having secured ten more votes in the
House than at the previous election. This close result in
August now increased the interest in the presidential
election.

The National conventions

In the Democratic National Convention held on May 7,
the North Carolina delegation presented James I. McKay
for the vice-presidency and at first voted for James Buch¬
anan for President, but later, for Lewis Cass of Michigan,
who was nominated along with William O. Butler of Ken¬
tucky for Vice-President, a hero of the war of 1812, and of
the Mexican war, also.

Governor Morehead presided over the Whig National
Convention, held in Philadelphia on 7th of June. There
was great enthusiasm. Governor Morehead was for Clay,
but the delegation gave a majority to Taylor who on the 4th
ballot was nominated over Clay, Scott and Webster. The
South and West nominated him. Fillmore of New York was
nominated for Vice-President. Taylor owned a plantation
in Louisiana, and was a slaveholder. The South gave him
eight more electoral votes than it gave to Cass. The result
was: Taylor, 1,360,010 popular votes and 163 electoral votes
in 15 states; Cass, 1,220,544 popular votes and 127 electoral
votes in 15 states; Van Buren, Free Soil, received 290,263
popular votes. Pennsylvania gave her 26 votes to Taylor,
and elected him.

NEW PROBLEMS

465

New conditions

When the Assembly met in November, conditions had
brought forward new problems. Eight years had elapsed
since the completion of the two railroads, and although new
roads were prospected, no further effort had been made to
provide similar transportation facilities. In some other
states where extravagant hopes had led to great endeavors
the results had not been answerable to the expectations, and
financial distress had followed. Here the promoters of the
Wilmington road rejoiced that they had been led to go di¬
rect to Weldon, and, with their steamboats, had a through
line from the South to the North. Starting in 1841, their
operations had resulted for that year in transporting 9,782
through passengers, and 5,498 way passengers — the receipts
being $291,298 and the expenditures $241,948. By 1848,
the through passengers were 11,458 and way, 28,327. The
receipts being $317,459 and expenditures $275,928. The
company needed money to substitute for the light bar iron
rail a heavier and more permanent rail, and it had sold bonds
bearing five per cent interest in England to the amount of
$222,666. The first improved rail was in the shape of a
“U,” but soon the T rail, weighing 52 pounds to the yard,
was introduced. But even on that road, President McRae,
in his report, said: “We have been straitened for money
to transport all the freight offering” ; and it was said that
the authorities urged the inhabitants having access to the
Northeast Cape Fear River to resort to the river, as in pre¬
vious times, saying that they “did not want to wear out
their road hauling such heavy freight — tar, turpentine,
rosin,” etc.

The real estate along the line of that road was valued in
1847 at about two million dollars more than when the road
was opened. The cost of new iron for the entire line would
be about $600,000, being $4,000 a mile. The entire num¬
ber of employees, including shops and steamboats, was
458, of whom half were negro laborers.

The situation of the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad had
gone from bad to worse. In February, 1848, a destructive

fire at Raleigh had destroyed all the machine shops and had
30

Condition of
W. and W.
Railroad

Leg. Doc.,
1848

The flat iron

R. and G.
Railroad

466

TURNING POINT IN STATE LIFE

Other

companies

Leg. Doc.,
1848

Coal deposits

injured five engines, destroying one entirely, and four par¬
tially. Some little new iron had been obtained, and for ten
miles from Gaston the road was in good condition; but on
the rest of the line, “the flat iron was much broken, and
there was a great waste of labor in temporarily refitting the
fragments, that were soon broken again. And, indeed, it
was said that there were four miles on which there was no
iron at all. The bridge between Gaston and Blakely more¬
over, was in bad condition, and the road needed money at
once. While the receipts were about equal to the ordinary
working expenditures, with no southern connection, there
was no hope of any increase in earnings.

The Portsmouth and Weldon road had failed and was not
running; later, it was restored and put in operation. The
Roanoke Navigation Company, with a capital of $395,000,
was making dividends on the tolls on produce brought down
the river, and their improvements were all substantially
completed.

The Cape Fear Transportation Company had spent
$61,218 in improving the river below Fayetteville, and steam¬
boats were plying regularly. They had spent $60,000 on
the canal at Fayetteville, and $41,000 on the Buckhorn Canal
at Haywood, and $13,000 on the river above Fayetteville.
The great project had been to establish water transporta¬
tion from Fayetteville high up Deep River. A civil engi¬
neer, Colonel Thompson, employed by Walter Gwvnn,
the general adviser of the Board of Navigation, now made
an elaborate report, describing the locks, dams, canals, etc.,
that were to be constructed from Fayetteville up the Deep
River to within 33 miles of the Yadkin. In it, he said :
“Upon Deep River, 12 miles above its confluence with the
Haw, we first come upon the bituminous coal deposits, which
extend on both sides of that river for some fifteen miles
above and form one vast coal basin. At some points
the borings have been continued some twenty feet without
finding the thickness of the bed.” “Hematite iron ore is
also found upon the banks of Deep River, soapstone, and
also a substance very much resembling black lead.” The

STEAMBOATS AND PLANK ROADS

467

engineer suggested the use of such steamboats as were run¬
ning on the Neuse, very light draft.

On the Neuse, but little progress had been made in clear¬
ing out the river ; but Captain Dibble had a steamboat on
it “100 feet long by 17 feet wide, the paddle being at the
stern, and drawing when light but 18 inches,” and two years
later the Dibble Steamboat Company was chartered. On
the Tar, and up the Roanoke, there was at least one steam¬
boat — the Oregon, employed by an enterprising merchant,
W. H. Willard, in his business, which attained great pro¬
portions — he largely supplying Charleston with corn pro¬
duced in the great granary of the eastern counties. In the
interest of commerce, there was agitation for clearing out
the Oregon Inlet and other improvements of the great sound.

Plank roads were now coming into use. Two were pro¬
jected from Wilmington through the deep sandy country of
that region ; and one from Fayetteville across the sands to the
west, and there was, as ever, talk of a turnpike from
Raleigh westward ; and of one from Salisbury to the Georgia
line.

There was under construction a railroad from Charlotte
to Columbia, where it would connect with the South Caro¬
lina road that had been built to Charleston and other points
at the south. In Virginia, a road from Richmond to Dan¬
ville was being built ; and its promoters, like the South Caro¬
lina capitalists, were desirous of effecting communication be¬
tween these lines. That project led to a proposition to build
a road from Charlotte to Danville, which found ardent favor
along the proposed line. Governor Morehead at Greens¬
boro, Rufus Barringer at Concord and John W. Ellis at
Salisbury but voiced the feeling of the western and middle
counties in urging such a road.

The west had ever been so cut off from the east by natural
obstacles, forbidding transportation, that practically all the
western trade was either with Virginia or South Carolina ;
and the situation was, indeed, such that at times some of the
western people desired to form a separate state.

While these projects were discussed, a new subject was
also in the public mind — the care of the insane — the con¬
struction of an asylum, where those who were bereft of their

Steamboats

Plank roads

Charlotte
and Danville

The insane

468

TURNING POINT IN STATE LIFE

1848-49

The actors

The houses
tied

reason could be treated with humanity and decency, instead
of being confined in jails, often in irons, and in the county
poorhouses, or locked up on the premises of their kinspeople.

The Assembly

The personnel of the Assembly was superior. Among the
Senators were W. N. H. Smith, Joyner, Speight, Murchi¬
son, Geo. W. Thompson, Hawkins, John M. Worth, John
A. Gilmer, Patterson, Woodfin, Thomas, W. S. Ashe and
Calvin Graves ; and in the House were Stanly, Thomas Mc¬
Dowell, Tod Caldwell, Rufus Barringer, Ferebee, Colonel
Paine, James Leach, ' Clement, Gilliam, D. F. Caldwell,
Richard H. Smith, Rayner, Wooten, S. J. Person, GiRs
Mebane, John W. Ellis and J. C. Dobbin. It was, indeed,
a veritable assembly of wise and patriotic men, devoted to
their people and State. Many were either then distin¬
guished, or afterwards attained high distinction.

Among those playing particular parts at this session were
Rufus Barringer, later the famous cavalry leader in the
great war; Stanly, long practiced in public affairs, and a
Whig leader, devoted to the interests of. the commonwealth ;
Gilmer and Woodfin, both Whigs, men of great mould and
lofty character ; Gilliam, courteous, admired, and learned ;
Calvin Graves, a strong man, firm in his democracy, but
firmer in his patriotism ; Ashe and Dobbin — friends from
boyhood — Dobbin, delicate, cultured and refined and of such
purity as to equal, at least, the venerated Gaston ; Ashe, a
student, but robust, jovial and a manager of men- in ac¬
complishing results. Both were followers of Jefferson in
the school of states’ rights ; but discarded the negative phil¬
osophy of their Democratic associates and advocating State
participation in enterprises that tended to prosperity and
development.

There being a tie in each house, the Whigs insisted that
the assemblymen should have regard to the voice of the
people ; and that as the people had elected a Whig Governor,
and had given Taylor in November more than 8,000 major¬
ity, therefore, in the unusual situation, the Whigs were en¬
titled to the organization. In the House, they presented

PROPERTY VALUES INCREASE

469

Robert B. Gilliam as their candidate for Speaker, and the
Democrats offered James C. Dobbin of Fayetteville. On the
first and second days there was no choice; and on the morn¬
ing of the third day, Mr. Dobbin withdrew his name and
Gilliam received twenty-two Democratic votes, and was
elected.

In the Senate, where W. S. Ashe of New Hanover seems
to have been the most active among the Democrats, the sit¬
uation was not so easily clarified. Ashe presented Calvin
Graves for Speaker, and the Whigs, Andrew Joyner. There
was no election.

At length, on the afternoon of the 4th day, Senator Pat¬
terson offered some resolutions that the organization could
not be effected without conciliation and concession, and that
the Speaker be given to the Democratic party, but that the
present clerks be retained. The Senate by a vote agreed to
that 25 to 21, and Calvin Graves was elected, seventeen
Whigs voting for him.

Gilliam and

Graves,

speakers

Graves in
Senate

Graham’s message

Governor Graham now transmitted his message. Like his
former one it was largely devoted to State affairs. He
mentioned that under the act of 1846, two millions of acres
had been added to the land listed for taxation, and the valu¬
ation of the land and town lots had risen to sixty-six mil¬
lion dollars, being an increase of eleven millions. While
the buildings for the education of the deaf and blind were
then in process of construction, the school for the deaf
mutes was in progress with 25 pupils. The money distrib¬
uted for public schools in 1847 was over $101,000 — but many
of the counties had not levied the tax for their one-half to
be contributed by them. He suggested that the delinquent
counties should be required to levy the tax. Also he re¬
peated his recommendation for a Commissioner of the Pub¬
lic Schools. In compliance with one of his suggestions the
General Assembly passed a resolution requesting future
governors to recommend a day of Thanksgiving.

Judere Daniel having died, Governor Graham had ap¬
pointed William H. Battle to that vacancy, and Augustus
Moore to the Superior Court bench to succeed Judge Battle;

470

TURNING POINT IN STATE LIFE

and Edward Stanly having resigned as Attorney-General,
he had appointed B. F. Moore to that position.

Graham’s

plan

Partyism

Transportation

The Governor urged the Assembly “to abandon further
hesitation and adopt at once a program of improvement
commensurate with the wants and interests of the State.”

In regard to the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad, he went
fully into every detail, and urged measures to make that
road profitable by extending it to Charlotte, the State sub¬
scribing to a new corporation — the North Carolina Rail¬
road Company — that would take it over. He mentioned his
proposed North Carolina railroad “as the ground work of
an extensive plan,” embracing in the future, a road from
Raleigh to Fayetteville; and another to Goldsboro; and even
one from Beaufort to Goldsboro. He recommended that
the Fegislature should contribute “one-half, or at least
two-fifths, of the necessary capital” ; and he thought that it
presented an opportunity for disposing of the Raleigh and
Gaston Railroad.

Incidentally, the Governor mentioned that the Wilmington
and Weldon Railroad was now on a paying basis ; and that
some enterprising citizens had commenced the navigation of
the Neuse and Tar with steamboats. Later, on December 4,
at the request of the Senate, he developed his plan of build¬
ing the road from Charlotte to Raleigh, the State subscribing
one-half the capital stock, and in part payment turning over
to the new company the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad at
$500,000. As all of Governor Graham’s State papers were,
this message was an illustration of his fine intelligence, high
capacity and patriotism.

Necessarily there was the usual political clashing. One
of the first matters of partisan import was the election
of a successor to Senator Badger. The parties being
evenly divided, the Democrats realized that they could not
elect one of themselves, and made no caucus nomination and
voted scatteringly ; while the Whigs adhered to Badger. As
soon as the Senate was organized, a proposition to go into
the election was made, hut unavailingly until December iq.

SLAVERY A LIVE ISSUE

4 7i

On the first ballot Badger polled the full strength of his
party, but no Democrat received a vote indicating party pref¬
erence — merely individual compliment.

In Congress, the Free Soil advocates had been very ag¬
gressive, and the proposed “Wilmot proviso” gave point to
the slavery controversy. This reopening of the slavery
question and the attitude of many Whigs at the north in re¬
gard to it had its effect on southern thought and action.
Among those who now regarded the situation with anxiety
was Thomas L. Clingman, the Whig Representative from
the Buncombe District. His position was such that several
Democrats of his district in the Assembly and Ashe from
New Hanover voted for him for Senator, hoping that some
Whigs might join them in electing him, while they disap¬
proved of some of Senator Badger’s votes in the Senate.
At length Badger received 83 votes, a majority; Clingman
67, other Democratic votes scattering.

The slavery resolution

But the Assembly was not content to be silent on the
slavery agitation. Resolutions were offered in the Senate to
the effect that the states were equal; that the Constitution
recognized the existence of slavery in the states, and Con¬
gress had no right to interfere with it or to ignore the right
of any citizen of a state to remove himself and slaves into a
territory; but that North Carolina was willing for the Mis¬
souri Compromise to be observed, and that slavery was not
to be extended into the territory north of the line fixed by
that compromise. Those resolutions were adopted unan¬
imously in the Senate, and by 57 to 30 in the House.

The election for a Supreme Court judge came on. Battle
having been appointed to succeed Judge Daniel doubtless
would have been retained, but he lived in Orange County
“where there were already three judges, a Senator and
Governor.” The contest was between Pearson and Strange,
and after many ballots the former was successful. To sup¬
ply the place of Pearson on the Superior Court bench, John
W. Ellis was elected, and to succeed Augustus Moore, who
had been appointed temporarily by the Governor, Battle

The judges

472

TURNING POINT IN STATE LIFE

Waddell

versus

Berry

was elected — who, then, after filling the temporary vacancy
on the Supreme Court, returned to his position on the Su¬
perior Court.

There was a noted contested election case in the Senate.
At the August election, the sheriff of Orange County had
awarded the certificate to Hugh Waddell — but Mr. Waddell
resigned ; and at a second election the same candidates were
voted for. Then Berry got the certificate — but Waddell
contested the election. Numerous legal questions arose,
some of which were referred to the Supreme Court, and
were considered and answered at great length by Chief Jus-,
tice Ruffin, for the court. Eventually the Senate sustained
Berry.

The points made in the case doubtless had effect in cre¬
ating a sentiment favorable to abolishing the freehold quali¬
fication in electing Senators.

Other leg¬
islation

The wife’s
property

Free suffrage

Indeed the campaign made by David S. Reid in favor of
“free suffrage,” was resumed in the Assembly. Two bills
were introduced, one to call a convention to amend the Con¬
stitution in that respect ; and the other to submit the question
to the voters — asking for the election of a three-fifths ma¬
jority in the next Assembly. While neither of these bills
passed, yet they precipitated long and heated discussions
that tended to strengthen those in favor of the measure, and
the Democratic party gained prestige.

There were a multitude of projects brought to the attention
of the Assembly, some being of particular interest, and
progress was shown in various lines.

The counties of Alamance and Watauga were established.
An act was passed making the wife’s consent necessary for
the sale or lease of her maiden property by her husband
during the period of his life ; nor could it be sold for the
husband’s debts — a great step forward from the ancient law,
and offering protection to the wives and children of the
State. A female college in Anson was incorporated, and
the Chowan Female Institute, along with thirteen other
academies, and a loan was made to the Greensboro Female

DOBBIN’S ELOQUENT APPEAL

473

College. Another Mutual Insurance Company was incor¬
porated, as were the Cape Fear Steamboat Company, and the
Wilmington Thalian Association, an organization of many
of the men of culture of that town, whose association de¬
veloped fine histrionic talent and contributed much to the
benefit of the community until suspended by the Civil War.
Three manufacturing, mining, and smelting companies were
chartered, among them that of the Deep River Company.

Needed aid was given to the Wilmington and Weldon
Railroad and small appropriations for clearing out Neuse
and Deep rivers and for similar purposes.

County superintendents of education were now provided
for, and the superintendents of the several counties were re¬
quired to make reports of statistics to the Literary Board,
paving the way for the adoption of the deferred proposition
to have a State Superintendent.

On the first of January, Governor Manly was inaugurated
— kindly, gracious and patriotic, fully acquainted with State
affairs, and well equipped and able — replacing Governor
Graham, whose administration, admirable in all things, like¬
wise is memorable for the innovation of raising the flag over
the Capitol, and for the day of State Thanksgiving. Years
were to elapse before there was a day of National Thanks¬
giving.

Dobbin’s speech

To James C. Dobbin has been accorded the praise of being
at this session the greatest benefactor of the State. A
thousand insane persons were in the jails and poorhouses of
the counties, and every effort for their relief had proved
unavailing.

Miss Dorothea Dix of Boston, who had long been devoted
in her efforts to have the insane of this country properly
cared for, had made an examination of the jails of the State
and now was urging the Legislature to construct an asylum.
She prepared a pamphlet of some 50 pages which was laid
before the Assembly, and for which she received the thanks
of that body. But the opposition to any appropriation ren¬
dered her efforts apparently unavailing, until at length Mr.

Progress

County
superin¬
tendents of
schools

Governor

Manly

Miss Dix

474

TURNING POINT IN STATE LIFE

Dobbin made an appeal that touched the souls of men and
awakened the consciences of the people. From that time
onward repugnance to the State’s doing its duty in the mat¬
ter of expenditures faded away. A new leaf was turned
in the history of the State. In the early days of the session
Miss Dix was utterly discomfited by the attitude of the
Democrats in regard to incurring debt; but Mrs. Dobbin
was very ill at the Mansion House, and Miss Dix was so
sympathetic with the invalid, that Mrs. Dobbin just before
her death, asked her husband to assist the philanthropist.

Dec., 1848 Mr. R. D. W. Connor in his sketch of Mr. Dobbin, men¬
tions '‘Mrs. Dobbin died December 18. On December 22,
Mr. Dobbin returned to his seat in the House, and moved
a reconsideration of the asylum bill, and offered an amend¬
ment which seemed to solve the problem of raising funds.
This amendment he supported in a powerful speech, tradi¬
tions of which linger to this day.

"It seemed as if he himself felt the misery of those
throughout the State who are deprived of God’s noblest
gift, as he pleaded their cause, with great eloquence, losing
sight of himself in his manly appeal for them. He seemed
not to realize that he was effecting anything until he became
conscious of the deathlike stillness in the room, and beheld
tears falling from the eyes of the Speaker of the House.

"One of his strongest partisan opponents said of his effort :
'The speech of Mr. Dobbin in favor of the bill, on Friday
morning last, was one of the most touchingly beautiful
efforts that we ever heard. Its noble and eloquent concep¬
tion, impressive delivery, and the circumstances which
prompted and attended it all combined to render it truly
worthy of the occasion.’ He won a great triumph. The
bill passed by a vote of ten to one, and ample appropriations
were made. The magnificent hospital for the insane at
Raleigh is a monument no less to the eloquence of James
C. Dobbin than to the disinterested philanthropy of Dorothea
Dix. No greater service was ever rendered to North Caro¬
lina than the service of Dorothea Dix and James C. Dobbin.
Tf Mr. Dobbin had never contributed anything else to the
happiness and honor of the State, this alone would entitle
him to the eternal gratitude of her people.”

HIGHWAY PROJECTS

475

When the site of the institution was selected it was named
Dix Hill in commemoration of Miss Dix’s great public
service.

Transportation measures

The railroad situation had given great concern. It hap¬
pened that four or five measures before the Assembly
brought a solution that proved to be eminently satisfactory
to the State and most beneficial in removing sectionalism and
unifying State interests, and harmonizing differences. Al¬
most immediately on the opening of the session, John W.
Ellis had introduced in the House the bill to incorporate
the Charlotte and Danville Company, asking no State aid.
It was referred and reported favorably. In conformity with
Governor Graham’s recommendations, primarily, to rescue
the State’s property, the Raleigh and Gaston Road, from
its financial embarrassments and make it the foundation
stone of a thorough State system, a bill to that end had been
introduced in the House. Mr. Dobbin had introduced a bill
to incorporate a plank road from Fayetteville to Salisbury,
with branches, but not asking State aid; and a measure for
the State to construct at its own expense a turnpike from
Salisbury to the mountains, and then down to the Georgia
line, was also before the Assembly.

General Barringer in a notable account of this Assembly
says — as to Governor Graham’s railroad project — “It was
pointedly objected that the first and immediate effect of such
a line would only be to build up towns and cities out of the
State, with the mere chance of an eastern extension, there¬
fore that met with no approval.”

Similarly, the Charlotte and Danville proposition was not
received with favor. “The most determined, ever-ready,
outspoken opponent of the Danville connection was the
Hon. Edward Stanly of the extreme east. No railroad was
ever likely to reach his home ; and he had no scheme to em¬
barrass him. He stood forth as a bold and really honest
advocate of any really good North Carolina system that
would likely build up our State.” But, “he boldly avowed
his purpose to fight in every conceivable way what he called

The several
measures

The

objection

Morehead’s

measure

476

TURNING POINT IN STATE LIFE

Wilmington
by Goldsboro
to Charlotte

Jan., 1849

The Ashe
bill taken

House Jour¬
nal, 672

Ibid, 673

‘The Danville Sale/ ” But he would often say that “the
friends of this South Carolina and Virginia bondage were
not to blame, so long as the North Carolina Assembly failed
to give our people a real North Carolina system/1

“Governor Graham’s plan had no strength, but there was
a general demand for an advance movement/’ At last —
“Mr. Ashe, the Democratic Senator from New Hanover,
was urged to formulate a plan. His bill was a plain
business scheme — the beginning of a sort of North Carolina
system — calling for two millions of State money to build a
road from Goldsboro to Charlotte — provided one million
of stock was otherwise taken. . . . But the great ap¬

propriation staggered the members. No one attempted to
lead off from the Ashe bill.”

Ellis having resigned to accept a judgeship, General
Barringer took charge of the Danville bill and got it up as
the session was closing, on January 15. “Mr. Stanly was
baffling every effort to get a vote. I chanced to get the floor
and resolved to hold it till a vote was reached. Mr. Stanly
interfered with his regular statements about selling out to
Virginia and South Carolina, and referred to Richmond as
only ‘a great slave mart,’ and to Charleston as ‘surviving
only on past pretensions/ This, I resented ; and defied him
to make us an offer of any bill providing for a general
North Carolina system. This was received with applause
from the House. In a highly dramatic scene, Stanly then
sprang to his feet and holding up the Ashe bill said he would
pledge himself and friends to that bill if I would do the
same. I assented.” The House now was all excitement.

Mr. Thomas Williams of New Hanover, Senator Ashe’s
colleague in the House — “suggested that the Danville bill
be laid on the table, and then that the Graham N. C. R. R.
bill be taken up, so that the Ashe Senate bill might be offered
for a substitute.” That being done — General Barringer
moved “to strike out all after the enacting clause” and sub¬
stitute the Ashe bill. Then on motion of Mr. Williams the
bill was made the special order for the next day. When the
bill was reached the next day, the Ashe substitute was
amended, by consent, by inserting five sections from the

1. William A. Graham
4. Calvin Graves

3. William S. Aslie

Rufus Barringer
John M. Morehead

TRANSPORTATION AMENDMENTS

477

Graham bill relating to the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad
Company. At length on January 17, at the evening session,
the bill was again before the House; and it failed to pass
the second reading, the vote being 49 to 56 — there being so
many absentees that a call of the House was ordered ; and
there was great excitement and interest. A motion to re¬
consider having been made, the bill passed its second read¬
ing 60 to 49. “Now came another scramble for amend¬
ments, some to make the bill more acceptable in certain
particulars, others to get in local improvements, and still
others to so load it down with State aid as to defeat it,
either here or in the Senate.”

The next day, January 18, was one of great interest in the
House. Intense excitement prevailed. The N. C. R. R.
bill came up at the early session. Among the proposed
amendments was one to clean out the Yadkin River; one to
remove the shoals from Oregon Inlet ; to connect the
Raleigh and Gaston road with the Seaboard road ; and one
with a triple aspect, all touching the Cape Fear River, one
proposition being to have the line run from Goldsboro to the
Cape Fear River and then to Salisbury — with a branch line
to Raleigh ; another being for a canal and turnpike through
Dismal Swamp ; another to clean out Lumber River, and still
another to open Nags Head Inlet. At last the bill passed
its third reading 60 to 53.

Following that, Mr. Dobbin took up the Fayetteville and
Western Plank Road bill — in which there was no provision
for State aid. He now offered a new section providing for
State aid ; but it was defeated 48 to 5 7 — Messrs. Williams,
Barringer and Stanly voting in the affirmative. At the
final session of that day, however, the bill for making a turn¬
pike from Salisbury west to the line of the State of Georgia,
at the cost of the State, passed its third reading. Senator
Woodfin was happy. The only failure to give State aid to
important transportation facilities was the defeat of Mr.
Dobbin’s amendment to the Plank Road bill.

“The chances in the Senate for the N. C. R. R. bill were
all in doubt.” The Democratic Senators “were hard to lead
and could not be driven,” and then “some of the Whigs
stood aloof.” Every Senator on the floor from Person

The

proposed

amendments

Barringer’s

account

478

TURNING POINT IN STATE LIFE

The

opposition

Biog. Hist.,
V, 391

Barringer

The intense
interest

County to Ashe was opposed, as had been the members in
the Commons from those counties. The Virginia connec¬
tion may have been deemed of greater importance, but they
were also opposed to State aid. Calvin Graves, the Speaker,
was silent amid the conflicting interests ; for the supporters
of the Charlotte and Danville road were still hopeful of it
in the Senate. Judge Saunders and others made strong ap¬
peals for the North Carolina road, but all to no purpose.
The passage of the bill seemed to lack the necessary votes.

On the evening of the 19th of January, the engrossed
N. C. R. R. bill came to the Senate, and had its first read¬
ing, and the next evening, Saturday, on motion of Mr.
Thomas of Davidson, it passed its second reading, 22 to 19,
among those in the negative being Senator Murchison of
Cumberland County.

Early on Monday the 22d, Mr. Dobbin in the House had
the Plank Road bill made the special order for next morn¬
ing. When taken up, Mr. Williams of New Hanover moved
to insert five sections, providing for State aid for the Plank
Road, and the amendment was adopted 45 to 44, and the
bill passed.

The railroad bill seemed to wait on that. State aid to the
plank road was a prerequisite. On the morning of the 24th
when the Fayetteville bill came to the Senate, Mr. Mur¬
chison called it up and it passed its second reading 22 to 20 ;
and on the morning of the 25th, Mr. Ashe called it up for
third reading and it passed 22 to 19, and immediately there¬
after, Senator Woodfin of Buncombe called up the railroad
bill. Several proposed amendments were disposed of. “The
Senate chamber was packed with visitors and strangers from
all quarters to see the fate of the momentous struggle, now
so full of weal or woe to the dear Old North State, and
which might settle here, once for all, the mighty effort to
awake North Carolina from the long sleep of her death-like
Rip-V an-Winkleism.”

Speaker Graves calmly announced — The bill is now upon
its third reading. The roll call began ; and as feared nearly
every Democrat voted “no.”

The opposition now polled its full strength. Every pres¬
sure was exerted against State aid by the opposition. leaders.

SPEAKER GRAVES BREAKS TIE

479

The measure lost two of those who had supported it on the
second reading. In the House, D. F. Caldwell of Greens¬
boro had voted for it — but the other two Representatives of
Guilford were against it. In the Senate John A. Gilmer
was openly for it, although Governor Morehead, not a mem¬
ber, still clung to his first love, the Danville connection,
which, however failed in both branches of the Assembly,
not only to his disappointment but to that of many residents
of Caswell, Rockingham and other counties trading with
Virginia. But while there was a defection of two former
supporters, now that the Fayetteville Plank Road bill was
passed with its State aid, Senator Murchison was satisfied,
and he voted for the measure; also, Rowland of Robeson
was now in his seat, and he voted for it.

The tally was kept by hundreds. When the clerk an¬
nounced twenty-two yeas and twenty-two nays, there was an
awful silence. The slender form of Speaker Graves stood
up, and leaning slightly forward with gavel in hand, he
said : “The vote on the bill being equal, 22 yeas and 22 nays,
the Chair votes yea. The bill has passed its third and last
reading.”

The intense anxiety of the occasion now found expression.
The plaudits were deafening, and the session of the Senate
was broken up without adjourning. But while there was
tumultuous joy on one side — there was sullen disappoint¬
ment and unsuppressed murmurs of disapproval by that half
of the Senate who had met defeat.

The chamber and corridors were however packed with
men bent on progress ; and says General Barringer : “I have
seen and read of many memorable and famous contests and
have witnessed many outbreaks of popular applause, but
never anything like that that then followed. Even the gran¬
ite Capitol seemed to shake for joy.” And presently, the
bells of the city rang out proclaiming the glad tidings ; and
the news was hastened in every possible way to every nook
and corner of the old Commonwealth and the one phrase
was: “Speaker Graves has saved the State — The Railroad
bill has passed.”

Jan., 1849

The finale

Biog. Hist.,
II, 112

480

TURNING POINT IN STATE LIFE

Morehead’s

view

Governor Morehead, although at first smarting under his
discomfiture, and the refusal of the Legislature to allow him
and his people their much desired Danville charter, later, in
a report to the Legislature, said : “The passage of the act
under which the North Carolina Railroad Company is or¬
ganized was the dawning of hope in North Carolina ; the
securing its charter was the rising sun of that hope; the
completion of the road will be the meridian glory of that
hope, pregnant with results that none living can divine.”
Its benefits to the State have, indeed, been incalculable.

CHAPTER XXX

The Democrats Obtain Control

California gold. — The subscriptions to the North Carolina Rail¬
road. — Congressional election. — Slavery agitation. — The new ter¬
ritory. — Clay, Webster, Calhoun. — Death of President Taylor. —
Graham in Cabinet. — The Progressive Democrats. — Free suffrage.
— Reid elected Governor. — Compromise in Congress. — Personal
conflicts. — Manly’s message. — The Washington monument.— -The
State Fair. — The effort to stop the North Carolina Railroad de¬
feated. — Plank roads. — Water transportation. — New counties. —
Unconstitutional action at the North. — Free suffrage amendment
submitted. — Carolinians at Washington. — Progress in the State.

Exodus of gold seekers

The acquisition of California led to some unforeseen re¬
sults. Except the little gold found in Georgia and North
Carolina, none had come to light in the United States ; but
some of the first explorers in California found gold in quan¬
tities and a great rush was made to the Pacific coast in that
quest. The quantity added to the circulation in the states
was enormous, exerting a most beneficial influence on the
currency.

Among those seeking fortune in the' mines were many
North Carolinians ; while the stream of immigrants from
elsewhere was constant and steady.

3Jorth Carolina Railroad

Immediately on the passage of the North Carolina Rail¬
road bill, the friends of the measure set to work with en¬
thusiasm to raise the one million dollars individual stock
requisite for securing the State aid. The act, which never
had been before a committee, was so well drawn that it an¬
ticipated practically every feature necessary for successful
operation. Meetings were held at Salisbury, at Greensboro,
and elsewhere in February; at Raleigh and Hillsboro in
March.

Governor Morehead, his Danville project being defeated,
now vied with John A. Gilmer in supporting the new line.

1849

Konkle :

Morehead,

299

4B2

THE DEMOCRATS OBTAIN CONTROL

To secure
the State
aid

The great
efforts

Leg. Doc.,
1850

Morehead,

304-311

July 11

The Direc¬
tors fix the
line

Governor Manly, in recognition of the service of Calvin
Graves, appointed him on the Board of Internal Improve¬
ments; and Graves, Graham, Morehead, Gilmer, Cameron,
Boylan and Swain and Judge Saunders, who had now re¬
turned from Spain, were foremost in the work of making
the charter of the North Carolina Railroad operative and
for once laid aside their partyism and put their shoulders
to the wheel to obtain the necessary private stock.

Meetings and conventions were held in many counties and
a generous rivalry prevailed. In some instances the exam¬
ple of Wilmington, ten years earlier, was emulated. At
length Gilmer presented a plan to secure the untaken stock
— each new “signer, whether individually or as companies,
agreeing to take a hundredth part of the unraised balance.”

Graves, Morehead, and Gilmer made a canvass of the
western counties. The result was reassuring, as also was
the outcome of the canvass in the eastern counties. In¬
deed, at a meeting at New Bern, after a speech by Judge
Saunders, $70,000 was subscribed towards an extension of
the road from Goldsboro to New Bern.

On June 5, 1850, after a year’s work, Governor Morehead
announced the completion of the $1,000,000 subscription,
and the stockholders met at Salisbury on July 11 to organize.
Twenty counties were represented. Governor Morehead
was elected president. The line was fixed by the directors to
run through Hillsboro, Greensboro and Lexington : and,
on July 11, 1851, at Greensboro, ground was broken for the
construction, and the building began.

While the passage of the act was most memorable, the
success of Morehead. Graves, Saunders, Boylan and their
associates in raising the needed private subscription was
one of the most notable achievements in the history of the
people of the State.

Congressional election

In March, 1849, President Taylor was inaugurated.
There was no meeting of Congress until December 1, but
the Whig administration ardently entered on the usual rou¬
tine of substituting its supporters for the Democratic office

THE “ OMNIBUS BILL”

4?3

holders. There was much feeling in political circles when
the election of the new Representatives came off in August ;
but while there were several changes in the personnel, the
Whigs retained their six districts and the Democrats their
three. In the Washington district, Edward Stanly was
elected; and in the Cape Fear district, McKay, now greatly
distinguished at the end of his long service, declining to
run, William S. Ashe was selected as his successor.

Slarery agitation

When Congress met in December, it began one of the
stormiest and longest sessions ever held. The slavery ques¬
tion took precedence of all other subjects in the minds of
both the Northern and Southern members, for the North
now proposed to ignore the Missouri Compromise.

After a prolonged and heated contest over the Speaker-
ship of the House, a resolution was adopted that a plurality
vote should elect, and, finally, Howell Cobb of Georgia was
elected under that resolution.

In California, where there had been such an accession of
population, without the usual congressional authorization, a
convention had been held and a constitution adopted, in
which slavery was forbidden in California, although a large
part of that territory was below the line of the Missouri
Compromise.

California now applied for admission into the Union as a
State. There were also bills before Congress to establish
Utah and New Mexico as “territories,” and bills to forbid
bringing into the District of Columbia any slave for sale ;
and to provide through the Federal courts a method of re¬
turning fugitive slaves to their owners, some of the northern
states having passed laws forbidding that to be done by state
officials.

Questions arising on the subject of slavery were thus be¬
fore Congress ; and the North was very insistent on having
its own way, so that many of the Southern members talked
of secession as the only proper course open to the South.

On the 29th of January, Clay offered a measure of com¬
promise and adjustment, known as the “Omnibus Bill,” and

1850

Clay’s

measure

484

THE DEMOCRATS OBTAIN CONTROL

Clingman,

The Wilmot
proviso

Death of
Calhoun

Chronicles
of the Cape
Fear

Death of

President

Taylor

on March 7, Webster followed with an earnest appeal to ob¬
serve the Constitution. In describing this great speech —
General Clingman wrote : “Intense anxiety prevailed in
Washington in the minds of men of all shades of opinion.
The shadows of those events which occurred a dozen years
later seemed to oppress the minds of all present. He had
been speaking for nearly an hour on the subject before he
indicated the position he meant to take. Every look re¬
tained its intense anxiety of expression, until, at the close
of one of his sentences, he said in an emphatic manner, T
will not vote for the Wilmot.’ I never witnessed such a sense
of relief in the public mind ; he had drawn from the dark
cloud the lightning which seemed ready to burst on the
country.” But his appeal for the observance of the Consti¬
tution was unheeded by many in Massachusetts, who de¬
nounced him ; and the few remaining months of his exem¬
plary life were embittered.

Calhoun also desired to be heard ; but he was too feeble to
deliver his speech, and it was read by Senator Mason of
Virginia. Then, on the last day of March, the closest
thinker of the trio of eminent men who adorned that gener¬
ation passed away. In life, he was distinguished for his
personal purity as well as for his unusual talents. While
not rivaling his competitors in oratory, he far surpassed them
in the excellence of composition and the cogency of his rea¬
soning. As his remains were conveyed to Charleston, they
were met by public demonstrations in his honor. At Wil¬
mington, the body lay in state, and a committee accompanied
it as an escort to its final resting place.

On July 9, President Taylor died. His obsequies at
Washington were in keeping with the national sorrow at
the lamented death of a great military favorite whose career
had reflected honor on the American name. His steed,
“Whitey,” that had borne him in Mexico, was led in front
of the caisson on which rested the remains of his hero-
master, and in after years he had the free use of the White
House .lawns. While President Taylor had called about
him as his Cabinet men of high respectability, Fillmore, his
successor made a thorough change in its personnel. Fill¬
more was a statesman and party man, and he recognized

PARTY LINES DRAWN

485

the distinguished services as well as the fine abilities of his
party associates : Webster, Conrad, Crittenden, Governor
Graham and A. H. H. Stuart were among those who con¬
stituted his eminent advisers.

In the State

In the meantime the usual preparations for the August
election were being made throughout the State.

A caucus of Democrats was held at Raleigh, at which
David S. Reid was again favorably considered for Governor.
Mayor John T. Eaton who had favored the incorporation of
the North Carolina Railroad presided. Asa Biggs, one of the
strongest characters of the party, offered a resolution fa¬
voring an amendment of the State Constitution prohibiting
any appropriation for internal improvements unless it had
been submitted to the people at the polls. This produced
great excitement. It drew the line between the progressive
Democrats and the “Old Guard.” Judge Saunders and Mr.
Eaton were firm. The general understanding was that
hardly ten per cent of the Democrats were for such appro¬
priations and it was difficult for the remainder to submit
themselves to the dictation of the few. The sullen murmurs
that marked the passage of the North Carolina Railroad
bill now found expression, but Mr. Eaton declared that if
such a resolution were adopted he would leave the chair
and Judge Saunders affirmed that 5,000 Democrats would
take no part in the election.

With great reluctance Biggs, submitting, withdrew his
proposition. It was another step forward rn changing the
attitude of the Democratic party toward State progress and
the social uplift of the people.

County conventions were now held by both parties.
Earlv in June the Whig State Convention met, Governor
Morehead presiding, and naturally renominated Governor
Manly.

Editor Holden, while still urging Reid’s “Free Suffrage,”
had precipitated another issue, much in the same line, the
election of the judges by the people for a term of years.

Graham,
Secretary
of Navy

The Pro¬
gressive
Democrats
stand firm

1850

Holden’s
Memoirs, 7

486

THE DEMOCRATS OBTAIN CONTROL

Free

suffrage

The vote

The Whigs, confronted with these two' issues, preferred
to refer those subjects to the people at the polls, taking
no stand on them.

Three days later, the Democratic Convention convened —
Judge Strange presiding. It nominated Reid, and took
strong ground for Free Suffrage and the election of judges
by popular vote. On the slavery question, it stood on the
resolutions adopted by the previous Assemblies, affirming
the State’s adherence to the Missouri Compromise.

In the campaign Manly, at the west, brought forward a
proposition to abandon the Federal basis of representation,
under which five negroes were rated as three whites. This
was a popular hit in that region, but it was in conflict with
the compromise of 1835 — and raised a clamor at the east.
As forecast by all indications, the Democrats won — and
the Whigs were beaten in the State by 2,859 majority; while
the Democrats had eight majority in the Senate and seven¬
teen in the House.

The settlement

In Congress the heated debates continued until September,
when for Clay’s Omnibus bill several separate measures
were substituted ; and although California was admitted un¬
der her constitution, in the acts establishing Utah and New
Mexico as territories there was inserted a provision that
when they should apply for statehood, they “should be ad¬
mitted with or without slavery as their constitutions should
provide.”

In the House, the Democrats and Whigs of the North
Carolina delegation voted for the Utah bill, Utah being
north of the Missouri line, but Clingman then voted with
the three Democrats against the New Mexico bill, as New
Mexico extended south of that line : and the delegation, ex¬
cept Caldwell and Stanly, voted against the admission of
California — that territory also extending south of that line ;
nor had California acted as a state, nor even as an organized
territory.

While there was high debate in both branches of Con¬
gress, the clashing did not stop at words. Fiery Edward

RIGHTS OF SOUTHERN STATES

487

Stanly, whose immediate family connections had on occa¬
sions resorted to the duello, had a collision with Clingman
— a brave man, and as cool as determined, who himself had
been out to Bladenburg with hot-headed Yancey. How¬
ever, that passed without leading to the field of honor. But,
Inge of Alabama, was as hot as Stanly; and after an ex¬
change of discourtesies on the floor of the House, they met
at Bladenburg, the traditional battle-ground of irate Con¬
gressmen. Fortunately, they both survived ; and later, they
both moved from their states to California.

Throughout the South there was much restlessness at
the abandonment of the Missouri Compromise by the North
and the alleged purpose to curtail the rights of the Southern
States under the provisions of the Constitution. And the
governors of some of the Southern States appointed dele¬
gates to a convention to joe held at Nashville in November,
at which strong resolutions were adopted looking to the
preservation of the rights of the Southern States.

Tlie Assembly

When the Assembly met the Whig dominance in State
affairs was expiring. Weldon Edwards was chosen Speaker
of the Senate over Joyner by nine majority; and Dobbin,
Speaker of the House, over Rayner by sixteen majority.

Governor Manly now transmitted his message in which,
declaring for the maintenance of southern rights, he said :
“Since the last meeting of the General Assembly our coun¬
try has passed through a fiery ordeal of conflicting passions.
Ardently devoted to the perpetuity of our Union — to the
Constitution — 'as it is/ and at the same time knowing and
daring to maintain and defend its rights, as guaranteed by
this national compact, no state rejoiced with more unalloyed
satisfaction at the amicable settlement of this distracting con¬
troversy. But let us not be misunderstood; let it not be
supposed that our deep and abiding devotion to this Union
is such as to render us insensible to the just appreciation of
our rights, or callous to the stain of dishonor. We have
rights which are ours by the Constitution ; ours by com¬
promise, and by the supreme laws that govern us. These

Duels

Nov., 1850

Journals,

180

Manly for

Southern

rights

488

THE DEMOCRATS OBTAIN CONTROL

The railroad
extensions

Resolutions,

1850

May 20
abandoned

will never be surrendered. We take our stand in the ranks
of southern destiny.” Such was perhaps, the general feel¬
ing; but there were those who, twelve years later, sincerely
regretted that the South did not in 1851, make the stand she
took in 1861 — after the North had so largely increased in
strength and power.

The Governor also discussed the proposed amendments
to the State Constitution and the State finances ; and rec¬
ommended the extension of the North Carolina Railroad
east and west, and other internal improvements ; and the
construction of a ship canal at Nags Head — and similar
aids to commerce. He also renewed his recommendation of
a geological survey, and dwelt on the school law. Particu¬
larly he urged the appointment of a General Superintendent
of Common Schools, and brought forward his suggestion that
the school fund should be divided ^mong the counties on the
basis of the number of white children, disregarding “the
Federal computation.”

The Washington Monument

Various states had contributed blocks of marble to rep¬
resent them in the Washington Monument, and an asso¬
ciation of gentlemen of Lincoln County had supplied the
Governor with such a block for that purpose. The Legis¬
lature approved of this action, and directed that the block
should bear the inscription :

North Carolina
Declaration of Independence
Mecklenburg
May, 1775

That block was imbedded in the monument ; and, likewise,
an association at Hillsboro sent forward a block for the
monument ; as also did the Wilmington Thalian Association,
and likewise the Mechanics of Raleigh and the North Caro¬
lina Temperance Society sent blocks. North Carolina con¬
tributed these blocks that are today found in the structure.

STATE FAIRS

489

The State Fair

The Governor submitted many communications from dif¬
ferent states, relating to political and other subjects. The
new “hope” that Governor Morehead had emphasized gave
an impulse that found expression in an “Industrial Conven¬
tion" that met in December. One of its projects was to
hold State exhibitions of products at “State Fairs" under the
name of “The North Carolina Industrial Association."
These exhibitions were to be held at Raleigh in October of
each year. Their first act was to ask the Legislature to pro¬
vide for a geological and agricultural survey of the State —
and the Legislature responded by providing for such a sur¬
vey, authorizing the Governor to appoint a suitable person to
make it under the supervision of himself and of the Liter¬
ary Board. And at the next session, the State Fair was
provided for to be held by the North Carolina Agricultural
Society at Raleigh.

Defeat of the old Democracy

Governor Reid in making the race for Governor had de¬
clined to approve the North Carolina Railroad bill; and
hardly had the assemblymen gotten warm in their seats be¬
fore Bridgers, a Representative from Franklin County, of¬
fered a set of resolutions “that it was inexpedient to build
that road at present; that a majority of the freemen of this
State were opposed to building it; that the stockholders be
requested to surrender their charter." Early in December
when these resolutions were taken up, Mr. Pope of Halifax
moved that as “the values of labor had been increased dur¬
ing the last two years so that the cost of building would be
double, that the charter should be abandoned — that a large
majority of the people are opposed to it." But on a motion
to indefinitely postpone the resolution, the defeat of the
“Old Democracy" was beyond all expectation. The yeas
were 80, and only 36 voted against the postponement.

Acts, 1850

House Jour¬
nal, 1850,

p. 621

Ibid., 621

490

THE DEMOCRATS OBTAIN CONTROL

Ibid., 514

Acts, 1850

Plank roads

New

counties

The step forward

It was a grand triumph for the progressive element. The
step forward had been made. There was to be no return to
the old paths. On the other hand, on motion of Mr. Walton
of Burke a resolution was adopted instructing the Committee
on Internal Improvement to report on the extension of the
North Carolina Railroad to Beaufort — and also to the Ten¬
nessee line. A road was chartered to be built from New
Bern to Goldsboro and other railroads were incorporated.
Aid was given to the Wilmington and Manchester Railroad ;
and after a great struggle, an act was passed providing
for a new company with capital of $850,000 and for the sale
of the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad to the new company for
$500,000, taking a mortgage as the security for that amount.

New projects

The new era of plank roads had now arrived. Besides five
plank roads centering at Fayetteville and reaching towards
every point of the compass, there were a dozen others incor¬
porated ; while in the mountain section many turnpikes were
provided for.

A bill was passed to improve the navigation of Deep and
Yadkin rivers and to connect them by a “portage railroad” ;
another to incorporate the Yadkin Navigation Company, and
another to improve the Haw; another to incorporate the
Neuse River Navigation Company, and to incorporate the
Dibble Steamboat Company for the Neuse; nor were other
small streams neglected. It seemed indeed, as if the time
had come when “transportation” was to be not merely a
subject of discussion but a subject of action by the people.

An act was passed to lay off the county of Hooper in
Richmond and Robeson counties, but subject to a vote of the
people ; which seems to have been unfavorable.

The counties of Madison, Jackson and Yadkin were es¬
tablished outright.

Some fifteen academies were incorporated ; eleven mining
companies, some being for gold; and six manufacturing
companies, such as the Neuse, at the falls of the Neuse;
Weldon, at the falls of the Roanoke, and so on.

FREE SUFFRAGE PROPOSED

49 1

Northern states disregard the Constitution

There were a half dozen resolutions introduced on the
subject of the compromise in Congress — the public mind
being much excited because some of the Northern States
were seeking to evade their duty to return fugitive slaves.

Mr. Blow of Pitt, a Whig, offered one to the effect that
“Whereas the fugitive slave law was all that was gained
by the South in return for the surrender of important rights,
Resolved, should said law be nullified and made inoperative
by the people of the North, we will be in favor of a disso¬
lution of the Union.”

But while the right of secession was now firmly asserted,
especially by Editor Holden, and the Democratic leaders,
yet the Legislature omitted to give voice to the purpose ;
and the only resolution of a sectional nature adopted was
one that “North Carolina feels herself under no further
obligation to protect the home industry of the nonslave¬
holding states.”

And Vermont having communicated her resolutions “for
the promotion of peace,” and that State having “passed an
act for the nullification of ‘the Fugitive Slave law/ it was,
on the last day of the session resolved, ‘that the Governor
send back to the Governor of Vermont said resolutions, with
a declaration that North Carolina will not receive from a
sister state resolutions violating the Constitution and bring¬
ing into jeopardy the peace and safety of the Union/ ”

Free suffrage

Hardly had the House organized before Judge Saunders
proposed to amend the Constitution by abolishing the free¬
hold requirement for voters for the Senate ; to elect by pop¬
ular vote the judges for seven years; to elect justices of the
peace by popular vote ; and to restrict appropriations.

Bills were introduced on these subjects, some providing
for a convention, others for legislative amendments. The
House having passed a bill providing for free suffrage, by
the necessary three-fifths vote; the Senate at first, January
18, failed to pass it.

Right of
secession

House Jour¬
nal, 515

Acts, 1850,
p. 512

Ibid., 522

Senate Jour¬
nal, 309

492

THE DEMOCRATS OBTAIN CONTROL

House Jour¬
nal, 958

Senate Jour¬
nal, 828

The House, therefore, January 21, passed a bill, 67 to 40,
to submit the question to the vote whether there should be
a convention to amend the Constitution. This alarmed the
eastern Senators. There had been a motion in the Senate
to reconsider the vote of January 18, and now threatened
by this action of the House with a convention, the Senate
reconsidered its former action, and passed the original House
bill, 32 to 16. That much was now accomplished by the
West.

It was the first step in making the Constitutional change
proposed by David S. Reid, who now on January 1, in con¬
sequence of that proposition, in large measure, entered on
the office of Governor, ushering in a long period of Demo¬
cratic control in the State.

In August came on the Congressional election. The
Democrats had now accepted the Compromise of 1851, and
quietude had followed. On that basis a spirit of unity and
harmony began to prevail and throughout the Union sec¬
tionalism was lulled to sleep.

Clingman,

259

North Carolina at Washington

At that period, North Carolina was well represented at
Washington: Badger ranking high among the intellectuals
in the Senate; of Mangum, Clingman says: “Next to Mr.
Clay, he probably possessed at one period more personal
influence than any other individual then in Congress.”

Then the stately Graham was the Secretary of the Navy,
and he was much esteemed for his fine competency and ad¬
mirable efficiency, as well as for his elegance of manner and
address. His administration of the Navy Department was
signalized by at least two important events. One the open¬
ing of the Naval Academy at Annapolis; the other, the
initiation of the movement to open up Japan to the other
countries of the world. To Graham has been attributed the
conception of this interesting event in the history of the
world. But it was not reserved for him to carry it into
execution. In June, 1852, he was nominated by the Whigs
as their candidate for Vice-President along with General
Scott and he resigned as Secretary, June 22, 1852, while
some months elapsed before Commodore Perry sailed on
that mission.

EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS

493

In the House, the delegation stood high; and it happened
that, also, in Congress were eminent men representing other
states, who were natives of North Carolina; particularly,
William R. King of Sampson County presided in the Senate,
Fillmore being in the White House.

Within the State

At home, progress was evident. The University was
flourishing under the care of Governor Swain, and the col¬
leges and academies had been doing fine work in educating
both the males and females of families able to enjoy the
privileges of higher education.

The public schools had now been opened a decade, and
the number of pupils had risen to 104,085 besides 8,335 i n
the academies and colleges. Indeed, in 1850, only four
eastern states and three western states had more pupils in
school than North Carolina, and each of these had a larger
white population than this State. North Carolina was rela¬
tively behind none. Virginia had only 77,764 pupils in
school, while North Carolina had 112,430.

The tide of emigration to the southwest had been ar¬
rested, and the white population had increased over twelve
per cent, although there were no accessions from abroad,
while the north had received 1,713,231 immigrants, one
million coming from the British islands. The denominations
now well organized, were making progress, in their several
lines of work, and church buildings were being erected along
with the schoolhouses, even in the most inaccessible coun¬
ties ; the number being relatively very large.

The spirit of the people was, indeed, one of order, sub¬
mission to the restraints of the law, although devoted to
liberty founded on law. And the spirit of progress was
abroad in the land, for certainly never were leaders more
in error than those of the old order who feared to enter
on the march of improvement lest their- followers should fall
away from them. As has often been the case, the people
were ahead of their public men in public spirit. Yet the
natural obstacles to a unity of the State continued, although
the “great hope” of Governor Morehead and of others was
in course of realization.

U. S. Report
of Educa¬
tion, 1893,
p. 46, census
tables

CHAPTER XXXI

Free Suffrage

State issues. — Kerr for Governor. — Clingman leaves the Whigs.
— Democratic Convention. — Dobbin’s speech. — Pierce nominated.
— The Whigs nominate Scott and Graham. — Mixed result in the
State. — Reid first Democratic Governor. — Pierce elected. — Wiley
Superintendent of Public Schools. — His fine work. — Transporta¬
tion. — The Western Plank Road. — The whale at Fishing Creek. —
Democrats disappointed. — Dobbin not elected Senator. — Chief
Justice Ruffin succeeded by Nash. — Inequalities of representation.
— Progressive action. — North Carolina Railroad. — Its two exten¬
sions. — Badger not confirmed. — Dobbin Secretary of the Navy. —
The political field. — The leaning to the Democratic party. — Bragg
beats Dockery. — Conditions. — The railroads. — Free suffrage passes.
— Reid and Biggs Senators.

Clingman
leaves the
caucus

Kerr contests with Reid

Not only was 1852 a presidential year but several State
issues were then acute so that great interest was manifested
in party politics. In April the Whig State Convention was
held ; the party not well united. It nominated for
Governor, John Kerr of Caswell; a man with many lovable
characteristics, but very human, extravagant in his lan¬
guage and thoughts, and full of ardor and impetuosity.
It preferred a convention to amend the Constitution rather
than a legislative amendment ; and endorsed Fillmore and
Graham for the presidential offices. A month later the
Democratic Convention renominated Reid ; and endorsed
his administration and “free suffrage"; pronounced against
the distribution of the public lands among the states ; de¬
clared for Robert Strange for Vice-President, and ' sent
Dobbin, Saunders, W. N. Edwards and Greene Caldwell
as delegates to the National Convention.

At a caucus of Whig Congressmen at Washington, pre¬
sided over by Mangum, such were the differences with re¬
gard to the “compromise measures” that Clingman and
Outlaw along with others, left the caucus. General Scott

DOBBIN FOR CONCILIATION

495

was being considered for the presidency, and some of the
southern Whigs would not support him because he was si¬
lent on “The Fugitive Slave Law”; and was supported by
Seward.

The Democratic Convention met in Baltimore on June i,
and having adopted the two-thirds rule, it found great
difficulty in nominating. The session lasted six days. On
the 35th ballot Virginia gave 15 votes for Franklin Pierce;
on the 48th Pierce’s support reached 55. Then Dobbin, the
chairman of the North Carolina delegation, made a short
speech that caused a stampede. “We come to pander to no
factious artifices here, again and again we tendered our
banner to the North. Save our happy Union, guard well the
rights of the states, and you can have the honor of the
standard bearer. We' now feel that in the midst of discord
and distraction, the olive branch, if tendered once more,
cannot be neglected. We feel that the hour has come when
the spirit of strife must be banished and leave to reign in
her place the milder and gentler and holier spirit of a liberal
patriotism. Come, Mr. President, let us to the altar and
make our sacrifices for our country.” He then urged the
nomination of Pierce, ending: “Come, friends and brothers,
let us shake hands now, now, for harmony and conciliation,
and save our principles and our beloved country.” All
hearts turned to Pierce, who then received the unanimous
vote of the 288 delegates, except six ; and William R. King,
originally of Sampson County, was unanimously taken for
Vice-President.

Two weeks later the Whigs nominated Scott and William
A. Graham ; but the platform adopted was distasteful to
many of the northern Whigs, who presently turned to Web¬
ster, who, however, without either declining or accepting the
nomination, died October 24, the last of the great triumvirate,
Clay, then a Senator, having died June 29. Graham on ac¬
cepting the nomination resigned as Secretary of the Navv.

The campaign in the State was hot all summer, Kerr
on the stump being fierce and violent, and the newspapers
rancorous; but Reid increased his vote by 3,500; while
Kerr’s vote was only 650 more than Manlv’s. However, the

1852

Dobbin

Wheeler
Rem., 150

King and
Graham for
Vice-Presi¬
dent

Death of
Webster and
Clay

496

FREE SUFFRAGE

Th© extra
session

The State
for Graham

1852-3

Whigs were more successful in the Assembly, having a
majority in the House. By an act of Congress, the Sec¬
retary of the Interior was directed to calculate the number
of Representatives each state would be entitled to under the
census of 1850, and he announced that North Carolina
should have but 8 instead of 9 Representatives. This re¬
duction likewise reduced the State’s electoral vote ; and it be¬
came necessary to change the electoral districts befpre No¬
vember. So Governor Reid convened the Legislature in spe¬
cial session on the first Monday of October. When it met,
the Democrats had six majority in the Senate and chose Ed¬
wards Speaker of that body; and the Whigs with about the
same majority in the House elected John Baxter of Hender¬
son County Speaker over Dobbin. The Legislature at once
provided for the election of only ten electors by the districts.
When November came popular interest had so far abated
that the Democratic vote fell off 15,000 and the Whig vote
13,000, and Scott and Graham carried the State by 1,700.
This was in strong contrast with the result elsewhere, for
Pierce had a large popular majority in the Union ; and in
the electoral college he received 254 votes to only 42 for
Scott. The defeat of the Whigs was overwhelming.

Wiley Superintendent of Schools

Governor Reid, the first Democratic Governor, in his
message stuck to his text, “free suffrage,” but his recom¬
mendation fell on unwilling ears. He was more successful
in renewing the usual recommendation of providing a head
to the school system, and Calvin H. Wiley was chosen Su¬
perintendent of Public Schools. Wiley was a young man of
Guilford County, of good education, active mind and of a
literary turn. He had essayed the publication of a literary
magazine along with W. D. Cooke at Raleigh, had located
as a lawyer at Oxford, had written two historical novels —
Alamance and Roanoke — and eventually returned to Guil¬
ford and was elected a member of the Assembly in 1850,
when he urged improvement of public education ; and again
in 1852. The selection was most fortunate. No other per¬
son could have excelled Wiley in useful work and in de-

SCHOOLS AND TRANSPORTATION

49 7

votion to the great task he undertook to make the public
school system beneficial to the children and people of the
State. School books were few. Morse’s Geography, com- Schoolbooks
monly in use, had been a travesty on the State; Wiley ar¬
ranged for himself to write the account of North Carolina
in Mitchell’s Geography, and he caused to be prepared
readers for the North Carolina schools^ and established a
system to supply, as well as practicable, the demand for
teachers in the schools. The author attended the public
school at Rocky Point, now in Pender County, in 1846-49. Biog Higt
The teachers were exceptionally efficient ; one Giles Leitch, 111, 437
later the esteemed lawyer of Robeson County, and another
a gentleman about to enter the Presbyterian ministry. These
schools were kept open for months; but the public money
may have been supplemented by private subscriptions.

In 1852, the author heard a public man of fine intelli¬
gence say with pride that the North Carolina school sys¬
tem was one of the best in the Union ; and, later, Mr. Wiley
by invitation visited Georgia and perhaps other states ex¬
plaining the system which was thought to be superior to
others.

Transportation matters

As to the important matter of transportation, Governor
Reid submitted somewhat to the demands of the new de¬
mocracy, and proposed a “judicious system of public im¬
provements. ... A wise and prudent system all should
approve; a wild and extravagant scheme all should depre¬
cate.” But he was silent as to the North Carolina Railroad
and the proposed extensions east and west.

The Raleigh and Gaston Railroad having been disposed of
to a new corporation was now in a more hopeful condi¬
tion ; the Wilmington and Manchester was under construc¬
tion ; but more interest attached to the progress of the Fay¬
etteville and Western Plank Road, which as it was being
constructed out of Fayetteville began to receive tolls and
pay dividends. The company set up five sawmills, which
were moved along the route as the work progressed ; and

oak as well as pine planks were used. It went to Salem,

498

FREE SUFFRAGE

Leg. Doc.,
I, 173

Saunders

prevents

Dobbin’s

election

Wheeler
Rem., 151

and it was proposed to continue it into Virginia, while many
branches were projected.

Professor E. Emmons having been appointed State Geolo¬
gist submitted his exhaustive and valuable report, covering
the explorations of the coal fields, and nearly every subject
of interest. McLenchan, one of his assistants, examined
the remains of the immense whale that lay along Fishing
Creek, the head lying in Edgecombe and the tail in Halifax.

Tlie Democrats disappointed

On joint ballot the Legislature was about evenly divided;
and there were those in each party who did not support party
measures. Thus it came about that the bill to amend the
Constitution by legislative enactment passed the House by a
two-thirds vote but was lost in the Senate because the Dem¬
ocratic Speaker refused to vote on it. The Democrats were
much disappointed. And when the election for United
States Senator to succeed Judge Mangum came on, a still
greater disappointment awaited them. Dobbin had been
nominated by the caucus, while the Whigs nominated Ray-
ner. But the members of neither party abided by their
caucus decisions. The Whigs did not vote solidly for
Rayner, while Saunders and some other Democrats did
not even attend the party caucus. The Whigs would cast
votes for Saunders and other Democrats in hope of disor¬
ganizing Democratic unity and either electing some one
not the party’s choice or preventing any election. Colonel
Wheeler, a member, wrote : “Mr. Dobbin received within one
or two of enough votes to elect him. All of us who were
members can remember the intense excitement of the time.
The opposition was able, active and not over-scrupulous.
They could not elect, but by the aid of one or two marplots
they could prevent the election of the Democratic candidate.
After some ballots Dobbin withdrew his name ; but the cau¬
cus Democrats said if he could not be elected no one else
should be. The contest lasted forty days and there were
about ioo ballots taken. There was no election.” Man-
gum’s term expired March 4, 1853. There could now be no

THE STATE REDISTRICTED

499

election till next Assembly. So there was only one Senator
for nearly two years.

Chief Justice Ruffin resigned November io, 1852, propos¬
ing to retire from professional duties and employ himself in
the agreeable pursuits of agriculture. Judge Nash was
chosen his successor as Chief Justice, and to fill the vacancy
on the bench, Judge Battle was now promoted to the Su¬
preme Court. To replace Battle, the Whigs and the friends
of Saunders combined and elected him to the Superior Court.
This seemed to be a reward for Saunders’s action in de¬
feating Dobbin, and was another cause of dissatisfaction
among the caucus Democrats.

The Legislature now laid off the State into eight Con¬
gressional districts, and into fifty Senatorial districts ; and
made a new apportionment of the 120 members of the
House.

According to the census of 1850, it was found that 36
eastern counties had a white population of 215,000; 44
western counties had 336,000. There were in the eastern
counties 21,454 farms; in the west 35,472. The eastern
counties had six majority in the Senate and the west four in
the House. Those relative inequalities were to be cor¬
rected by a new arrangement, and the west carried its point.

There was an attempt to foster the formation of societies
for the promotion of agriculture, manufactures and mining
by facilitating their incorporation and donating $50 annu¬
ally to each of them.

Thirty-six plank roads were incorporated, as well as half
a dozen mining companies, some manufacturing companies,
and several insurance companies ; also academies, and the
Wesleyan Female College at Murfreesboro.

The North Carolina railroad system begun

On July 11, 1851, ground had been broken at Greensboro
with great ceremony for the construction of the North
Carolina Railroad, and Calvin Graves had been accorded the
honor of moving the first shovel full of dirt. The line had
been laid off in four divisions, two east of Greensboro, and
then two to Charlotte, and advertisements had been made

Nash, Chief
Justice

Inequalities

corrected

Progressive

steps

500

FREE SUFFRAGE

Acts, 1852,
p. 484

Badger not
confirmed
for Supreme
Court

Dobbin,
Secretary
of the Navy

for bids for construction, the work to begin January, 1852;
payment to be one-half in stock, the other in cash ; and the
work was now in progress. The Legislature responded to
the Governor’s idea of a “judicious system” of internal im¬
provements by incorporating in one act two companies ; one
with a capital of $900,000, to construct a road from Beau¬
fort to Goldsboro and the other with a capital of $3,000,000
from Salisbury to the Tennessee line, and appropriations
were made for a survey of each of these lines ; and soon
Governor Alorehead had these surveys started. Caldwell’s
idea of a North Carolina system was about to be realized.

Toward the close of Fillmore’s administration, he nomi¬
nated Senator Badger to fill a vacancy on the Supreme
Court bench, the practice of the Senate being to confirm
the nomination of any Senator for any office. But in this
case Air. Badger’s attitude on the questions growing out of
slavery was such that the Democratic Senate did not con¬
sider the nomination, and the session closed without his
confirmation.

After the election of General Pierce, and the failure to
elect Dobbin Senator, Ashe, one of the Representatives in
Congress, visited the President-elect, who said he proposed
to appoint Dobbin Secretary of the Navy. To Dobbin’s
personal friends this was a salve, healing in some measure
their indignation at the previous occurrence. On Pierce’s
inauguration Dobbin was so appointed, and again a North
Carolinian became the head of the Navy Department.

The Democrats in power

The campaign for Representatives now came on and the
Whigs sought to make more prominent than ever the issue
of the distribution of the public lands, and they fostered
the candidacy of Democrats running on that issue against
the regular Democrats. On that issue Sion Rogers was
successful in the Wake district ; and in the Cape Fear dis¬
trict, Duncan K. McRae entered the campaign against Ashe,
but Air. Dobbin brought about his appointment as Consul at
Paris, which he accepted. Then Walter F. Leak entered the
field on the same issue, but failed. In the Buncombe dis-

THE “KNOW NOTHING” PARTY

5oi

trict, Clingman who was now much in line with the Demo¬
crats was successful ; and Dr. H. M. Shaw, of Currituck ;
Thomas Ruffin of Wayne, and Burton Craige of Rowan, all
Democrats, were elected. Leaving out Clingman, the Whigs
had five Representatives in the former Congress, now they
had only two, John Kerr and Puryear of Surry. The
Democrats, being in control of both houses of Congress and
with a President chosen in such a landslide, entered on a
course of administration that gave it great prestige. At
the North there had been many defections from the Whig
party and a new organization started called “The Know
Nothings,” and the “American Party,” inimical to foreign
citizens, but for a time the Whigs at the South stood firm.
Democratic leaders, however, attained greater prominence
than ever, and the Democratic party overshadowed all others
as the leading National party. Its patriotism was broad;
its measures based on the Constitution ; its chieftains were
dear to the people ; prosperity reigned, and love for the
Lffiion became more and more the natural emotion of the
popular heart. In all this achievement of progress in
power, wealth and development, Southern men, especially
Democrats, had their great part.

But unhappily the agitation against slavery was not
quieted, and the violent utterances of some of the anti¬
slavery advocates and the attitude of some of the Whig
leaders at the North had the effect of disturbing Whig soli¬
darity in the State ; while, besides, Editor Holden pursued
with great adroitness the policy of attracting rising young
men into the folds of the Democratic party. The Whigs
nominated for Governor Alfred Dockery of Richmond
County; and the Democrats brought out Thomas Bragg of
Warren. Dockery was of strong personality, but Bragg,
besides, had culture, learning, and great intellect, and an
integrity of character that later distinguished him among
the public men of the State. The Whigs stood by their
record favoring a convention to deal with free suffrage :
and they advocated the distribution of the public lands, and
antagonized the Democratic administration.

At the election in August there was a full vote, 93,349.
and the Whigs polled their greatest strength but fell short

1853

The

Democrats

Bragg and
Dockery

502

FREE SUFFRAGE

Nov., 1854

Other

projects

of winning by 2,000 votes, while the Democrats carried
both houses by good majorities. Warren Winslow of
Cumberland, a man of superior merit, became Speaker of
the Senate, and Sam P. Hill of Caswell, likewise of fine
abilities, Speaker of the House. Governor Reid in his final
message dwelt on the fortunate progress of the State in all
lines, in education, agriculture, transportation, manufac¬
turing. “The lunatic asylum was advancing towards com¬
pletion, and will soon be open for the reception of patients.”

Railroad construction

The railroads were in good condition; “the Wilmington
and Manchester was being pushed with energy and was af¬
fording important advantages to a portion of the State,”
while a considerable portion of the North Carolina Railroad
had been laid down. On July, 1853, 1,500 hands were em¬
ployed on the work; 732 horses, besides tracklayers, etc.
Indeed on September 6, the first passenger car ran from
Charlotte to Concord; and on January 1, 1855, the road was
open for business from Goldsboro as far west as Durham.
The Legislature now subscribed another million to the
capital stock of that company. The capital stock of the
Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad was fixed at $1,600,000
and the Treasurer was directed when the private stock¬
holders have paid in $300,000 to subscribe for two-thirds
of the capital stock; and the Western North Carolina Rail¬
road was incorporated to run from Salisbury through States¬
ville to the west, and under the stipulations the State was to
subscribe two-thirds of the cost of construction. Then the
Wilmington and Charlotte Railroad Company was incor¬
porated, the road to be constructed in sections of 25 miles ;
and as a section was finished, the Treasurer was to endorse
bonds of the company to the amount of $200,000.

These were lines in accord with the policy that had long
been in view : in addition, charters were granted for a road
from Beaufort to Fayetteville; for a road from the coal
fields to Raleigh, known as the Chatham Road ; for the At¬
lantic, Tennessee and Ohio which was to build a line from
the waters of the Atlantic to the Ohio River, between Char-

NEW COUNTIES

5°3,

lotte and the northwest; for the Greenville and French
Broad; and the Charleston, Blue Ridge and Chattanooga,
for which no subscriptions were made by the State.

The report on Neuse River showed a sluggish stream,
with a rise of only 100 feet to Smithfield from New Bern;
and at forty-two miles from New Bern a depth varying
from one to three feet. It was now proposed by locks
and dams to make the river navigable.

Thirty more plank roads were incorporated, and twenty-six
mining companies ; and several savings institutions and in¬
surance companies. Sixteen academies were added to the
list. The counties of Harnett, Polk, and Wilson were
established.

Free suffrage

The bill to amend the Constitution, establishing “free suf¬
frage,'’ was now passed by more than two-thirds of each
house, a number of Whigs voting for it. By its provisions
the Governor was to publish the act for the information of
the people, and then the act was to have no force unless again
voted for by two-thirds of the next Assembly. On the
fourth day of the session, the election of a Senator took
place for the term formerly occupied by Mangum. Gov¬
ernor Reid was elected over the Whig candidate, Daniel
M. Barringer, by 27 votes ; and the next day Asa Biggs was
elected to succeed Senator Badger, whose term would soon
expire. On December 5, Governor Reid advised the Legis¬
lature that “on tomorrow I shall accept the appointment
of Senator,” and that would operate as a disability to act
as Governor. “The great seal of the State and the records
and papers will then be delivered to the Speaker of the
Senate.” At once, Senator William A. Graham offered a
resolution that “Speaker Winslow was the Governor until
January 1, and the office of Speaker is thereby vacated.”
But the Senate by 22 to 23 voted against the proposition
that the office of Speaker was vacated. Thomas S. Ashe
and other Whigs declined to follow Governor Graham in
that opinion. Speaker Winslow became acting Governor,
but continued to be the Speaker of the Senate. On the

1854

Reid and

Biggs

Senators

Acting

Governor

Winslow

504

FREE SUFFRAGE

“Thanks¬
giving Day”

House

Journal

first day of January, Thomas Bragg was inaugurated Gov¬
ernor, and Winslow was still Speaker.

On November 29, Sam J. Person was elected judge of the
fifth circuit; and the next day being “Thanksgiving as
recommended by the Governor,” the Assembly did not meet.
There were but slight traces of partisan politics in the
proceedings.

Thomas Settle, a Democrat from Rockingham, offered in
the House some resolutions commending the Kansas-
Nebraska Act of Congress, “and the State is determined to
resist any further encroachment on her Constitutional
rights. That if the Federal government impair the efficiency
of the Fugitive Slave law, it will amount to a virtual dis¬
solution of the Union.” Efforts of the Whigs to make
some amendments were defeated ; and then on motion of
Singletary of Pitt, the resolutions were laid on the table as
also was a resolution against the “Know Nothings,” a secret
oath-bound society; and the House likewise tabled a reso¬
lution looking to requiring a longer residence before immi¬
grants could be naturalized.

2. David S. Reid

1. James C. Dobbin
4. Willie P. Mangum

3. Thomas Ruffin

Thomas Meredith

CHAPTER XXXII

The Slavery Question Acute

The slavery question. — Kansas and Nebraska. — The Missouri
Compromise ignored. — The conflicting settlers. — Emigrants. — The
Democrats beaten in Congress. — Banks Speaker. — Bragg beats
Gilmer. — Bleeding Kansas. — Some Governors confer. — Southern
views. — Buchanan elected. — Conditions. — Free suffrage adopted.
— Progress. — The railroads. — Commerce. — Dobbin’s fine service.
— His death. — Reports on coal fields of Deep River. — The road
from New Bern opened. — McRae taken by Whigs for Governor. —
Ellis by the Democrats. — Holden disappointed. — Death of Potter.
— Biggs succeeded by Clingman. — Vance in Congress. — Improve¬
ment of Cape Fear. — Effort to open Raleigh Inlet fails.

The local atmosphere at the North was very different from
that at the South in respect to African slavery. That insti¬
tution had long ceased at the North where millions of for¬
eigners had settled and northern people knew practically
nothing of it. At the South, the people having been born
and bred amid the existing social conditions, slavery was
as natural to them as any other institution— as the method
of administering their matters of public concern; as the
traditional control of the family by the head of the house;
as the parents’ control of children. And although a large
majority of the people were not slaveholders, not one person
in twenty owning a slave, there were few, except the
Quakers, who objected to it, servitude being regarded as the
natural condition of the African in this country.

The association of the negroes with the whites for gen¬
erations had materially advanced them from their normal
African life, and born in servitude as were all their race
with whom they came in contact, they were satisfied and
contented. Especially where the white family owned but
few, as was the usual case in North Carolina, the intercourse
of the races was close ; kindness and natural affection being
the rule ; and the negro was similar to the servant in other
countries, lacking freedom and lacking wages, but exempt

1854

50 6 THE SLAVERY QUESTION ACUTE

from care and anxieties while his owner had a personal
interest in his health, comfort and well-being. The earlier
settlements had been along the seacoast where there were
large swamps, and the negro had performed a great work
in clearing up the land and cultivating it. To them the
coastal region especially was indebted for its improvements.
Later, it was their labor that had built all the roads and most
of the other improvements of the State. There was no
white labor for hire. Such were the conditions when the
propaganda for emancipation took violent shape.

At the North there had been opposition to the extension of
slavery as increasing what was commonly called “The Slave
Power,’’ the political influence of the South ; and there was
besides a spirit of humanitarianism, and some regarded
the subject as involving “the rights of man.” In 1852
there appeared a remarkable book, Uncle Toms Cabin, that
in time greatly aroused sentiment at the North. The wrongs
of the slave passionately depicted in vivid colors awoke in¬
dignation and horror, and by many it came to be thought
a crime against civilization to hold human beings in servi¬
tude ; and as that feeling grew, the active politicians of the
North appealed to it with profit.

While all America in 1854 was discussing Mrs. Stowe’s
novel, the North in praise, the South in denunciation, it
became necessary to open to settlers the vast wilderness
west of Missouri, a part of the territory set aside for the
Indians, but where states would eventually be erected.

A bill was introduced in Congress to that effect. Con¬
siderations of a sectional import supervened, the relative
political strength of the North and of the South in the Fed¬
eral government being involved.

Kansas and Nebraska

After a long, bitter controversy in Congress, in May,
1854, the Douglas bill was passed, making provision for the
organization of two territorial governments, one for Kansas
and the other for Nebraska, leaving the question of slavery
in them to be decided by the people when adopting State
constitutions, as was the case with the territories of Utah

CONFLICTING ELEMENTS

507

and New Mexico; and, in addition, the bills contained a de¬
claration that “section 8 of the act of Congress of 1820,
being inconsistent with the principle of nonintervention by
Congress with slavery in the states and territories, as rec¬
ognized by the Legislature of 1850 (commonly called the
Compromise Measures) is hereby declared inoperative and
void, it being the true intent and meaning of this act not
to legislate slavery into any territory or state, nor to exclude
it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free
to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own
way, subject to the Constitution of the United States.”
This measure was fiercely debated for five months, and it
occasioned not only heated controversy in Congress but
throughout the Union. The Free Soilers were greatly ex¬
cited over it. The people of Kansas would determine for
themselves whether they would have slavery or nof: and as
yet there was not a single white resident in that wilderness ;
only some Indians. Naturally the people of western Mis¬
souri, adjacent to Kansas, were more interested than others.
The bill permitting settlers being approved by the President
May 30, on the next day many Missourians at once crossed
the line to take possession of the rich lands then opened to
settlers. They were favorable to slavery. But the Free
Soilers had determined to make Kansas a free state; and
throughout the North parties set out to move there for that
purpose. To aid them emigrant societies were now formed
in the northern states, that of New England sending out the
first contingent from New England in July. There were
no railroads, no highways, no means of transportation, no
depots of supplies in that remote wilderness. So emigrant
parties joined, and such a number of Free Soilers came at
one time that “it was like an invading army,” accompanied
necessarily with wagon trains. The South generally was not
so interested as the Free Soilers were: and only a few
settlers relatively came from the slave states, except Mis¬
souri. The several, factions being antagonistic occupied
different localities.

Under the act the President was to appoint a Governor,
who with his Council was to have a census taken and hold

Repeal of

Missouri

Compromise

The conflict

5°8

THE SLAVERY QUESTION ACUTE

an election for a Territorial Legislature. The census was
taken in February, 1855, showing 8,600 voters, and only
196 slaves. The election held in March was carried by the
Pro-slavery men, and the Legislature made Pro-slavery
laws. But in October, the Free Soilers held a convention
and declared null and void the action of the Legislature.
Thereupon a civil war began; and sentiment at the North
was favorable to the Free Soilers.

Dec., 1855

Banks,

Speaker

In Congress

When the congressional elections for Representatives
came off throughout the Union, the Democrats were badly
beaten. In the existing Congress they had more than two
to one, now they polled only 74 members; the Know Noth¬
ings had 83. The Anti-slavery party had 68. When the
members assembled in December, 1855, the House could not
elect a Speaker and the balloting continued day by day.
On December 31, the President sent in his message which,
the House not being organized, lay for a time unopened and
unread. After two months of fruitless balloting, on Feb¬
ruary 2, 1856, N. P. Banks was chosen under a plurality
rule adopted by the House. He received 103 votes : Aiken,
voted for by the Democrats and the opponents of the Free
Soilers, polled 100, and ten of the Know Nothing members
would not go to either.

This was not only a great reverse to the Democratic
party, but was an indication that its national sentiments were
not shared by a great many of the northern voters.

In the State

The political movements at the North from their inception
had their resulting effect in North Carolina, where some of
the Whigs joined the Know Nothing party; while others
strongly favored the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The Congres¬
sional election however was not favorable to the Democrats,
for Robert T. Payne beat Dr. Shaw ; and in the Caswell dis¬
trict, John Kerr, the sitting Whig having hotly espoused the
Democratic position, was beaten by E. G. Reade. In the
Wake district, Lawrence O’B. Branch, destined to take a

BEECHER’S PREACHING

509

great part in public matters, was elected over James B.
Shepard. In the Cape Fear district, William S. Ashe hav¬
ing become president of the Wilmington and Weldon Rail¬
road, Warren Winslow the Speaker, now called Governor
Winslow, was his successor. In the mountains, Clingman
acting with the Democrats was returned.

When the election for Governor was approaching in 1856,
the Democrats renominated Bragg, and the Whigs, against
his inclinations, nominated John A. Gilmer, a strong man,
devoted to the best interests of the State and people, and of
sterling worth. The campaign turned on issues favorable
to the Democrats, free suffrage which the Whig convention
opposed, the secret political Know Nothing party and the
anti-slavery agitation in progress at the North. It was the
first occasion when over 100,000 voters came to the polls,
and Bragg received 57,598, having a majority of 12,530.

Bleeding1 Kansas

In Kansas the hostile conflicts continued, and reinforce¬
ments came from the South and the North alike to strengthen
the contending factions. A storm of fury set in throughout
the North, and while the press and hustings uttered invective
against the slaveholders, the pulpit itself advocated blood¬
shed. Henry Ward Beecher, distinguished alike for his
social connections, intellectuality and eloquence, preached
with applause the doctrine of loaded rifles, and his burning
words found ready response in sympathetic hearts and were
fiercely echoed from hundreds of Christian churches. Kan¬
sas became a scene of violence, murder and assassinations,
and as the cry of “Bleeding Kansas” rang through the
North the Free Soilers resolutely withdrew from the old
parties, and the Republican party was strengthened. The
Whig leaders in a vain effort to arrest defection reorgan¬
ized their party under the name of the Know Nothing, or
American party, but lost half a million of their followers
to the Republicans. The Republican nominee for the presi¬
dency was John C. Fremont, a native of Charleston, whose
personal heroism and picturesque career in the far west
invested his candidacy with much popular interest. As

The election

Bragg,

Governor

1856

Cong. Globe

1856

Republican

party

American

party

THE SLAVERY QUESTION ACUTE

5!o

Peele : Dist.
N. C., 314

Union

feeling

The

Southern

view

Feeling at
the South

the campaign progressed and Free Soilism, under his leader¬
ship, developed strength with unexampled rapidity, his elec¬
tion seemed probable; and, in view of the possibility, in
October it was proposed that the Governors of the Southern
States should meet at Raleigh and consider future action.
But Governor Wise of Virginia, Governor Adams of South
Carolina, and Governor Bragg, alone, attended. At an in¬
formal conference, attended by Representatives L. O’B.
Branch, W. W. Holden, Moses A. Bledsoe, and others,
Governor Wise maintained that the election of Fremont
should be regarded as “an overt act,” and that the South
should resist by “fighting in the Union.” Governor Bragg’s
suggestions were more conservative, and “his sound reason,
prudence, and wise counsel produced a deep impression.”
No action was agreed upon. However, the Register, edited
by Seaton Gales, charged that this meeting was a step to
break up the Union, and denounced it.

At that period the advantages of the Union were generally
appreciated. Whatever disadvantage it had been to the
agricultural section in earlier years under the policy of a
protective tariff had vanished during the low tariff period,
and the tariff that had once been a cause of serious con¬
troversy had so far ceased to be an issue that it was not even
mentioned in any political platform in 1856. Outside of the
question of slavery there was naught to disturb the onward
course of national prosperity. But among Southerners, the
abolition of slavery was not an academic question on which
a difference of opinion could be tolerated. It would in¬
volve not only the loss of a billion dollars of property that
had grown up under the institutions of the country, pro¬
tected alike by the Federal and State constitutions, but as
well the disorganization of labor at the South and the intro¬
duction of fearful elements into the social structure. It con¬
templated not only the dispossession of private property, but
evils and calamities of unknown and incalculable extent: and
the agitation to accomplish it incited to insurrection and
servile war. As Jefferson had been deterred from advo¬
cating it when the Africans were few in numbers, because
of the evils that would inevitably attend it, so now
Southerners regarded those who proposed it not only as

PROSPERITY IN THE STATE

5ii

seeking to deprive them of their property but as willing
to inflict on the people of the South irreparable injuries.

For them there could be no more tolerance than for robbers
and enemies of mankind.

Thus when, in 1856, Professor Hedrick of the University
of North Carolina announced his purpose to vote for the
Abolition candidate for the presidency a storm of indigna¬
tion followed, and the trustees, after giving him an opportu¬
nity to withdraw, dismissed him. Indeed, it came about, as
the agitation progressed with calumny and ferocity at the
North, that the detestation of the Abolitionists, in some
measure, extended to the Northern people generally, and
“Yankee’’ became a term of veritable reproach.

Tlie Democrats elect the President

In the presidential election, the fears of the Democrats
were not realized, and although Fremont polled 1,341,264
votes all at the North, Fillmore, the Whig and “American” SUS(i856)
candidate, received only 874,534, and Buchanan 1,868,169, p’ 12
having a majority of 72 over all in the electoral college;
and the Democrats regained control of the House of Repre¬
sentatives.

State matters

When the Assembly met, Jesse G. Shepherd of Fayette¬
ville was elected Speaker of the House by 43 majority.

The Senate was of the same complexion ; W. W. Avery 1856
was elected Speaker by 19 majority. In his message Gov¬
ernor Bragg drew an agreeable picture of conditions in the
State, one of general improvement and prosperity. Espe¬
cially, he dwelt on the public works, the schools, and agri¬
culture as well as the moral condition of the people. Wiley
reported the number of children at the common schools as
about 130,000; at colleges and academies about 10,000; there The schools
were, however, 215,453 white children between 5 and 21
years of age; about $271,000 was provided for the public
schools. There were 85 inmates of the asylum for the in¬
sane ; and “several have been restored to reason and dis¬
charged.”

512

THE SLAVERY QUESTION ACUTE

Senate Jour¬
nal, p. 1664

House Jour¬
nal, 451

Acts, 1856,

p. 88

Ibid., 81

Lea:. Doc.,
1856, No.
15

The Neuse, the Tar and other rivers had been cleared for
navigation; and locks and dams had been built on Deep
River.

In the Senate a bill was introduced to charter a road from
Greensboro to Danville, but it was in direct conflict with
the State policy that had led to a North Carolina system;
and it failed by a vote of two to one.

Free suffrage

The Free Suffrage bill passed the Senate by 39 to 8 and
the House by 98 to 5. At last the proposition of Governor
Reid was about to become a part of the Constitution, subject
to the will of the people. It was to be voted on in August,
1857. There was a proposition to establish “The Peoples’
Bank of North Carolina,” with a capital of four millions,
and authority to issue notes to the amount of eight million.
It failed; but the introduction of such a measure indicates
the substantial progress that had been made in recent years.
The Bank of the State was rechartered with a capital of
$3,000,000.

The Cheraw and Coalfield Railroad, the Salem and Ger¬
mantown and other railroads were chartered ; and among
the other incorporations were the Yadkin Manufacturing
Company; the American Exchange Mining and Smelting
Company and the female college of the Methodist Protestant
Conference, among the incorporators being Calvin H. Wiley ;
and the Columbus Normal School in Polk County.

All dividends received from corporations in which the
State was a stockholder were appropriated for the sinking
fund to pay the State’s indebtedness ; and the State tax on
land was fixed at 15 cents on the $100 worth.

Railroad construction

Iron had been laid for some distance out of New Bern
towards Goldsboro, and work was beginning on the Western
North Carolina Railroad. The eastern division of the
North Carolina Railroad reached Greensboro on December
13, 1855, and on January 29, 1856, the two divisions were
united about half way between Greensboro and Jamestown.

TRANSPORTATION PROGRESS

5i3

The road was finished. The 223 miles of road cost about
$4,000,000, but the equipment cost in addition about $350,-
000. The net receipts of the business for the year 1856,
were $122,000, both the freight and passenger being much
in excess of expectations. The construction of the Western
North Carolina, then well in progress, was expected to in¬
crease the business ; but the building of the road had greatly
lessened the receipts of the Fayetteville and Western Plank
Road. While these improvements were in progress for land
transportation, efforts were being made to establish com¬
merce on the high seas. Steamships were provided at Wil¬
mington to carry our produce to New York, and William
S. Ashe, president of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad,
now had the satisfaction of being instrumental in giving ef¬
fect to the purpose for which the North Carolina system
was designed. Great train loads of freight from the in¬
terior of the State passed over the lines to a North Carolina
seaport and our produce went out into the commerce of the
world without paying toll to either of the bordering states.
And in the northeastern counties, Samuel Whedbee, James
C. Johnston and many others were building a steamer to
ply between the great sounds and New York and, under the
name of the North Carolina and New York Steamship
Company, were incorporated to run steamers not only to
northern ports but to the West India Islands and Mexico
as well.

The Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad Company being
ready to construct the line from New Bern to Morehead
City, Governor Morehead, perhaps expecting a Democratic
successor, in July, 1856, resigned as president of the North
Carolina Railroad and took a contract to construct 26 miles
of the road into Morehead City where he had already ac¬
quired large landed interests, illustrating his faith in the
ultimate success of his hope to create a great shipping port
at Beaufort Harbor. On his retirement, Charles F. Fisher
of Salisbury, a political supporter of Governor Bragg and of
the Democratic party, succeeded him.

On March 6, 1857, Mr. Dobbin retired as Secretary of the
Navy. During his administration of this Department there

1856

Steamships

President

Morehead

resigns

Dobbin

retires

THE SLAVERY QUESTION ACUTE

Japan

opened

The retired
list

The first

naval

frigates

National

power

Death of
Dobbin

were more beneficial changes made in respect to the naval
service than in any other four years of its history. The
Perry expedition to Japan that had its inception when
Graham was Secretary, entered the Bay of Yeddo on July 8,
1853, four months after Dobbin became Secretary; but it
was not until May 8, 1854, that Perry succeeded in obtain¬
ing the reply of the Shogun to President Fillmore’s letter.
The result was entirely satisfactory. Japan, the sealed
country, was now opened to the United States; and quickly
similar concessions were made to other Christian countries.
This of itself gave lustre to that period.

For the betterment of the naval service, Mr. Dobbin in¬
augurated such changes as admitting apprentices in the
navy; the retirement of old and incapacitated officers, a
system for promotion on merit, and the establishment of
efficiency in the service. More improvements were made in
the equipment of vessels than ever before, and his admin¬
istration was signalized by the construction of the six finest
naval frigates in the world, the Niagara being one of them.
And even in his last report he urged a larger and more
efficient navy, saying: “I regard the steady increase of our
naval strength not as a war, but a peace measure ; a measure
of defense involving grave questions of commercial security
and national independence” ; and he insisted that one engaged
in commerce “should gather confidence and courage and
energy from the reflection that he belongs to a government
recognized by all as able to avenge his wrongs and vindicate
his rights.” Such was the attitude of this devoted South¬
erner, an attitude shared by his associate, Jefferson Davis,
then the Secretary of War, and all the other Southern pa¬
triots of that day.

Mr. Dobbin was never robust, and he realized that his
life would be short. In October, 1854, when his friend Col.
John H. Wheeler, the historian, was departing on his mis¬
sion as Minister to Guatamala, he said in a note: “and when
you return and see my little folks tell them how warm was
the friendship between yourself and their father, whose life
was so hopeful and yet so short.” Within three years he
had passed away. Returning home in March, 1857, he died

GULF COAL FIELDS

5*5

the following August. “To the very last, Mr. Dobbin kept
fresh and vigorous his rich and refined culture, classical and
literary, as well as his critical acquaintance with Holy
Scripture. When in the very twilight of eternity, he re¬
peated a passage of Psalm 103 : 'Bless the Lord, O my
soul/ ” No purer spirit ever adorned noble manhood.

Congressional election

In the congressional election, Dr. Shaw was now opposed
by W. N. H. Smith, a very strong opponent, a man of very
superior merit and character. Shaw was elected. In the
Buncombe district, Zebulon B. Vance, who had served with
applause in the preceding Assembly, contended with Cling-
man, but failed, John A. Gilmer was elected from his dis¬
trict, and Alfred Moore Scales, a man of unusual high char¬
acter, was elected in the Caswell district. The old Whigs
were not inclined to consort with the Know Nothings, and in
the other districts the Democratic incumbents had no
opposition.

Major Laidley had reported favorably on the proposition
to utilize the coal fields at the Gulf in connection with the
arsenal at Fayetteville ; and a board of commissioners under
Commodore Wilkes, appointed by the Secretary of the Navy,
had visited the Deep River section to ascertain its suitability
as a location for government machine shops for the manu¬
facture of machinery for the navy. The report was full
and elaborate. “There are few places to be found in our
country where there is such a concentration of material, and
which can be mined with so little toil and expense/’ said
the Commodore, and he set forth the advantages of the lo¬
cation most strongly. Professor Emmons, the State Geol¬
ogist, also made a favorable report of his work.

The west reaches Jfewr Bern and Morehead

The Western North Carolina Railroad was open to States¬
ville, and on the 20th of April, 1858, the Atlantic and North
Carolina Railroad was opened from New Bern to Golds¬
boro. New Bern celebrated the event. “In addition,” said
President Whitford, “to our own crowded trains we were

The coal
fields

Leg. Doc.
. No. 60

Leg. Doc.
No. 56

THE SLAVERY QUESTION ACUTE

honored with trains from the Wilmington and Weldon, the
North Carolina, Raleigh and Gaston, and Western North
Carolina Railroad, all heavily laden, the people having turned
out en masse to join in the jubilee.” Then the Morehead
Leg. Doc. division being finished on the 7th day of June, the first train
No. 20 ran from Goldsboro to the ocean. Now the interior of the
State was in touch with the ocean at Morehead, with deep
water at Wilmington, and through the great sounds. The
incubus of the olden time had been lifted. The dream of
Caldwell was realized.

The election

1858

Holden
aspires to be
Governor

Ellis and
McRae

When the State election was coming on the Whigs were
in such a case that they did not nominate for Governor one
of their own party ; but as their policy of seeking a dis¬
tribution of the public lands to the states was popular and
supported by many Democrats, they again gave countenance
to such independent Democrats as offered themselves for
office. Among those was Duncan K. McRae, a brilliant
orator and associated with many of the leading families of
the State, who declared himself an Independent candidate
for Governor, and was supported by the Whigs.

Holden, the editor of the Standard , was a candidate for
the Democratic nomination to succeed Governor Bragg, and
he secured the support of many delegates to the convention.
However, in building himself up in the party he had pur¬
sued a course that tended to his disadvantage. He relied on
the instincts of the plain people rather than on the sympathy
of the more thoughtful leaders, and his alleged agrarianism
arrayed a strong opposition against him.

Judge John W. Ellis, a western man of fine attainments
and of singular purity of character, who for ten years had
ridden the circuits of the State with acceptability, was
nominated. One delegate from beyond the mountains had
brought down in his pocket many proxies, and it was his
vote that nominated Ellis. Holden, while acquiescing in
the result, declared that it had been accomplished “by means
that would be considered unfair by a New York politician”;
and he did not give Ellis a cordial support. But while

VANCE, THE RISING STAR

5i7

Bragg’s great vote fell off a thousand, McRae fell behind
Gilmer about five thousand, Ellis beating him by nearly
16,500. The State was overwhelmingly Democratic and the
Democrats had great majorities in both houses.

Judge Potter, who had served as United States District
Judge since the beginning of the century, in the spring of
1858, died at the advanced age of 96. Long had aspirants
for this desirable post of high honor and little work waited
for the event. At last nature created the vacancy, and
Senator Biggs on May 8,' 1858, resigned to accept the po¬
sition. To fill the vacancy in the Senate Governor Bragg
appointed Thomas L. Clingman, who had for years repre¬
sented the mountain district in Congress — a man of strong
intellectual powers and a very astute politician, who had
but recently joined the Democrats.

The removal of Clingman to the Senate made an opening
for another man, and W. W. Avery of Burke, a grandson
of the distinguished Colonial and Revolutionary patriot,
a man of fine accomplishments and sterling worth, and the
leading Democrat of the west, announced himself as a can¬
didate, but David Coleman of Asheville, a former officer of
the navy, likewise a Democrat of fine ability and highly
esteemed, also desired the honor. However, Zebulon B.
Vance of Buncombe, entered the arena as the Whig candi¬
date, and Coleman withdrew. Vance was but 28 years old,
and had only the legislative experience of one term in the
House of Commons ; but he had a large family connection,
and was already known locally as a vigorous campaigner.
Full of humor and ready with wit to meet any assault, as
good natured as he was eloquent, he was especially at home
in addressing his mountain people on the political issues
of the day. So successful was he in winning votes that he
not only overcame the usual Democratic majority in the
district of 2,000, but was elected over his able and popular
opponent by a majority of 2,049. Thus a new star of
peculiar brilliance arose in the political firmament. Vance
took his seat December 7, 1858.

1858

Clingman,

Senator

Vance enters
the House

5i8

THE SLAVERY QUESTION ACUTE

Roanoke

Inlet

Cape Fear liber

When William S. Ashe represented the Cape Fear dis¬
trict in 1851, an effort was made to have the general gov¬
ernment improve the entrance of the Cape Fear River. The
work recommended by the Board of Army Engineers was
to divert the flow through New Inlet to the Main Bar where
at that time the depth of the channel at low water was seven
and one-half feet, while at New Inlet it was eight feet.
The plan was eventually to close New Inlet entirely. At
that time Zeke’s Island lay southwest of New Inlet and
there were two washes between) that island and Smith
Island, together about 600 yards wide and about four feet
deep. Lieutenant Woodbury by 1857, had filled these up
with the effect of deepening the main channel two feet.

There were, however, strong commercial reasons for not
closing New Inlet, and that work was postponed.

The engineers also had in charge the reopening of Roan¬
oke Inlet. This had been reported on by Fulton in 1820;
by Bache in 1829; by General Gwynn and then Lieutenant
Woodbury in 1853. They all agreed on the necessity of
building a dam across Croatan Sound, three miles long and
from 8 to 13 feet deep, while east of Roanoke Island, what
is called Roanoke Sound, half a mile wide and four feet
deep and then a width of three miles from one to two feet
deep, had also to be dammed, the estimated cost being
$2,450,000. The object for this proposed improvement was
to facilitate commerce.

Lieutenant Woodbury proposed first to cut a channel
through the flats and the banks. It was thought the cost
of this would be $5,000,000. But after Woodbury had cut
into the channel with his dredge, the water filled in the
sand so rapidly behind it that he came near losing the
dredge, and the whole scheme was abandoned.

It was then, 1857, reported: The products of Eastern
North Carolina mostly find a market, through the Dismal
Swamp Canal, but the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal
Company are now engaged in excavating a canal of larger
dimensions connecting Chesapeake Bay with Currituck,
Albemarle and Pamlico sounds which they anticipate com-

MERGER .OF TWO INLETS

5i9

pleting within the next year and when accomplished will
obviate all necessity of a communication with the sea
through Nags Head. But while that work was given over
for commercial purposes, still the absence of the inlets se¬
riously affected the great fisheries of the sounds. As to
Roanoke Sound, it is to be observed that according to
Cooke’s map, 1823, there was a strip of land two miles west
of the banks enclosing for some ten miles what was then
called the Chickamacomico Bay, but this strip seems to have
naturally subsided. In 1862, the expedition to cut off an
Indiana regiment in that part of the banks failed because
the boats could not reach the banks at all. It is also to be
remarked that these inlets are moved by natural causes.
In the spring of 1853, there was an inlet to Wrightsville
Sound and one to Masonboro Sound, a considerable dis¬
tance apart, but the Wrightsville Inlet was making to the
south. Within six months, September, 1853, the author
witnessed in a great storm these two inlets come together
and merge into one.

Trumbull’s
report, App. '
D., pp. 66,

68, War
Dept., 1857

CHAPTER XXXIII

Conditions in the State

The Danville connection beaten. — A homestead provided for.

-Holden defeated. — Ad valorem proposed. — Chief Justice Nash
dies. — Ruffin returns to the bench. — Pearson Chief Justice. — State
finances. — W. N. H. Smith in Congress. — Conditions in 1860. —
Lincoln and Douglas. — John Brown’s raid. — Republican senti¬
ment. — The Council of State makes declaration. — The Standard
speaks. — Rev. Daniel Worth arrested. — Conditions in North Caro¬
lina. — Marvelous progress. — Education. — The public man. — Edi¬
tors.— Military training. — Manufacturing. — Ad valorem. — Slave
labor. — The Standard repudiated. — Ellis elected over Pool.

The Danville connection

185S

Connor :

171 N. C.
Reports, 844

When the Assembly met in November, 1858, Henry T.
Clark of Edgecombe, a substantial farmer and man of ster¬
ling worth, became Speaker of the Senate, and Thomas Set¬
tle of Rockingham, a brilliant young man, Speaker of the
House. -

A bill to charter the Danville connection having failed
at the previous session of the Assembly, a greater effort was
to be made at this. A strong memorial was prepared, and
Governor Morehead himself came to the House to secure
the passage of the measure. A decade had passed since the
notable conflict over a North Carolina system and the Dan¬
ville convention had agitated the State, and now Mr. Ashe
came again to the Senate and Mr. Dortch to the House to
prevent the threatened interference with what was then ac¬
complished. When the bill was introduced in the House, it
was referred to the committee of the whole and for two days
there was high debate — for on the one hand the question
involved local interest of great importance and on the other
it affected adversely the railroad policy of the State. Gov¬
ernor Morehead and his friends stood for their immediate
section, while R. R. Bridgers of Edgecombe, Dennis Fere-
bee and William T. Dortch upheld the State policy. It was
declared by those who witnessed it to have been one of the

HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION

52i

most remarkable debates in our legislative history. Truly
it was a battle of the giants and the House felt the shock
of battle while the conflict lasted. The bill failed by a con¬
siderable majority in the House, but later was reconsidered,
doubtless after an amicable arrangement had been reached.
An amendment was agreed on that the road should not
connect with any road in Virginia, and the name was
changed to “Rockingham Coal Field Railroad.” When the
bill reached the Senate, Mr. Ashe moved an amendment that
the road should not run within twenty miles of the North
Carolina Railroad, which was adopted, and the name was
again changed — this time to “The Dan River Coal Field
Company.”

1858

House Jour¬
nal, 349

Senate Jour¬
nal, 389

The homestead

The Assembly passed an act allowing any head of a
family to have a homestead set apart, not to exceed $500
in value, to be exempt from debt; and others incorporating
the State Medical Society and establishing a Board of Med¬
ical Examiners ; to encourage the planting of oysters and
clams ; to establish the line between Virginia and North
Carolina. Nine banks were incorporated and twenty min¬
ing companies ; while five colleges and eight seminaries were
incorporated and the Common School Law amended.

Holden’s defeat

Holden, still aspiring to higher position, now suffered an¬
other defeat. The term of Senator Reid was about to ex¬
pire, and Holden sought the Senatorship, but his party
while electing Clingman to succeed himself conferred this
senatorship upon Governor Bragg, whose attainments, ca¬
pacity and character gave him rank among the most illus¬
trious men ever produced in the State. As editor of a paper
so powerful that “it could kill and make alive,” Holden had
assumed the role of dispensing honors, and in the campaign
of that summer his coterie of friends had sought unsuc¬
cessfully to defeat the nomination of L. O’B. Branch for
Congress. Failing in this and smarting under his successive
defeats, in conference with Moses A. Bledsoe of Wake, and

522

CONDITIONS IN THE STATE

others, he brought forward a new idea that promised at once
to increase his hold on the masses and to punish the large
slaveholders in his party, whom he regarded as hostile to
him.

Ad valorem

On the meeting of the Assembly resolutions embodying
this idea — to tax all property according to its value, thus
repealing the long-established law and custom by which only
a poll tax was imposed upon negroes — were introduced in
both houses. In the House they were tabled by a vote of
48 to 38; and in the Senate, where they were ably advo¬
cated by Bledsoe, they met with the same fate. But the
proposition, known as “ad valorem” taxation, had in it an
element of popularity. The distribution of negro popula¬
tion was very unequal. It was relatively heavier in the
eastern counties and sparse at the west. There were 86
counties in all. Twelve of the mountain counties contained
72,210 whites and only 6,813 negroes, and in some of these
there were twenty and thirty whites to one negro ; while in
some of the eastern counties there were more negroes
than whites. And at the east, as at the west, there were
many voters who owned no slaves, and their support was
expected. So although signally defeated in the Assembly,
.the proposed change in taxation, promising to meet with
popular favor, was taken up by some of the working men
at Raleigh, and was not allowed to die.

New counties

The counties of Alleghany and Harnett were established,
and the northwestern portion of New Hanover was laid off
to be a new county, to be called Lillington, subject, how¬
ever, to the approval of two-thirds of the voters of the Rocky
Point district, and apparently Rocky Point was not willing,
and that county was not established.

The judiciary

Chief Justice Nash having died on December 4, 1858,
after a long and distinguished service on the bench, the

BANKS WITHSTAND PANIC

523

Assembly, to Judge Ruffin’s surprise, elected him to the
Supreme Court, and although he did not wish to leave his
retirement, he said that he regarded the election as “a call to
duty” and he reluctantly accepted the appointment. Chief
Justice Nash had not attended the June session of the court
and the court had been held by Judges Pearson and Battle;
so at the term beginning December 30, the members of the
court chose Pearson for Chief Justice. During the year
Judge Sam Person and Judge Ellis had resigned, and
Robert R. Heath of Edenton and Jesse G. Shepherd of
Fayetteville were appointed by Governor Bragg temporarily
to the vacancies and were later elected by the Assembly.

There had been trouble in regard to the North Carolina
railroad and a committee was raised to examine into its
affairs. It appears that under the administration of Gov¬
ernor Morehead the contractors had done their work badlv
in the eastern division and culverts had not been properly
constructed ; and that under the Fisher administration a
much larger expenditure had been made for wood than was
necessary; and there were other irregularities.

State finances

Governor Bragg directed attention to the growing “float¬
ing debt,” which now amounted to nearly $400,000, to pay
which would take nearly all the State’s taxes, and to the
necessity of taking care of the bonded debt. The great
panic of 1857, while it had caused widespread disaster else¬
where, passed without a trace in this State because the banks
had successfully met it. But the State’s annual receipts
were not equal to its demand for cash. Governor Bragg
suggested a bond issue accompanied by a sinking fund ;
and accordingly the Treasurer was authorized to issue bonds
to the amount of $1,360,000 to meet the needs of the
Treasury.

Congressional election

When the election of Congressmen came on in 1858, the
Whigs’ contention was that the Democrats were for disunion,
and they themselves stood for peace and union. Holden’s

Ruffin on
the bench

Pearson,

Chief

Justice

Other judges

1858

524

CONDITIONS IN THE STATE

Dec., 1859

attitude to his party and the measure proposed by Bledsoe
in the Assembly also had some effect on the campaign. The
Democrats reelected all their Congressmen, except Scales,
who was defeated by James Madison Leach, and Dr. Shaw,
whose former opponent W. N. H. Smith, having served
acceptably in the Assembly and made a fine impression, now
succeeded in ousting him. The last opponents were men of
courage and spirit and their controversies unluckily became
violent and bitter.

Smith in Congress

When Congress met in December, 1859, the Democrats
no longer had control of the House. The Republicans and
the Whigs together could make a majority. Smith, al¬
though this was his first term in Congress, was the Whig
candidate for Speaker. He was a protectionist, and as
such was preferred by northern protectionists and he was
preferred by southern Democrats as against the Republican
nominee, John Sherman. After a contest lasting two
months, some Republicans and enough Democrats went to
Smith to elect him. On the count he had a majority, but
C. Jay Morris, formerly a Whig from Pennsylvania but
then a Republican, asked Smith to pledge himself to appoint
a protection committee of Ways and Means, and Smith re¬
fusing to make any pledge, Morris, who had voted for him,
changed his vote, and the Republicans followed his course ;
so there was no election. Pennington of New Jersey was
later elected.

Conditions in 1860

The Free Soilers had taken a decided stef> in advance.
William H. Seward, the most influential of the Republican
leaders, declared in a great speech at Rochester that negro
slave labor stood in the way of free white labor, and that
there was “an irrepressible conflict between opposing and
enduring forces, and it means that the United States must
and will, sooner or later, become either entirely a slave¬
holding nation, or entirely a free-labor nation.” And, con¬
temporaneously, Abraham Lincoln of Illinois, in a statewide

JOHN BROWN'S BUTCHERIES

525

campaign with Senator Douglas for the senatorship, urged
as a political maxim : “A house divided against itself can¬
not stand.” ‘‘And I believe,” said he, “this government
cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I
do not expect the Union to be dissolved. It will become
all one thing or all the other.” In the contest Lincoln
proved more than a match for Douglas, and from an un¬
known local partisan he sprang suddenly into fame as the
foremost "exponent of Republican faith. While Lincoln’s
words were being echoed throughout the North, Hinton
Rowan Helper, whose father was a slaveholder living in
Davie County, having become impressed during a sojourn in
California with the advantages of white labor, published a
small volume against the slavery system, not to better the
condition of the negro but to substitute free white labor.

It was, however, an incendiary work of a virulent character
and denounced all intercourse, social, business or religious,
with slaveholders. Its value as an aid in the movement
against slavery was immediately seen by Republican leaders,
and under the title of “A Manifesto — The Impending
Crisis,” and bearing the endorsement of sixty-four members
of Congress and well-known Republicans, it was distributed
throughout the North and West in batches of one hundred
thousand copies. The potency of its effect in arraying the
masses of the North against the Southern people cannot be
estimated. And the close of the year brought an added
impetus to the abolition movement.

John Brown

In October, 1859, a fanatic, John Brown, notorious for
his butchery of human beings in Kansas, brought to a head Oct., 1859
an undertaking that he and his abettors had planned in
Canada to start a servile war in Virginia. In May, 1856,
he and a party of his followers had taken by night five pro¬
slavery men from among their Pottawatomie neighbors in
Kansas and butchered them, literally hacking them to pieces
with cutlasses, there being no particular reason for selecting
these men for butchery. Three years later he secretly dis¬
tributed a considerable number of those associated in the de-

526

CONDITIONS IN THE STATE

Republican

sympathies

John

Brown

sign of inaugurating a servile war conveniently in western
Pennsylvania, and with some fifteen of his former adherents
in Kansas, familiar with butchery, several other whites, and
a few negroes* he established a base of operations on a
farm near Harper’s Ferry. On Sunday night about the mid¬
dle of October, this force entered the town, virtually taking
possession, with the purpose of securing a quantity of arms
and ammunition stored in the arsenal there and then moving
to the mountains where they expected to be joined by the
negroes. But the citizens rose against them and a hun¬
dred militia hurried frofn Charles Town, and soon all of
the band was killed, except Brown and two or three others ;
and they were taken and, after trial, executed. While much
indignation was expressed by conservatives at the North at
this crystallization into an overt act of abolition sentiment,
yet generally among Republicans sympathy was avowed,
and John Brown became a hero and martyr — the butcher of
human beings, reeking with his crimes, was installed as a
saint in the temples of fanaticism, a singular expression of
Northern sentiment.

The portrayal of Republican sentiment by Senator Cling-
man in the Senate three months later may not have been
applicable to all of that party, but it records the progress of
the general spirit of abolition fanaticism. Referring to the
crimes and execution of John Brown and the manifestation
of admiration and sympathy evoked, the North Carolina
Senator said : “Large meetings were held to express these
feelings, services and prayers were made in his behalf, church
bells tolled and cannon fired, and more significant than all
these was the declaration of almost the entire Republican
press that his punishment should strengthen the Republican
cause. At a meeting in Boston, where thousands were as¬
sembled, when Emerson, a literary man of eminence, pro¬
claimed that Brown ‘had made the gallows as glorious
as the cross,’ he was rapturously applauded. At the large

*One of these was a free negro, born and reared in Fayetteville, Lewis
Sheridan Leary, none of whose pregenitors as far as known had been slaves.
His mother was born in French dominions. His father, whose ancestor fought
in the Revolution under Greene, was a saddler, and Leary was taught that
trade and had some education. In 1857 when 18 years old he removed to
Oberlin, Ohio, and fell in with Brown.

FANATICISM LET LOOSE

527

meeting at Natick, when the Senator from Massachusetts
was a speaker, the principal speaker, Wright, declared the
people of the North look upon ‘Jesus Christ as a dead
failure,’ and hereafter would rely upon ‘John Brown and
him hanged.’ ”

The South was startled by John Brown’s raid as by a
clap of thunder. There was a sudden realization that
fanaticism knew no bounds. With mingled indignation and
apprehension military companies tendered their aid to Vir¬
ginia. And as similar attempts might be repeated, when
and where least expected, measures of precaution were taken
locally in North Carolina and elsewhere in the slaveholding
states, and new military companies were formed in many
counties. Moreover, future possibilities were brought
sharply under consideration.

The Council of State make declaration

Early in December the Council of State met at Raleigh
and adopted resolutions : “If we cannot hold our slave
property and at the same time enjoy repose and tranquillity
in the Union, we will be constrained, in justice to ourselves
and to our posterity, to establish new forms and to estab¬
lish new guards for our security and well-being.

That while declaring our sincere devotion to the Union ac¬
cording to the Constitution as it was established by our fore¬
fathers, and while we are ready to uphold and maintain it
as a union of equals, we are not unmindful of the fact that
the disturbers of our peace have received and are receiving
the active and the substantial support of large portions of
the people of the non-slaveholding states at the North.”

Horror and indignation prevailed throughout the State.
Political differences were hushed. There were no two
minds discernible; all stood together. The press unani¬
mously gave voice to the general feeling. The Standard,
however, went beyond all others in saying: “After Seward’s
Rochester speech, after the Harpers Ferry outrage, and
after Helper’s book, endorsed as it is by the leaders of the
Black Republicanism, the people of the South will not sub¬
mit to Black Republican rule. They will sunder the bonds.”

Standard,
Dec. 10,
1859

The

Standard

528

CONDITIONS IN THE STATE

R. C. Cli. 34,
Sec. 10

Cor.

Jonathan
Worth, I,
113, 115

Hamilton
Reconst, in
N. C., 9

1860

Officials redoubled their vigilance, and during the winter
there were here and there throughout North Carolina ar¬
rests of persons for distributing publications and dissemi¬
nating views calculated to make the negroes discontented
with their condition. Among those arrested was Rev.
Daniel Worth, a member of a highly respectable connec¬
tion in the State, who had emigrated to Indiana, and had
become a monomaniac on the subject of slavery. He had
sought to distribute Helper’s book, and was indicted under
a section of the Revised Code, that made it a felony to cir¬
culate a publication the evident tendency of which was to
excite among slaves a disposition to make insurrection.
Although ably defended by James T. Morehead, a large
slaveholder, in March Worth was convicted in Randolph,
and in April in Guilford. He was sentenced to a year’s
imprisonment in each case, but having appealed and given
bail, he left the State. When asked, why as a minister of
the gospel, he did not obey the law, he replied: “I have no
respect for North Carolina laws, for they are enacted by
adulterers, drunkards and gamblers.” Indeed, one of the
incidents of the agitation for the abolition of slavery had
been the sowing of seeds for a full harvest of misapprehen¬
sion. The views of this preacher of the gospel, a man of
“talents and of exemplary morals,” himself of Southern
parentage, with regard to Southern character, were meas¬
urably shared by many at the North. Others again re¬
garded Southern men as mere bullies and desperate profli¬
gates, while some fancied that the South was largely peopled
by men of immense wealth, lordly aristocrats, proper ob¬
jects of envy and of hatred.

Conditions in North Carolina

But without regard to the sentiments of the Republicans,
the South continued its onward march in prosperity and di¬
versification of industry, and North Carolina shared the
general progress. Indeed, so great had been the increase of
wealth at the South that much of the feeling at the North
was ascribed to its envy, for every Southerner traveling
northward was esteemed a nabob.

CAREER OF DEVELOPMENT

529

North Carolina especially had entered upon a career of
marvelous development. The decade then drawing to its
close might well be called the golden period of her exist¬
ence. It was rich in accomplishment and contentment and
happiness reigned throughout her borders, while the future
promised full reward of industry. The sectional animosi¬
ties that had sprung from the provisions of the Constitution
of 1777 had been allayed, and the distance of the west
from the markets had been virtually shortened by the con¬
struction of railroads. Indeed the benefits of the system of
railroads as developed were inestimable in unifying the
State and removing sectionalism. Already nearly 900 miles
of railroads were in operation and the State felt the removal
of the burden on transportation, while the unification of the
interests that had once been divergent was most happy in
results.

It must be borne in mind that although all the inhabitants
were native born yet the racial characteristics of the several
settlements had been perpetuated.

The thousands of Lutheran families that had occupied
in part the Yadkin and Catawba counties no longer spoke
German, but like their neighbors, the Scotch-Irish and the
Moravians who had spread out through the territory about
Salem, and the Quakers in the Guilford country, they re¬
mained distinct in their religious associations, and were the
same industrious people, trained in many of the arts of in¬
dustry, that their forefathers were. And so it was with
Highland Scotch who occupied the upper Cape Fear coun¬
try. The population while far from being homogeneous
was excellent in those attributes that adorn character and
that develop the best type of citizenship.

Tlie social progress

There was progress in every line of activity. The public
schools that had begun in 1840, now after twenty years,
numbered 177,000 pupils, of whom 15,000 were in the acad¬
emies and the LTiiversity was crowded beyond its capacity.
More than 4,000 churches dotted the hillsides, every country
church exerting a beneficial influence as well as bearing
34

I860

Schools

530

CONDITIONS IN THE STATE

Senate Jour¬
nal, p. 27

Manufac¬

tures

1860

Public men

evidence of the characteristics of the people in its vicinity,
and the people were God fearing and law abiding. Year
by year improvements had been introduced in every rami¬
fication of social life, in the administration of justice, the
care of the unfortunate, the protection of the family and the
elevation of the citizens. Despite the “call of the West”
that annually attracted thousands to the fertile lands of
newer settlements, carrying along with them thousands of
slaves, both whites and blacks had increased during the
decade more than fourteen per cent, and the value of prop¬
erty had doubled. The improved lands on the farms had
increased nearly one-third, while the average size of the
farms had diminished from 369 to 316 acres. The yield
of wheat and of cotton had doubled, and the production of
corn was more than thirty million bushels and of tobacco
thirty-two million pounds. Banking facilities had been *
multiplied, there being now sixty banks, and North Carolina
credit was high. In manufactures 2,500 establishments
employed 12,217 hands, yielding a profit of more than 30
per cent on the capital of $10,000,000 invested. In this era
of prosperity, of improved transportation, of business fa¬
cilities, and of public schools, the expenditures had largely
increased and the people were now content with the results
of liberal appropriations. In a word, nowhere else was to
be found a picture more pleasing to one in sympathy with
what is best in human existence,. North Carolinians can
dwell on it with pride and admiration.

State affairs and local concerns claimed almost exclusive
attention. There were no officers of the Federal govern¬
ment in the State except the postmasters, some collectors of
customs at the seaports, and the sleepy officers of the Fed¬
eral court that did no business. The tariff was no longer a
burden. The people had no other contact with the gov¬
ernment of the Union than to elect their representatives to
the Congress and so slight was the connection that they
hardly felt its existence.

During that decade public life in the State was adorned
by a galaxy of brilliant men : Badger, Graham, George
Davis, Morehead, Thomas S. Ashe, John Kerr, W. N. H.
Smith, Judge Pearson, Judge Nash, Judge Manly, John Pool

GROWTH OF THE STATE PRESS

53i

and other Whigs of eminence were well matched by Bragg,
Dobbin, Clingman, Avery, W. S. Ashe, Branch, Craige,
Strange, Bridgers, Person, Chief Justice Ruffin, Judge Ellis,
Scales and other Democrats. The bar was strong and
numerous, and the administration of justice excited admi¬
ration. Indeed the opinions filed in the Supreme Court were
cited with commendation not only in the courts of all the
states but in those of Great Britain. The pulpit likewise,
was adorned by men of learning and saintliness, and the
press had grown in power and in numbers. Perhaps the
most influential of all the editors was E. J. Hale, who for
a quarter of a century had published the Observer at Fay¬
etteville. At Raleigh the Standard was powerful among
the Democrats, while the Register, established by Joseph
Gales fifty years earlier, and now published by J. W. Syme,
was potent in Whig circles. At Wilmington the Journal,
edited by James Fulton, was leader, while the Commer¬
cial, T. B. Loring, and the Herald, Talcott Burr, were in¬
fluential. And there were more than fifty other newspapers
in the State, many edited by men of ability. While there
were but few ventures in the literary field, there were some
historical publications of unusual excellence; Jones’s De¬
fense of North Carolina and Wheeler’s History of the State;
Caruthers’s Life of Dr. David Caldwell, and his Old North
State ; Foote’s Sketches; Hawks’s History of North Caro¬
lina; McRee’s Life and Letters of Iredell; Essays by
Graham, Swain and Hawks ; Addresses by Dr. Hooper and
George Davis, and Joshua G. Wright’s oration at Moore’s
Creek; Mrs. Bayard Clarke’s poems, Wood Notes; Dr. Cur¬
tis’s Woody Plants, and the historical papers published in
the University Magazine were likewise notable contributions.
And there was also a publication of merit begun in 1857,
printed at Raleigh, devoted to agriculture, horticulture and
the mechanic arts, the name being the North Carolina
Planter, which, advocating soil improvement and diffusing
information, was doubtless of much practical benefit.

As North Carolina had led the way in having a geological
survey, so the purpose of ascertaining and bringing to the
attention of the public the varied resources of the State con¬
tinued. Tn 1850 the State Geologist began a collection of

The press

Authors

532

CONDITIONS IN THE STATE

Military

academies

specimens of the different kinds of minerals to be found in
the State that eventually became the Museum which by its
constant additions grew into a very interesting display of
the natural resources of the State, and furnished the basis
for the fine exhibits made in the later expositions held in
this country and1 at Vienna abroad. In i860 Professor
Emmons, the State Geologist, made valuable reports on
agriculture as well as minerals and his work was supple¬
mented by a treatise prepared by the learned Edmund Ruffin
of Virginia on the swamp lands of North Carolina.

The diffusion of education, the new facilities for travel,
the expansion of business, the growth of the towns and the
general prosperity that prevailed had a happy effect on
social conditions ; and on the occasion of the visit of Presi¬
dent Buchanan, accompanied by several other distinguished
personages to the University in 1859, there was such a bril¬
liant gathering at Chapel Hill and addresses of such lit¬
erary excellence as shed luster on the people of the State.

The benefits of military training had led to the establish¬
ment of several military academies in the State. At Char¬
lotte, Major D. H. Hill, distinguished in the Mexican War,
and like his brother-in-law, Thomas J. Jackson, eminent
as a teacher and famed as a disciplinarian, was successfully
conducting the North Carolina Military Institute. Near
Hillsboro, Col. C. C. Tew had established a military academy
of high repute. He had made a tour of Europe, partly on
foot, and had visited many of the great army posts, studying
military science and the art of war. Capt. C. B. Denson,
Maj. D. H. Christie, Mr. J. Lovejoy and others likewise
were instructing the youths of the different parts of the
State in the duties of a soldier. All of these academies
were well patronized and hundreds of cadets were every
year learning something of discipline and military service
and were being trained in obedience to law and authority.
And, as if coming events had cast their shadows before,
twenty-eight military companies had been organized here
and there throughout the State, presenting the nucleus of
a small military force.

DEVELOPMENT OF INDUSTRIES

533

The census

While the census states the number of manufacturing es¬
tablishments at 3,669, yet 1,000 of these were merely gath¬
ering the turpentine from the trees, and though employing
2,000 men very profitably, their operation was not in the na¬
ture of manufacturing. The manufacturing of spirits of
turpentine was different. Of these there were 460, em¬
ploying 750 hands, and the products were worth $4,258,000.
There were 628 mills making flour and meal, employing
824 hands and making $4,354,000 of products.

Tobacco came next in importance : 97 factories, employing
1,360 hands, all these employees being males, and the value
of the products being $1,117,000. But cotton goods were
not far behind; 39 factories with a capital of $1,272,000,
employed 440 males and 1,315 females, and the products
worth $1,046,000. There were besides seven woolen mills.
Sawmills also employed more than 1,000 men and their prod¬
ucts were over a million dollars. At the east, where the labor
was almost exclusively negro, lumber, distilling and tobacco
were the chief manufactures ; but there was also a fair
share of other industries. The west, however, had all the
woolen mills and three times as many cotton factories as the
east, although Cumberland County headed the list with
seven out of the 39 cotton factories, employing 489 hands,
and Edgecombe had the most important mill in the State.
Randolph and Alamance each had five ; Gaston three, and
Iredell two. There were also factories making agricultural
implements, carriages, wagons, sashes, blinds and doors,
leather and saddlery. xAdready manufacturing was entering
into the life of the people. But the progress and development
that then marked the improved conditions in the State had
not been effected without cost. The State debt had been al¬
most suddenly expanded to $8,833,000 and the annual in¬
terest aggregated $529,000, while five millions more in bonds
had been authorized for new railroads.

Ad valorem

Some of Holden’s friends in Wake held a meeting and
issued an address entitled “The Working Man’s Address,”

I860

Industries

534

CONDITIONS IN THE STATE

The slaves

Constitu¬
tional Union
party

advocating “ad valorem” taxation, taxing slaves as other
property. In theory that was just, particularly as the slave¬
holder was insisting on his carrying his slaves into the
territories as “property,” but it did not appeal strongly at
the time to the non-slaveholding class. The situation in the
State was this : there were 629,000 white population, about
125,000 voters; the number of slaveholders was 34,600,
some of whom were women ; so that only about 30,000 were
of the voting class, being one-fourth of the voters. The
non-slaveholder could have had it all his own way had he
cared to do so. However, few slaves were ever sold in the
State. Their service, their labor, was valuable, but as they
were not for sale they stood on a different footing from
other property. They were largely “of the family.” One-
half of the slaveowners owned less than three slaves ; one-
fifth owned only one. It was this condition that gave to
the institution in North Carolina a domestic character, and
while tending to the elevation of the negro by his close
contact with the family, imparted to slavery in North Caro¬
lina a coloring that obscured the idea of mere “property.”
The relation of master and servant coming down through
the generations was accompanied by a kindly and affection¬
ate interest on both sides, and generally marked by faithful,
loyal service and real respect and regard.

Mr. Syme, the editor of the Raleigh Register, the leading
Whig paper, took the position that it was very improper
to raise the question of Ad V alorem because of the ab¬
olition movement, while the Standard became its strong
advocate, and published the “Address” and sent it broad¬
cast throughout the State.

The Whigs then called themselves the “Opposition” ;
but in February, the venerable Senator Crittenden of Ken¬
tucky, on whom had fallen the mantle of Henry Clay, called
together many of the old Whig leaders, among them
Graham, Gilmer and others from North Carolina, and they
organized a new party under the name of the Constitutional
Union party. When they held their convention they em¬
bodied “ad valorem” in their platform, although their
nominee, John Pool, had voted against it in the Senate.
On the other hand, in March the Democratic convention

POLITICAL CONFLICT

535'

nominated Ellis and took ground against it. The chief
issue between the two parties in the August election thus
became the proposed change in the system of taxation; and
while Mr. Syme subordinated himself to his party, Mr.
Holden, although strongly antagonizing Pool and advocat¬
ing Ellis, was lukewarm on that issue.

Early in the campaign the opposition, aided by Holden
and Bledsoe, had made gains on the issue of Ad Valorem
despite the personal popularity of Judge Ellis, the able ad¬
dresses of E. G. Haywood, the chairman of the Democratic
State committee, and the efforts of his coadjutors. The
course of the Standard on that issue was, indeed, cause
of grave concern to the Democrats, for its powers and in¬
fluence among the rank and file of the Democratic party
were not underestimated, but its attitude was so hostile to
party success that the Democratic State committee formally
discarded it as a party organ and announced that the Dem¬
ocratic Press , edited by R. H. Whitaker, would be so re¬
garded. Holden had drifted utterly away from his party
organization. In the plenitude of his power he had de¬
clared that he could “kill and make alive,” and now the
leaders of his party resolutely broke with him. The cam¬
paign was very heated. Much was at stake in the eastern
counties. The trend was against Ellis and in favor of Pool.
Ellis, however, gained three thousand over his former vote,
being the largest Democratic vote ever polled, while the
Whigs rallied 8,000 more than they had polled when their
last Whig candidate, Gilmer, ran four years before. The
Democratic majority was 6,340, and that party held the
Assembly. The non-slaveholder had not responded in great
numbers to the appeals of the “working men,” yet the Whig
vote was strong.

The

Standard
discarded as.
the Dem¬
ocratic
organ

Whitaker.

CHAPTER XXXIV

Election i860

The conventions. — The meeting at Charleston. — Douglas men
in control. — The platform adopted. — The cotton states secede. —
The convention adjourns to Baltimore. — The seceders likewise
meet there. — Bell nominated by the Whigs; Lincoln by the Re¬
publicans. — Judge Douglas’s Southern connections. — He is nomi¬
nated; and Breckinridge by the Southern wing of the party. —
At home. — The platform. — Ellis again elected, but the Whigs
enthusiastic. — Vance’s oratory. — The election. — Adverse result at
the North. — The unexpected had happened. — Secession was urged.
— The right to withdraw. — Differences of opinion. — South Caro¬
lina calls a State convention. — The action at Wilmington, but
the feeling was general. — Ellis’s views. — Holden replaced by
Spelman.

The Conventions

The Democratic convention chose as the delegates at large
to the Democratic National Convention W. W. Avery, W. S.
Ashe, W. W. Holden, and Bedford Brown. Of these Mr.
Avery had been the most active and was perhaps the most
influential. He had been the chairman of the delegation at
the convention of 1856, and now was chosen as chairman
of the Committee on Platform and Resolutions.

When the convention met at Charleston in April, there
was much enthusiasm, for there was every hope that the
Democrats would carry the election as in 1856, and there
were many aspirants for honors. Tennessee presented for
the presidency, Andrew Johnson, a native of Raleigh;
Benjamin Butler of Massachusetts was an earnest supporter
of Jefferson Davis; R. M. T. Hunter of Virginia was hope¬
ful of the nomination. Many states had favorite sons.
North Carolina was not backward. Governor Ellis and
other ‘influential North Carolinians had agreed to urge for
the Vice-President, William S. Ashe, who would probably
have had supporters from other states ; but at first, W. W.
Avery was formally presented for that nomination by the

PROTESTS UNAVAILING

537

entire delegation. And so it was in all the Southern States ;
men were looking keenly to the future for national honors.

The point at issue

The Committee on Resolutions, composed of one dele¬
gate from each state, reported the platform of 1856, which
declared that slavery could not be prohibited in a territory
by congressional legislation, but with an amendment to the
effect that neither could it be prohibited by territorial legis¬
lation. There was, however, a minority report, drawn to
conform to Senator Douglas’s view, known as “Squatter
Sovereignty,” that the people of a territory could, while
still in a territorial condition, prohibit slavery in the territory
and exclude a slaveholder from carrying his property into
the territory. The platform of 1856 declared that Congress
had not that power, but only the people when they had be¬
come a state. It was a state’s right; but now Mr. Douglas
proposed to extend the right to the legislature of the terri¬
tory. It was a departure from established Democratic doc¬
trine. At once a conflict was precipitated on the floor of
the convention. Immigrants had poured into the North
and West, and the representation from those states was
numerically much greater than from the South, and senti¬
ment at the North and West was with Douglas. Southern
delegates protested that the Douglas position was not Demo¬
cratic and that the South would not yield to this new doc¬
trine. The delegates of the cotton states were largely of
one mind; but those from North Carolina and the border
states were divided in opinion as to their proper course.
William S. Ashe addressed the convention, saying that if
the minority platform was forced upon the party he would
be compelled to withdraw. Bedford Brown, a staunch sup¬
porter of Jackson in the times of nullification and a devoted
Union man, warned the convention that the adoption of the
minority resolves would seal the fate of the party. Holden,
who had in the Standard been a most aggressive Southerner,
also spoke dwelling with force upon the dangers of seces¬
sion. But protests were unavailing, the Douglas wing of the
party, being in control, adopted the minority platform, the

Squatter

Sovereignty

The North
and West
carry the
day

53§

ELECTION 1860

The cotton
states with¬
draw

The North

Carolina

■delegation

The

convention
adjourns to
Baltimore

Judge

Douglas

vote being 165 to 138. The division of the convention was
no longer as to nominees. It had become a matter of po¬
litical principle. The delegates from the cotton states and
a few others withdrew, 45 in all; but those from North
Carolina remained in the convention.

The North Carolina delegation voted as a unit thirteen
times for R. M. T. Hunter, the eminent Senator from Vir¬
ginia; twelve times for Joseph Lane, of North Carolina
parentage, distinguished as a general in the Mexican War,
as a Governor of Oregon, and now as Senator ; and six
times for D. S. Dickinson of New York. Then, until the
convention adjourned, R. P. Dick voted for Douglas, the
others of the delegation remaining steadfast in the support
of Lane. Although Douglas led in the voting, it was not
thought that he could ever be nominated, and at one time the
Standard thought that Clingman might be the nominee ;
but the Douglas men stood firm, and after 57 ballots, during
which Douglas received only 153 votes, on May 3 the con¬
vention adjourned to meet at Baltimore on June 18, the
cotton states being invited to fill the existing vacancies in
their delegations in the meantime. The seceders, after
consultation, adjourned and later agreed to convene June 18.

Judge Douglas had married Miss Martin of the family
of the distinguished Governor Martin of Rockingham
County, and thus became in close friendship with Governor
David S. Reid and Judge Dick and other strong men in
North Carolina; while he was most kindly regarded by
Southern Democrats generally, being familiarly known as
the “Little Giant of the West.”*

Other nominees

Before the conventions reassembled in June the Consti¬
tutional Union party had met at Baltimore and nominated

*By a second marriage, his wife was Miss Cutts of Washington City, a grand
niece of Dolly Madison, “The lady of the White House,” who might naturally
have desired that Judge Douglas should be President; and it has been
thought that she to some extent induced Judge Douglas to persist in his course,
eventuating in the disruption of his party and leading to the election of the
Republican candidate and the war that ensued. In the Senate during the
closing days of that Congress, Judge Douglas was a strenuous advocate for
the Constitution and for peace. Unhappily, in June 1861, before the meeting
of the special session of Congress, Judge Douglas died.

SPLIT IN DEMOCRATIC PARTY

539

John Bell of Tennessee and Edward Everett of Massachu¬
setts ; and the Republicans had assembled ten thousand
strong in the great wigwam in Chicago and, displacing
Seward and other former leaders, on the third ballot placed
their standard in the hands of Abraham Lincoln, who be¬
ginning life in obscurity, had through great capacity won
fame in his long canvass with Douglas and laid the founda¬
tion of a memorable career on the doctrine that “a house
divided against itself cannot stand” — that slavery must
cease.

At Baltimore

In the Democratic convention in Baltimore all points were
decided by a majority of the delegates in attendance in
favor of the Douglas delegates and such proceedings were
had that Caleb Cushing of New Hampshire, the president,
retired from the convention and along with many others,
joined the seceders, who likewise had organized a conven¬
tion. All of the North Carolina delegates then withdrew ex¬
cept Dick, Holden and J. W. B. Watson, a delegate from the
Wake district, and of these only Judge Dick subsequently
participated in the proceedings by voting. Douglas was
declared the nominee for president, and Hershell V. Johnson
of Georgia eventually became the candidate for the vice¬
presidency. The convention of the seceders then nominated
Breckinridge and Lane. This split in the Democratic
party was accompanied with great heat and bitterness. It
was considered in the South that Douglas had sacrificed
party unity to his ambition.

On the adjournment of the conventions, the situation
within the Democratic party was peculiar. The Democratic
electors had already been nominated and were ready to enter
on the State campaign, but both Douglas and Breckinridge
claimed their loyal support. Holden, Dick and others as¬
serted the regularity of Douglas’s nomination, while the
great mass of the party, repudiating Douglas, stood with
Breckinridge. In the dilemma, several of the delegates to
the national convention joined in recommending that the
Executive Committee should consider convening a State

Bell

Lincoln

The

nominees

In the State

. 540

ELECTION 1860

Douglas

electors

convention to smooth out the difficulties. The Standard de¬
clared from its best information that a majority of the voters
sustained Douglas, but that a majority of the leaders sup¬
ported Breckinridge. The committee deferred action, and
soon all the nominees but Henry W. Miller and Dr. Kean
announced their adhesion to Breckinridge. Judge Dick,
who was in sympathy with Douglas from the beginning,
called a meeting at Raleigh of those who would support
him, at which Douglas himself attended and made an ad¬
dress. A full electoral ticket was presented by this meeting,
embracing among others, Judge Dick, Henry W. Miller,
Thomas Settle and Samuel W. Watts.

Holden, a friend and admirer of Judge Douglas, main¬
tained the regularity of his nomination, and at first pro¬
nounced for the Douglas electors, but seeing no sign of
popular support he changed his attitude and on July 25 he
put up at the head of his columns the names of Breckinridge
and Lane and the names of the Breckinridge electors, with
a note in large letters that he advocated that the electors
should vote for Douglas if, by doing so, they would elect
him. But the phalanxes of Democracy remained unbroken,
their heart unchanged ; the defection to Douglas was not
material.

There was no Lincoln ticket in the State, or indeed
in any of the Southern States, its absence emphasiz¬
ing the sectional character of the contest. Supporting the
Bell and Everett organization were all the former Whig
leaders, except some few — John Kerr, William Johnston,
Judge Osborne, Paul Cameron, and others — who, like Cling-
man, had, in view of the agitation against slavery at the
North, deemed it their duty to join the States’ Rights
men of the South.

The expectation

While Democratic success in the Union was imperiled,
yet hope was still entertained of defeating both Douglas
and the Republicans. In any event, it was expected that
the election would be thrown into the House, and, if no
result there, then the Senate, surely Democratic, would

STATES’ RIGHTS UPPERMOST

54i

elect the Vice-President, who would be the acting President.
Such was the forecast of astute politicians, but the Demo¬
cratic masses at the South, relying on the friendship of the
Northern people, felt very certain that Breckinridge would
succeed at the election.

The campaign in the State took on a warmer hue after
the rupture in the Democratic party, and the advocates of
Pool and of Bell and Everett, much encouraged, pressed
the argument that the only hope of maintaining the Union
lay in the success of their party, which stood for the Con¬
stitution and the Union. But the people were not respon¬
sive. The Union did not seem to be in danger.

On the question of slavery, the platforms were in effect:
the States’ Rights Democrats, following the decision of
the Supreme Court that all citizens had a right to carry
their property into all territories belonging to the United
States; the Douglas Democrats, that the territorial legisla¬
tures could exclude slavery; the Republicans, that slavery
should be prohibited in all territories. For many years there
had been agitation without important result and the people
were slow to be moved. However, in June the Standard
sounded a note of alarm, Holden urging that, if elected,
Lincoln could reorganize the Supreme Court, packing it
with Black Republicans; and then he added, “if the people
of the South are true to themselves, they will never be
troubled by the decisions of Black Republican judges. But
if they submit to the inauguration and rule of Black Repub-,
licans, they will bind themselves to submit to the decisions
of an abolition court.” This suggestion of future trouble
fell on unwilling ears and made but slight impression, and in
the campaign but little thought was given to what was
deemed such a remote contingency as Lincoln’s election. Se¬
cession was not discussed on the hustings, and indeed even
among the States’ Rights men there was diversity of opinion
as to the constitutional right of secession. Chief Justice
Ruffin, Bedford Brown, John Hill and many others had
stood with President Jackson in his strenuous purpose to
maintain the Union in 1833, now either denying the consti¬
tutional right, or not admitting it. Still before the final align-

The slavery
question

Holden's

views

Hamilton

Secession
not in issue

542

ELECTION 1860

Great Whig
meeting

Vance

ment at the polls the slavery question assumed larger propor¬
tions and the people began to realize that the situation was
ominous, and State issues lost something of their influence.

The August election

Ellis was elected over his eloquent and strong opponent
by the reduced majority of 6,340, in a total vote of 112,586,
of which Ellis polled 59,463, and Pool 53,123, and the Dem¬
ocrats had only ten majority in the Senate and fourteen in
the Efouse. Two years before MacRae had not polled the
full Whig vote; and now, although Ellis increased his vote
by 3,000, Pool received 13,000 more than MacRae. En¬
couraged by this strong popular vote, and rendered hopeful
because of the division in the Democratic party, the Bell and
Everett supporters made strenuous efforts for success at
the presidential election. They brought to the hustings
every possible orator and made a great and memorable
campaign. For two days they held a great mass meeting
for the Union at Salisbury, attended by Badger, Morehead,
Graham, Gilmer, Rayner, Dockery and many other leaders,
among them young Vance from the mountains. Delega¬
tions had come from all parts of the State, and it was an im¬
mense gathering. Masterly speeches were made by the
veteran orators; but it was Vance who was carried from
street corner to street corner, and in the lurid light of
burning tar barrels, the crowd, excited by his unrivaled
eloquence, went wild in a whirlwind of enthusiasm, and
covering him with wreaths bore him on their shoulders
around the vast assemblage amid deafening shouts. “Ah,”
said Badger, “he is the greatest stump speaker that ever
was — the greatest that ever was.” But despite the vigor¬
ous campaign and the heat and eloquence of the Whig
leaders, and the sectional character of the issues discussed,
popular interest was not aroused, and the vote fell off 16,500
from that cast in August ; the aggregate being 95,950, of
which Breckinridge received 48,539, Bell 44,990, and Doug¬
las only 2,401.

SECESSION CLOUD RISING

543

The Northern vote

The result at the North was utterly unexpected 'and it Nov., i860
startled the South. Lincoln received every electoral vote
cast at the North except three from New Jersey. Douglas
carried Missouri alone; Bell had pluralities in Virginia,
Tennessee and Kentucky, and he got three votes from New
Jersey. The other Southern States voted for Breckinridge.

Of 3,403,444 votes cast in the free states, 1,840,072 were
given to the Republican candidates, who had received only
26,430 in the slave states, and these chiefly in Missouri.

The South was confronted with the portentous fact that
the Northern States had elected a sectional President, and
that a considerable majority of the Northern voters had
endorsed the candidate who stood for the declaration that
the entire country must become either slaveholding or free.

The unexpected had happened.

The South awakened

The South was profoundly moved. The amazing strength
developed by the Abolition party and its success gave form
and substance to apprehensions that before had been but
shadowy. The threatening clouds that had at times risen
above the horizon and been dissipated by natural influences
now gathered with rapidity and a storm of unparalleled
force swept through the South. The election of Lincoln
was like a sudden blow in the face. That a solid array
of Northern States sustained a sectional party that ignored
the Constitution as interpreted by the Supreme Court, and
that had nullified the constitutional provision requiring
the return of fugitive slaves, was a fact of momentous im¬
port. If the Constitution was to be ignored by the Northern
States, the Southern States had no guarantee of protection
under its provisions. In the cotton states, secession was
hotly urged.

In North Carolina, as elsewhere, there was much excite¬
ment ; but while there was a demonstrative element favoring
secession, the people for the most part were in sympathy
with the border states, and a considerable majority held that

544

ELECTION 1860

South Caro¬
lina calls a
convention

the election of a Republican President in itself was not
sufficient to dissolve the Union. It was insisted that as
North Carolina was the last State to enter the Union, she
would be the last to leave it.

Southern views

The Federal Constitution had been adopted by the people
of each state acting for the State. It was the exercise of
a sovereign power. There were- those who considered that
what had been done by the people of a state in 1789 could
be undone by the people of the state in i860. There were
many restrictions imposed on state action by the Constitu¬
tion and these each state was bound to observe while a mem¬
ber of the Union; but there was no inhibition in the Consti¬
tution against a withdrawal. Therefore it was argued that
without any infraction of the Constitution a state might
withdraw. There were, however, even among States’
Rights Democrats differences of opinion both as to the right
to withdraw and as to the expediency of such action ; while
among the public men of Whig antecedents almost with¬
out exception both the right to withdraw and the expediency
were denied. At the center and west of the State the Union
feeling prevailed ; at the east and south the Democrats leaned
toward secession.

The South Carolina Legislature was in session on election
day as that State appointed electors by the Legislature, and
when the result of the presidential election became known,
it met the situation bv calling a state convention to meet on
the 17th day of December; and Georgia and the other
cotton states likewise called conventions.

In the State

The feeling in South Carolina was so intense that all
Union sentiment was overcome ; and along the border a
strong secession feeling prevailed in North Carolina.

Quickly after the election a secession meeting was held
in Cleveland County, and within a fortnight the people of
Wilmington, always resolute to act, inaugurated a secession
movement to be promoted by meetings throughout the State ;

COERCION RESISTED

545

but the adverse feeling was so strong that at first the move¬
ment made blit little headway. The people were not favor¬
able to secession. Indeed, at Fayetteville, where there was
a United States arsenal, that town and citizens had petitioned
in the fall for a company of Federal troops, there being no
thought of conflict, and the troops were sent in October.
When the Assembly met in November, it elected Henry T.
Clark, a conservative farmer, Speaker of the Senate, and
William T. Dortch, also a man careful and conservative,
Speaker of the House. Every member of the Legislature,
it was asserted, “had, when a candidate, held that the election
of Lincoln would not of itself justify breaking up the
Union.” All the “unpretending Democratic members” re¬
mained Union men. But now some of the leaders had be¬
come pronounced secessionists. Governor Ellis, in confer¬
ence with Clingman, Avery, Bridgers, Hoke and Burton,
had determined to recommend the calling of a convention,
Bragg alone dissenting. Clingman, later, in accepting the
caucus nomination for Senator, urged a convention that
would declare the purpose of the State to resist an attempt
at coercion. “By thus laying down propositions in the nature
of an untimatum, the peace of the country could be main¬
tained.” But at that time neither of the Senators favored
secession. Governor Ellis expected that some of the South¬
ern States would secede, and that coercive measures would
be adopted against them and that war would result. He
therefore recommended to the Legislature that commis¬
sioners should be appointed to confer with the other South¬
ern States and that North Carolina should take steps to pre¬
pare for any war that might arise. He also recommended
that the militia should be reorganized and that a convention
of the people should be called. He urged : “It is not the
man, Abraham Lincoln, that we regard, but the power that
elevated him to office, and which will naturally maintain a
controlling influence in his administration. . . . Those

who themselves have utterly refused to be bound by the
Constitution, now hold it up to us as a bond to secure us
from defending our property and lives against their op¬
pressions.” But, while anxious for the future, he did not
counsel secession.

Worth cor¬
respondence

Clingman,

514

Governor

Ellis

546

ELECTION 1860

Holden out
of line with
his party

At the first caucus of the Democratic members such men
as Avery, Erwin and Hoke from the west; Person, Batch¬
elor and Bridgers from the east, demanded the decapita¬
tion of Holden, who held the lucrative place of public
printer, and who had substantially broken with his party
leaders. The Unionists ascribed the exercise of party dis¬
cipline to the fact that Holden had avowed Union senti¬
ments. The rank and file were astounded, and the resolu¬
tion was carried in caucus by a bare majority. John Spel-
man, who had purchased the Press, the Democratic organ,
and changed its name to the State Journal, was elected
Public Printer, with the natural consequence of still further
embittering Holden.

Early in the session bills to call a convention were intro¬
duced and referred, but the temper of the Assembly and
the prevailing public opinion were so averse that it was not
until December that the committee acted.

CHAPTER XXXV

Congress Declines to Coerce

Congress declines to act. — President Buchanan. — Lodge on
Secession. — Clingman. — Jefferson Davis. — New Hanover recom¬
mends a Convention. — One half of the Democrats desire to pre¬
serve the Union. — Secession badges. — Union clubs. — Boyce and
Keitt. — In the cotton states. — Northern feeling. — Greeley. — Busi¬
ness affected. — South Carolina secedes. — Lincoln’s position. —
Crittenden’s resolutions. — Events move rapidly. — The offer of
Southern Senators. — Unavailing. — The State press. — Views. —
The forts. — The Star of the West. — Buchanan’s appeal. — The
breach widens. — Fort Caswell occupied. — The states secede. —
Hopes to avert the calamity. — Virginia calls on all the states.
— Assembly takes measures. — Calls a convention. — Peace confer¬
ence. — At Montgomery.

Buchanan’s views

President Buchanan had, in November, sought the counsel
of many prominent men of the South and North alike. The
object and purpose of all was to preserve the Union. As he
had no influence over those who had created the conditions,
he could do nothing of himself to allay the storm that had
arisen. It was not his associates who had precipitated the
issue, and they could give no assurance of the future. The
destiny of the country lay in other hands. He could only
seek to postpone events, hoping that time might allay ex¬
citement and bring about a possible adjustment. While he
deemed it his duty to hold the Federal forts, wherever sit¬
uated, he accepted the opinion of his Attorney-General,
the eminent Jere Black of Pennsylvania, that the Federal
government had no power to engage in war with a state to
coerce it. Even should there be the secession of a state,
as threatened, peaceful influence might prevail to bring
about a return to the Union. He could only await devel¬
opments. In his message to the Congress he pointed out
that “the long continued and intemperate interference of the
Northern people with the question of slavery in the Southern

Dec., 1860

Opinion of
Black

548

CONGRESS DECLINES TO COERCE

Clingman’s

view

States has at last produced its natural effects.” Urging
that peace and harmony should be restored to the distracted
country, he declared : “All that is necessary to accomplish
the object and all for which the slave states have ever con¬
tended is to be let alone and permitted to manage their
domestic institutions in their own way. As sovereign states,
they, and they alone, are responsible before God and the
world for the slavery existing among them/' He took the
further position that, to secure their domestic security and
happiness, all peaceful and constitutional means failing, they
“would be justified in revolutionary resistance to the gov¬
ernment of the Union.”

In these views President Buchanan seems to have been
of the same mind with Henry Cabot Lodge, the historian
of Massachusetts and great senator fifty years later, who
in his Life of Webster records: “When the Constitution
was adopted by the assembly of states at Philadelphia, and
accepted by votes of states in popular convention, it is safe
to say that there was not a man in the country, from Wash¬
ington and Hamilton on one side to George Clinton and
George Mason on the other, who regarded the new system
as anything but an experiment entered upon by the states,
and from which each and every state had the right to peace¬
ably withdraw, a right which was very likely to be exer¬
cised.” Lodge was writing as a historian, in the spirit of
truth and honesty. And, indeed, Massachusetts herself gave
out no uncertain sound ; in the preamble to her Constitution
she declared that the people of that State have the sole and
exclusive right of governing themselves as a free, sovereign
and independent state, and shall enjoy every power and
right not expressly delegated to the United States in Con¬
gress assembled.

In the House the President’s message was referred to a
committee of one from each state, but no Democrat from
any Northern state was appointed on it. When the message
was received in the Senate, Senator Clingman, in moving
its reference, said: “It is not merely that a dangerous man
has been elected to the Presidency of the United States, but
I assert that the President-elect has been elected because

ATTEMPTED CONCILIATION

549

he was known to be a dangerous man. He has avowed the
principle of ‘the irrepressible conflict’ ; he declares that it is
the purpose of the North to make war upon my section
until its social system is destroyed, and for that he was taken
up and elected. That declaration of war is dangerous be¬
cause it has been endorsed by a majority of the votes of
the free states in the last election. It is that great, re¬
markable and dangerous fact that has filled my section
with alarm and dread for the future.”

Jefferson Davis said : “I turn to the other side of this
chamber, to the majority section, to the section in which
have been committed the acts that now threaten the disso¬
lution of the Union. I call upon you, the representatives of
that section, here and now to say so if your people are not
hostile, if they are prepared to do justice, to abandon their
opposition to the Constitution and the laws. Give us that
declaration ; give us that evidence of the will of your con¬
stituents to restore us to our original position when mutual
kindness was the animating motive.” But the appeal
brought no response.

Divergent views

The intolerance of the Republicans, founded on a senti¬
ment similar to that which animated the old Crusaders and
buttressed on the development of great numerical strength*
rendered them deaf to the appeals of patriotism. Such
was the attitude of the Republicans at the North when,
on December io, at Raleigh the Committee on Federal Re¬
lations in the Assembly reported through its chairman,
Samuel Person of New Hanover, recommending that a
convention be called, the delegates to be chosen on Feb¬
ruary 7, and to meet on the 18th, provided a majority of the
voters should approve of the call. But a minority report
was made by Giles Mebane, David Outlaw, and Nathan
Newby, opposing the proposition. They recommended that
the Legislature should seek to procure an early convention
of all the states with the view of arranging permanentlv
the matters in difference between the states. It was con¬
sidered that the proposition should have a two-thirds ma-

Clingman’s

speeches,

515

Davis’s

appeal

55°

CONGRESS DECLINES TO COERCE

Hostility to
secession

Biog. Hist.,
VI, 482

jority, and as on a vote in the House on December 12 the
measure did not receive the support of all the Democrats
while the Whigs resolutely opposed it, the proposition was
laid aside. Indeed, at the end of December, “nearly one-half
of the Democratic members desire to preserve the Union.”
In the counties, however, the people were beginning to wear
a red cockade — the secession badge — and meetings were
held and clubs formed to promote secession; while, on the
other hand, the Unionists displayed still greater activity.
One of the most notable of the Union clubs was organized
at the State capital, and it exerted a powerful influence.
Among its members were Judge Badger, Judge Battle,
B. F. Moore, Sion H. Rogers, W. W. Holden, and many
others of distinction. Kemp P. Battle, then an active public
man, was its president. With nearly the entire press of the
State still holding for the Union, this club with its coad¬
jutors developed in the central and western counties a
strong and aggressive feeling, so strong in Raleigh that it
was bitter and intolerant. When Congressmen were re¬
turning to their homes during the Christmas holidays Boyce
and Keitt of South Carolina stopped in Raleigh, and at the
instance of friends made speeches from the hotel, urging
that North Carolina should join South Carolina. Threats
of violence were at once made against them, and there was
danger of insult and riot. But Rogers and Yance, both
Union men, became active to prevent indignity to their col¬
leagues. Rogers produced a diversion by calling a Union
meeting in the courthouse, and Yance adroitly calmed the
storm by good humor and good sense.

At the South

Meanwhile in the cotton states disaffection towards the
Union spread with amazing rapidity. Although the pub¬
lic men generally held back, the people pressed forward.
In South Carolina secession badges were worn by every one.
The President had declared that there was no power to
coerce. It had long been asserted by Abolitionists that “the
Constitution was a league with hell,” and it was their asso¬
ciation in the compact with the Southern States that har-

SOUTH CAROLINA SECEDES

rowed their virtuous souls. Horace Greeley, the great
Abolition editor, but a man of candor, said: “If they choose Horace
to form an independent nation they have the moral right Gieele'
to do so. Erring sisters, go in peace.” And again, on
November 9, the Tribune said: “If the cotton states shall
decide that they can do better out of the Union than in it,
we insist on letting them go in peace. The right to secede
may be a revolutionary one, but it exists nevertheless and '
we do not see how one party can have a right to do what
another party has a right to prevent.” The people of the
far South held the same view, and it became apparent that
if no steps were taken to arrest the movement all the cotton
states would secede.

At the North

The coming storm gave warning of its approach. The
business ties between the Northeast and the South felt the
strain and the banks in the South prepared for a crisis and
panic. At the North there were here and there some evi¬
dences of a rebound. Chief Justice Shaw of Massachusetts
united with thirty other eminent citizens in an address urg¬
ing state action to soften the blow. A great mass meeting
at Philadelphia sought to reassure the South. But these
slight manifestations of concern only served to exasperate
the hostile leaders of abolition thought. Senator Wade de¬
clared : “You have no Union today worthy of the name.

The only salvation to your Union is that you divest it en¬
tirely of the taint of slavery.” Politics of a party character
entered upon the scene. It was declared that the sentiment B]aine
of nine-tenths of the Free States was opposed to any
compromise.

South Carolina acts

The convention of South Carolina met on the 17th day
of December, and on the 20th it unanimously adopted an
ordinance repealing the ordinance by which the State had ^q20
ratified the Constitution, and Governor Pickens issued a
proclamation that “South Carolina is, as she has a right to

552

CONGRESS DECLINES TO COERCE

Rem. of
Lincoln, 30

The South’s
offer

be, a separate, sovereign, free, and independent state.” The
mystic circle of the Union was broken.

In North Carolina, as in Virginia, conservatism pre¬
vailed, but the Whigs as well as the Democrats, the Union¬
ists as well as the Secessionists, regarded the situation with
great alarm. Some Unionists, like Vance, knowing that
men then opposed to secession would control it, even favored
a State convention, hoping by a show of united purpose at
the South to impress the North with the gravity of con¬
ditions and bring about a readjustment. But Mr. Lincoln
was in active correspondence ‘‘to prevent as far as possible
any of our friends from demoralizing themselves and our
cause by entertaining propositions of compromise of any
sort on slavery extension. There is no possible compro¬
mise upon it but which puts us under again, and all our
work to do over again.”

Crittenden’s resolutions

On December 20, the day South Carolina seceded, a com¬
mittee was appointed in the United States Senate to con¬
sider and report on the condition of the country, and Crit¬
tenden offered resolutions, providing for certain amend¬
ments to the Constitution restoring the Missouri Compro¬
mise, and thus annulling the right claimed by the South
to carry slaves into the territories, and declaring that Con¬
gress had no power to interfere with slavery in the states.
The committee was composed of five Republicans, three
Northern Democrats, three from the border states and two
from the cotton states. On assembling it was resolved that
no proposition should be reported unless sustained by a ma¬
jority of each of the classes of the committee. The action
of the committee was thus made dependent upon the con-
* currence of at least three Republican Senators. The Crit¬
tenden proposition was not agreed to by any Republican,
and no Republican offered any substitute.

Events moved rapidly in the last days of December. As
the old year was going out all reasonable hope of reconcil¬
iation departed. In the Senate Committee of Thirteen,
Davis and Toombs and all the other Southern Senators

SECESSION DISCOURAGED

553

offered to accept any proposition made by Senator Critten¬
den, if sustained by the Republican members, but the five
Republicans voted against the compromise and offered
nothing. On the last day of December the committee re¬
ported that it had not been able to agree and submitted its
journal. Subsequently there was discussion in the Senate,
and finally the death blow was given to the Crittenden
proposition.

After the secession of South Carolina the logic of events
was favorable to some action in the State, although the
border states remained quiet. Gradually the people in- the
east began to wear red cockades and meetings were held
and clubs formed to promote secession. Still the only
papers decided enough to advocate it were the Wilmington
Journal , whose editor, James Fulton, was of great influence;
the State Journal , the official organ of Governor Ellis, John
Spelman, the editor, being the public printer ; the Goldsboro
Rough Notes, and the Charlotte Bulletin. The Standard
now proclaimed the “watch-and-wait” policy, although it had
been so violent in its utterances that it had admitted to its
columns an article, “Who Will Assassinate Abraham Lin¬
coln?” without unfavorable comment. Hale and the other
Whigs strenuously opposed any violent action. Conserva¬
tive North Carolina was not to be moved by the frenzy of
the cotton states. Union meetings were held in many coun¬
ties and Union clubs formed, one of the most notable of the
clubs being the Wake County Union Club, of which Kemp
P. Battle was president. Indeed, Raleigh, the center of
thought and action, was intensely Union in sentiment, not¬
withstanding the residence there of Governor Ellis and other
Democratic officers of the State administration. But
throughout the State were many who held to the views ex¬
pressed by Mr. Lincoln when he was in Congress : “Any
people anywhere being inclined and having the power, have
the- right to rise up and shake off the existing government,
and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most
valuable, a sacred right, a right which, we hope and believe,
is to liberate the world. Nor is this right confined to cases
in which the whole people of an existing government may

I860

The press

Hamilton,

Appendix
Cong. Globe,
August,
1848, p. 94

Lincoln’s
former view

554

CONGRESS DECLINES TO COERCE

Stephens,
II, 520

Ibid.
II, 5i7

The forts

Dec. 21

Lincoln’s

wish

G. C. M. H.,
343

choose to exercise it. Any portion of such people that can
may revolutionize and make their own of so much of the
territory as they inhabit.”

And Mr. Greeley had expressed similar sentiments, say¬
ing November 9, i860: “Nay, we hold, with Jefferson, to
the inalienable right of communities to alter or abolish
forms of government that have become oppressive or in¬
jurious. . . . And whenever a considerable section of

our Union shall deliberately resolve to go out, we shall re¬
sist all coercive measures designed to keep it in. We hope
never to live in a republic whereof one section is pinned to
the residue by bayonets.”

Progress of events

Two weeks elapsed after South Carolina led the way in
secession within which steps might have been taken to ar¬
rest the movement ; but the proceedings in that interval
were inflammatory and hostile rather than tending to allay
excitement at the South.

When South Carolina passed her ordinance withdrawing
from the Union she demanded possession of the forts at
Charleston, President Buchanan declined to take that action ;
a military force within the territory of a seceded state claim¬
ing to be independent made a condition likely to produce
collision. Although urged to withdraw the troops from
Charleston, President Buchanan declined to take that action ;
but notwithstanding his announced determination to hold
the forts, there was apparently some apprehension felt by
Mr. Lincoln that he would abandon them.

On the 2 1st, the day following South Carolina’s demand,
Mr. Lincoln wrote to Hon. E. B. Washburne to tell General
Scott “confidentially I shall be obliged to him to be as well
prepared as he can to either hold or retake the forts as the
case may require at and after the inauguration.” This
light from the rising sun doubtless illuminated the pathway
of the head of the army. On the 27th Major Anderson
abandoned Castle Pinckney and Fort Moultrie and fortified
his command in Fort Sumter, and General Scott advised
that he be allowed to secretly reinforce the garrison with

BUCHANAN AGAINST WAR

555

men, ammunition and provisions. His advice was approved,
and on January 5th an expedition set out from New York
on board the Star of the West, a merchant steamer hired
for the purpose. But despite the secrecy some warning
came to Governor Pickens, and when the Star of the West
arrived in Charleston harbor on the 9th, the South Carolina
batteries drove her back, and the effort failed.

Howell Cobb and John B. Floyd had retired from the
Cabinet in December; and when the purpose to reinforce
Fort Sumter became known on the 8th of January, the
other Southern members, Jacob Thompson and Governor
Thomas of Maryland, likewise resigned. On the same day
the President sought to provision Sumter he sent a message
to Congress hotly calling attention to the progress of events,
and to the dire results of delay in Congressional action.
“Hope has been diminished by every hour of delay; and the
prospect of a bloodless settlement fades away.” The posi¬
tion he took was not unlike that of President Jackson :
That no state has a right to secede ; that he had no authority
to recognize its independence ; that it was his duty to col¬
lect the revenues and to protect public property ; that while
neither he nor Congress had a right to make aggressive war
on a state, it was their right and duty to act defensively
against those who resist Federal officers. “We are in the
midst of a great revolution” ; but he was “convinced that
the South was under a misapprehension of the purposes of
a majority of the Northern people. Therefore let the ques¬
tion be transferred to the ballot box. In heaven’s name
let the trial be made before the armed conflict. I appeal
through you to the people that the Union shall be preserved
in peace. All other questions sink into insignificance. I
have determined that no act of mine shall lead to civil war ;
if it is to come it is my determined purpose not to commence
it.” He pointed out what he thought a reasonably peaceful
solution, and urged action.

In the Senate Jefferson Davis made an urgent appeal to
the Republicans “to assure the people of the South that
you do intend calmly to consider all propositions which they
may make and to recognize the rights which the Union was

1861

The Star of
the West

The Presi¬
dent urges
Congress

Buchanan’s

appeal

January

Richardson’s

Messages,

V, 658

Mooro, II,
144

Chronicles
of the Cape
Fear

The death
blow

Cong. Globe,
Jan. 16,
1861

Union men
want a con¬
vention

CONGRESS DECLINES TO COERCE

established to secure.'’ But the Republican Senators re¬
mained mute.

The widening breach

These events emphasized the widening breach between the
North and the South, and in both sections feeling rose high.
The attempt to reinforce the forts at Charleston led to the
belief that other forts were to be occupied. W. S. Ashe
and others came from Wilmington to ask authority from
Governor Ellis to take possession of the forts below that
city before they were occupied. The Governor declined,
but the Minute Men of Wilmington, under Captain Thurs¬
ton, occupied Fort Caswell on January io. Immediately on
being advised of this movement, Governor Ellis, having re¬
ceived assurances from the President that no troops were
to be sent to the Cape Fear, ordered Colonel Cantwell, com¬
manding the militia of that district, to have the forts
evacuated.

The fateful day now arrived and, with no Republican hand
raised to stay it, in procession the states began their with¬
drawal from the Union; on the 9th of January, Mississippi,
followed on the 10th by Florida, and on the nth by Ala¬
bama. Then five days passed in contemplation, and the
question of adjustment by Congress was dealt its death¬
blow. In the House the Crittenden proposition received
but 80 votes, every Republican, 112, voting solidly against
it, while in the Senate, by a strict party vote, a substitute
was adopted of a distinctly opposite character, and in accord
with the Chicago platform. Mr. Lincoln’s advice had been
heeded : “No step backward” was to be taken by the tri¬
umphant partisans. Three days later Georgia withdrew,
a week later Louisiana, and Texas on the first day of Feb-
ruarv. But notwithstanding- their action and the callous
attitude of the Republicans, hope was still entertained that
some overtures might yet be made that would lead to the
restoration of the Union. Some thought that were a state
convention held by North Carolina that step might promote
the action desired. Bragg, who had been averse to such a
course, now joined Clingman, Branch, Craige, Thomas

LAST EFFORTS FOR PEACE

557

Ruffin of Goldsboro, and Warren Winslow in a letter urging
the Legislature to call a convention. Vance and Smith felt
that it was expedient; abating nothing of their purpose to
adhere to the Union, they considered that by firm and tem¬
perate action a state convention would bring about desir¬
able results. It was in this spirit that Vance wrote a letter
published in the Union paper at Raleigh on January 16: “I
do not regard the call of a convention as a disunion move¬
ment, but as the conducting steel to the lightning-purpled
cloud. Firm, temperate, and decided action may save the
rights of the State and the Union as well. Nonaction will
precipitate us into disunion.”

Much depended on the action of Virginia, and Virginia
was opposed to secession and held fast to the Union. On
January 19 that state, whose influence was powerful both
at the North and at the South, adopted resolutions inviting
all of the states to unite in an earnest effort to adjust
‘‘the present unhappy controversies.” Impressed by the
gravity of the situation and hopes of a settlement through
Congress being abandoned, as a last resort she appealed
to the states and urged the appointment of commissioners
to meet at Washington on February 4. Nor was the action
without possibility of success. The Union might still be
saved.

President Buchanan, Mr. Douglas, and others had de¬
clared that the Northern people, if allowed the opportunity,
would adjust the sectional differences; and the withdrawal
of the ' cotton states was not considered irrevocable. In¬
deed, Jefferson Davis, chief among all the Southern Sena¬
tors, notwithstanding the secession of Mississippi, lingered
in the Senate until January 21, when he received formal
official notice of that action; and to the last, he held that if
the Crittenden resolutions were adopted, the Southern
.States should recede from secession.

On reassembling after the holidays, the Assembly of
North Carolina realized that it was no longer a mere matter
of South Carolina inflammability, that all the states to the
South would be involved, while the retention by the United
States of forts in the seceded states would possibly lead to

Hamilton,

Virginia
acts to save
the Union

Cox : Three
Decades, 67

North Caro¬
lina acts

558

CONGRESS DECLINES TO COERCE

1861

House Jour¬
nal, 375

Peace com
missioners

war; and in view of that possibility the Assembly deter¬
mined to provide arms, to reorganize the militia, and to
authorize the enlistment of ten thousand men, to be increased
if necessary to twenty thousand more. The vote in the
House was 79 to 14. Col. C. C. Tew and Maj. D. H. Hill
were appointed to aid the Governor in purchasing the arms.

.Commissioners were sent by Alabama, Mississippi and
Georgia to urge North Carolina to stand with the cotton
states. The gentlemen selected for this mission were all
native North Carolinians who had attained eminence in
their respective states: Samuel Hall, from Georgia; Jacob
Thompson, Mississippi; and J. W. Garrott and R. H.
Smith, Alabama. These gentlemen were received with re¬
spectful consideration by the Legislature and delivered their
addresses in the hall of the House.

On the other hand, resolutions were sent to North Caro¬
lina by the legislatures of New York, Minnesota, and Mich¬
igan. Those from New York were considered with respect ;
those from Minnesota and Michigan, being of an objection¬
able tenor, were returned to those states without comment.

And now many of the Union men concurred in the opinion
that the question whether there should be a convention or
not ought to be submitted to the people. Despite the earnest
opposition of Bedford Brown, a strong Democratic leader,
and of D. S. Donnell, the Whig leader, a bill providing for
the election of delegates to a convention to meet or not as
determined by a majority of the voters and to consider only
Federal relations, passed the House on January 24 by a
vote of 86 to 27 ; and on the same day, in the Senate by 37
to 9, Dockery, Dowd, Morehead, Outlaw, Ramsey, Sharpe,
Spence, Turner and Jonathan Worth still holding out against
it, and Holden powerfully pressing in the Standard the
“watch-and-wait” policy.

Contemporaneously with this action the Legislature re¬
sponded to the invitation of Virginia and appointed com¬
missioners to the National Peace Conference, selecting men
of the highest character and influence: Chief Justice Ruffin,
Governor Reid, Governor Morehead, D. M. Barringer, and
George Davis. At the same time commissioners were ap-

COMMISSIONERS TO MONTGOMERY

559

pointed for the purpose of consulting with the seceded
states upon our common peace, honor and safety, the Hon¬
orable David L. Swain, M. W. Ransom, and John L.
Bridgers. These were sent to Montgomery. Of all these
commissioners, Barringer and Bridgers alone could be re¬
garded as favoring secession, the others being decidedly
opposed to it.

The situation not to be disturbed

In the meantime it appears that there was an agreement
entered into that the situation in regard to the forts in the
seceded states should not be disturbed.

Report of
Capt. Adams,
April 1

CHAPTER XXXVI

The Southern Confederacy

The Southern Confederacy. — The Peace Conference. — The pro¬
posed amendment submitted to Congress. — Republican purposes.
— “No step backward.” — But Congress proposed a settlement. — In
the State. — Holden’s policy “watch and wait.” — The appeal to
Lincoln. — The conditional submissionists. — The States’ Rights
men. — The Unionists. — The result of the voting. — Adverse to
secession. — George Davis. — Ruffin. — Secession meeting at Golds¬
boro. — Union meetings. — The westward movement. — Greater at
the North than in North Carolina. — The influence of the foreign
element at the North.

President Davis

Feb. 4, 1861 The fourth of February witnessed the assembling of
the Peace Conference at Washington, and also the assem¬
bling of the delegates from the seceded states at Mont¬
gomery where initial proceedings were taken to form the
Southern Confederacy. When Swain and the other North
Carolina commisssioners reached Montgomery they found
the delegates in convention perfecting a provisional consti¬
tution. They were invited to participate, but declined. The
Constitution having been agreed on, on the 9th the conven¬
tion chose for President of the Confederate States Jeffer¬
son Davis and for Vice-President, Alexander Stephens.
Neither of these had been urgent in precipitating secession,
while both could well have entertained expectations of
the highest honors in the United States. Mr. Davis had
sought to arrest the secession movement by his appeals to
the North to make an adjustment; and Mr. Stephens had
strenuously opposed until the last minute the secession of
Georgia. Their selection commanded the respect of all the
South.

The Peace Conference

Simultaneously with the convention at Montgomery the
commissioners of twenty-one states assembled at Washing-

PEACE CONFERENCE

ton, charged with the high duty of seeking some basis for
the preservation of the- American Union. Already seven
states had withdrawn, and although the border states still
remained in the Union, Kentucky had said that she would
stand by the South, Missouri had called a convention and
North Carolina had submitted the call for a convention to
the popular vote, and disunion sentiment was growing.

But Virginia, firm for the Union, had called a convention
with, the hope of efifecting a peaceful settlement and bringing
the other states back. However, civil war between the
North and the South was imminent. Never had such a
crisis come in the affairs of the American people. The
Continental Congress in declaring for independence put at
hazard the lives and fortunes of only a part of three
millions of citizens ; here were involved many millions who
had enjoyed great happiness and prosperity in the Union
and sincerely regretted being driven from it by the intolerant
North.

All the states were represented in the Peace Conference
save the seven seceded states, and California and Oregon,
possibly too remote, and the fiercely Republican states of
Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. These alone did
not care to participate. The conference sat with closed doors. Tylerpre'
The first private citizen of the Union, Ex-President Tyler,
whose heart was bound up in the Union, was chosen to pre¬
side. “What is a party/’ he exclaimed, “when compared
with the task of rescuing one’s country from danger?” A
committee of one from each state was appointed to con¬
sider all propositions.

At the outset Salmon P. Chase of Ohio negatived the fi!mNolth
idea that the Northern people would make any concession.

He declared that “the election must be regarded as a triumph
of principle cherished in the hearts of the people of the Stephens,
free states.” H’ 46

Nine days passed with no report, and then on the tenth
day the committee reported a proposition for a constitu¬
tional amendment composed of seven sections. It was
thought that the proposition as a whole was more favorable

to the North than the Crittenden resolutions. Days were
36

562

THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY

Actions of
the con¬
ference

Chandler’s

animus

Pugh

passed in discussion ; and it was not until towards the close
of the month that the resolutions were adopted. On the
27th George Davis telegraphed: "The convention has just
adjourned sine die, after passing seven articles of the re¬
port of the committee, much weakened. The territorial
article passed by a majority of one vote. North Carolina
and Virginia voted against every article but one.” The vote
was by states, each state having a single vote, which was
cast by the majority of its delegates. Davis, Reid and
Barringer determined the action of the North Carolina
delegation, Ruffin and Morehead being in the minority.
These were willing to agree to the propositions offered, not
because they were satisfactory, but to prevent war. The
proposed constitutional amendment was reported to the
Senate on the 28th, and various propositions were made in
respect to it, but they were not considered by the Senate
nor voted on. The Republicans still adhered to Lincoln’s
purpose — “no step backward.” Their temper was averse
to conciliation. In the flush of their newly-acquired power
they were not disposed to remove the causes of apprehension
that had led to secession. Chandler of Michigan gave voice
to the sentiment of the extremists when he declared in the
Senate : “No concession ; no compromise ; ay, give us strife,
even blood, before yielding to the demands of traitorous in¬
solence.” At length, in the closing hours of Congress, near
midnight of Sunday, March 3, Senator Pugh of Ohio made
a speech of great power in which he declared that the Crit¬
tenden resolutions had been petitioned for by a larger num¬
ber of electors than any other proposition ever before Con¬
gress, “and I believe in my heart that it would carry an
overwhelming majority of the people of my state and of
nearly every other state in the Union. ... At any time
before the first of January a two-thirds vote for the Critten¬
den resolutions in this chamber would have saved every
state in the LYiion but South Carolina. Yet, sir, it has been
staved off, staved off, and where is it tonight?”

LINCOLN CLOSES THE DOOR

563

Congress proposes a settlement

However, on March 2, Congress passed a resolution pro¬
posing an amendment to the Constitution to be ratified by
three-fourths of the legislatures, “that no amendment shall
be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to
Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any state,
with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of
persons held to labor or service by the laws of said state,”
and President Buchanan approved it as he was about to
leave the White House. This amendment if adopted by the
Northern States would doubtless have removed the appre¬
hensions of the slaveholding states. The border states
would have no cause to withdraw and the Union sentiment in
the cotton states would have certainly led to their speedy
return. For this desirable result to come as Congress pro¬
posed certainly time was necessary. Quiet prevailed. No
one had authority to alter the situation that had existed for
months. The amendment, however, was not submitted to
the states, and within a month Mr. Lincoln took such action
as to close the door to all pacific measures.

In the State

In the State for a time all eyes were turned in expectancy
on the Peace Conference, with no fulfillment of hope. Mean¬
while, a heated canvass was being made in every county.
The convention issue was of momentous importance, stirring
the depths of patriotic manhood. Those who favored the
convention, who advocated taking a stand with the Southern
States, were hotly denounced as Disunionists ; those who
opposed it, who still hoped to rescue the State from impend¬
ing war and to perpetuate the advantages of the Union,
were stigmatized as Submissionists. Personalities entered
into every debate and rancor was high. It was well that
the campaign was short. Toward its close, on the 25th,
the Assembly adjourned and the members hurried home to
vote.

The Democrats were far from being united; nor were
the Whigs entirely so. Governor Bragg, the most illus-

March, 1861

The amend¬
ment

Lincoln

Feb. 25,
1861

Brag?

564

THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY

Holden

Divisions

The public
men

trious Democrat of that period, was quiet. He feared that
in case of war the South would not be able to sustain her¬
self and he was unwilling to advocate a course that boded
defeat and calamity.

W. W. Holden, the leading Democratic editor, had sup¬
ported Douglas and now opposed secession and advocated
the policy of “watch and wait.’’ Towards the west Bed¬
ford Brown, Judge Dick, John Hill of Stokes, the leading
Democrat of his section, David S. Reid and I. C. McDowell
of Burke; and at the east, Judge George Howard and John
C. Washington of Lenoir were but representatives of hun¬
dreds of strong Democrats who opposed secession. But a
considerable number of Whigs, like Judge Osborne, Colonel
Johnston, Paul Cameron and Matt. W. Ransom had aban¬
doned the Whig party, and some of these were now ardent
States’ Rights Democrats.

Among the active, forceful Secessionists were W. W.
Avery, W. S. Ashe, Victor C. Barringer, the venerable Wel-
* don Edwards, Samuel Person and Abraham Venable. On
the whole, the office holders, the public men, were less dem¬
onstrative than men of substance not in political life. The
ordinary citizen was more pronounced than the politician.

B. F. Moore, held in high esteem for his ability and
character, wrote : “I would not impress upon you that
the South has no cause of complaint. She has many; but
if for such a cause a people may quit their allegiance there
can be no durable Union.” With him the Union was of
the first consideration ; and along with him stood Governor
Graham, Judge Mangum, Judge Badger, R. Me Aden and
most of the Whig leaders. But even then there had been
divergences, and while some of the Unionists proclaimed
that the seceders ought to be “whipped in,” others realized
that if it came to blows “blood was thicker than water.”

The appeal to Lincoln

It was considered that the cotton states had seceded with¬
out sufficient provocation, and that if the other Southern
States held aloof it would not be long before the seceding
states would find it desirable to return. It was therefore

A PLEA FOR THE CONSTITUTION

565

of the first importance to prevent the secession of the border
states. Animated by that purpose, Gilmer, Vance and the
other Union members of Congress from those states had
formed a committee to wait on Mr. Lincoln, then in Wash¬
ington, and represent to him that the border states, in¬
cluding North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, were
devoted to the Union but could not be held should coercion
be attempted. They expressed to him the opinion that the
secession movement would come to naught if these great
states could be kept in the Union.”

Lincoln had offered Mr. Gilmer a seat in his Cabinet,
and held him in high esteem, and this appeal to him was not
without effect. He appeared fully impressed with the wis¬
dom of the views presented and promised that if possible he
would avoid the attempt at coercion.

“These Congressmen now informed their people that no
force would be attempted ; and, if there should be, that they
would not hold out longer for the Union.” Such was sub¬
stantially the position of those who were classed as “Con¬
ditional Submissionists” in the election.

The position of the States’ Rights men was virtually
stated by Bryan Grimes, in an address to the voters of Pitt
County: “No man,” said Mr. Grimes, “more ardently de¬
sires the preservation and perpetuation of this Union than
myself, but I ask for the Constitution at the same time. I
wish for the LTnion as it was formed by our forefathers and
handed down by them to us; but I ask for no Union when
we cannot have our constitutional rights at the same time.
A fanatical spirit, hostile to the institutions of the South,
pervades the whole Northern population ; their newspapers
are burdened with it, and in fact, it pervades their entire
literature. You hear it in their prayer meetings and taught
in their Sunday schools, and it is preached from the pulpit.
Corrupt politicians and fanatical preachers have united in an
unholy alliance, and the control of the Northern state leg¬
islatures has passed into their hands. ... In the first
place, let us demand and insist upon a final and just set¬
tlement of this bone of contention, or upon a final and
eternal separation between the North and the South.”

Dowd:
Yance, 440

View of the
Secessionists

5 66

THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY

The chief argument made by the Unionists was that the
Federal government would never assent to the secession of
the states and would coerce them to return ; and that a war
would follow secession. This the Democrats generally de¬
nied. The inhabitants of the North were nearly evenly di¬
vided between the Abolitionists and Democrats, most of the
latter being averse to the war, while some of the former
agreed with the sentiments of Horace Greeley, the editor of
the Tribune , “Let the erring sisters go in peace.”

The “Conditional Submissionists”

So it did not appear that war would necessarily result ;
and, in controverting the argument of the Unionists, some
sanguine Democrats challenged their logic by asserting that
they could wipe up with a pocket handkerchief all the blood
that would be shed.

The attitude of the “Conditional Submissionists” was
more nearly the temper of the people than that of either ex¬
treme. They were impressed with the ‘“watch-and-wait”
policy advocated by Editor Holden. Although there were
strong and inflammatory addresses made in every part of
every county, when the election was held one-sixth of the
voters refused to participate in the decision. Discontented
at the turn of affairs, still uncertain what the result of the
Peace Conference would be, they would by no act of theirs
hurry the State into war, nor yet take the responsibility of
deciding that nothing should be done. They were passive,
although not indifferent.

The voting

Of those who voted, in many counties a majority held
the middle course, and twenty-two “Conditional Submis-
sionists” were chosen delegates — conservative men, who
would not despair of the Republic, and yet purposed to
stand for Southern rights to the last extremity if the bitter
alternative should really be presented. As between the Se¬
cessionists and Submissionists there was but little inequality
— forty-six of the former and fifty-two of the latter being
chosen delegates, and the vote standing 46,672 for the con-

DAVIS LOSES HOPE

567

vention, which represented Disunion, and 4 7,333 against the
convention, being the Union side of the issue. The returns
came in slowly and the result was long in doubt. With
varying hopes and fears, day by day, the public scanned the
returns with the greatest anxiety. The destiny of the State
hung trembling in the balance. It was not until the middle
of March that, finally, it was ascertained that by a hair’s
breadth the State had escaped secession. North Carolina
had refused to secede. It was a heart-rending disappoint¬
ment to the Secessionists ; but strengthened by the failure of
the Peace Conference, they at once began a campaign to
reverse that judgment.

George Davis’s report

On the adjournment of the Peace Conference, George
Davis, having returned to his home at Wilmington, was
requested by the people to address them and at once com¬
plied. He declared that he had gone to the conference to
exhaust every honorable means to obtain a fair, an honor¬
able and final settlement, and has been unsuccessful. “The
South could never, never obtain any better terms while she
remained in the Union, and for my part I could never as¬
sent to the terms contained in the report as in accordance
with the honor or interests of the South.” The address was
a masterpiece of oratory. The people were profoundly
moved, and the whole Cape Fear region became united in Chronicles
the belief that there was no hope of securing the rights of Fear! 222*
North Carolina in the Union. By that address Mr. Davis
separated himself from his former Whig associates.

The venerable Chief Justice Ruffin had accepted the trust
with the purpose of preventing the severance of the Union,
if possible. He urged compromise, concession, conciliation.

Nor did he confine his efforts to the members of the con¬
ference. General .Scott, then of great influence, had been .
his fellow law student, and Judge Ruffin urged upon those v, 357
who had relations with the administration that there should
be an amicable arrangement. Both General Scott and Pres¬
ident Buchanan have put on record that if Judge Ruffin had
prevailed, the war would have been avoided.

568

THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY

Gilmer’s

view

The Golds¬
boro con¬
vention

The press

Whitaker,

On the adjournment of the conference Judge Ruffin re¬
tired to his farm at Haw River, a sorrowful observer of
passing events. Not so with John A. Gilmer, perhaps the
most devoted Union man in the State. On his return after
the adjournment of Congress and the inauguration of Mr.
Lincoln, he fully entertained the belief that there would be
no war, that the Union men would control North Carolina
and all the border states, and that eventually the seceding
states might return. In any event North Carolina would
remain in the Union. To him and to the Unionists in the
State President Lincoln’s inaugural admitted that expecta¬
tion. The bitter campaign of February with the defeat of
the Secessionists had therefore not been without its re¬
ward: North Carolina was safely fixed in the Union; and
Time, the healer, would assuage Southern passions and
would bring reconciliation. Animated by such sentiments,
Mr. Gilmer in continuous public addresses pressed his views
on his constituents.

But the Secessionists were of a different mind. Defeated
by the vote cast at the February election, they were not dis¬
mayed, and secession rallyings were held at different points,
culminating in a great State convention at Goldsboro, in the
last week in March, which continued in session several days.
Twenty-five counties were represented by a thousand dele¬
gates, embracing many men of influence. The convention
was presided over by the venerable Weldon N. Edwards,
and was addressed by distinguished speakers, among them
Franklin J. Moses of South Carolina, and Edmund Ruffin,
the agriculturist, of Virginia. And so far as the tone of the
press was indicative of popular feeling, the Secessionists
were making headway, for twenty-eight papers were now
advocating secession to fourteen in opposition. Among the
former were five Whig and three Independent papers ;
among the latter were the Standard and the Banner, both of
Raleigh, Democratic, and the others all Whig. But the Se¬
cession papers were mostly on the seaboard and along the
South Carolina line, while the central and western counties

EMIGRATION

569

and those along the Virginia border apparently remained
fixed in their stand for the Union.

To counteract this movement, Union meetings were held
in various parts of the State, in which the Secessionists were
roundly denounced as traitors. One, at Graham, largely
attended, was addressed in a fierce philippic by Rufus Y.
McAden ; and at many points there were similar meetings,
the Unionists being active and resolved to maintain North
Carolina in line with the border states. At every court the
opponents of secession addressed the people.

Relative emigration

The emigration from the South Atlantic States was very
harmful to them ; but it was a natural movement from the
seaboard to the western country. According to the census
of i860, of those then enumerated born in Vermont, 42 per
cent were living in other states ; of those born in South
Carolina, 40 per cent ; of those born in Connecticut, 33 per
cent; born in Rhode Island, 30 per cent, in North Carolina,
30 per cent; born in Virginia, 28 per cent; New York, 24
per cent ; Massachusetts, 23 per cent ; and Pennsylvania,
21 per cent. One-third of those born in Connecticut had
moved west, while not one-third of those born in North
Carolina had moved away. Then of those born in the
Southern States and enumerated in other states a large pro¬
portion were negro slaves ; and making a reasonable de¬
duction on that account, and confining the figures to whites
alone, it would appear that the tide of emigration westward
was much stronger at the North than at the South ; yet it is
to be observed that the South Atlantic States can claim
the credit of giving to the Union the other southern com¬
monwealths that owed nothing to settlers from European
countries.

The influence of foreigners

There was an inappreciable number of foreigners in the
seceded states, while of the four millions in other states, Mas-

The Union¬
ists

Census
tables, 1860

570

THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY

sachusetts, New York, Michigan, Rhode Island, Minnesota
and Wisconsin had the greatest proportion ; indeed the pop¬
ulation of the last two states was more than one-third for¬
eigners. These people, familiar with European nationali¬
ties, probably had no proper idea of the Constitutional
Union “between” the American states, and they constituted
an influence sustaining Mr. Lincoln’s unconstitutional views
and fomenting discord among the Americans, and they
added considerable strength to the war party at the North.

CHAPTER XXXVII

The War Party

The incoming administration. — Inaugural. — Lincoln’s view of
secession. — All ordinances null. — Troops to be withdrawn. —
Southern commissions not recognized. — ISeward strong for peace.
— War party develops. — Lincoln reverses his policy. — Senate ad¬
journs. — Secret orders issued. — Meigs to Seward. — Interview with
Baldwin. — Meeting of Governors. — Botts. — Seward urges peace
between the states. — The curt reply. — General Scott’s orders. —
Not obeyed by Adams, as meaning war. — Secretary of Navy or¬
ders obedience. — The secret expeditions sail. — Governor Pickens
advised. — Major Anderson’s heart not in the war. — The Powhatan
stopped by the Wyandotte. — Gilmer’s letter.

At Washington

The incoming administration on the 4th of March, 1861,
had to meet the conditions that had confronted President
Buchanan. But the old Congress had expired ; new repre¬
sentatives fresh from the people could be convened. How¬
ever, Mr. Lincoln did not look to Congress. In his inaugu¬
ral he declared that his position had ever been : “I have
no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the in¬
stitution of slavery in the states where it exists. I believe
I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to
do so.”

While he said he had no objection to the proposed amend¬
ment to the Constitution to the effect that Congress should
have no power to interfere with slavery, yet he did not sub¬
mit it at once to the states for ratification, and soon such
conditions arose that it was never more heard of. In regard
to secession he said that the people can fix terms for the sep¬
aration of the states if they choose to do that, but that “the
executive as such has nothing to do with it.” Apparently,
then, time was needed for the states to act on propositions
that might lead to the restoration of the broken Union, pur¬
suant to the general policy of the previous administration ;
or for an agreed separation.

March, 1861

Lincoln’s

views

572

THE WAR PARTY

And while Mr. Lincoln proposed to execute the laws, he
said, however, “that there need be no bloodshed or violence
and there shall be none unless it be forced on the national
authority. But all acts of disunion being null, the Union
will maintain itself.” Still he declared that he would not
unnecessarily begin hostilities with the Southern people —
that he would have the mails carried through the Southern
States as usual.

Mr. Lincoln’s basic propositions

Relative to secession, he later said in his message to Con¬
gress at its special session in July: “The states have onlv
the powers reserved to them in the Constitution, no one of
them having been a state out of the Union.” He based his
view on the allegation that “the original states passed into
the Union before they cast off British colonial dependence.
They were never states outside of the Union, either in sub¬
stance or in name. No one of our states (except Texas)
ever was a sovereignty. The Union is older than any of
the states, and in fact it created them as states. No one of
them ever had a state constitution independent of the
Union.” And so on such reasoning he reached the conclu¬
sion that the states could not withdraw from the Union.
He, therefore, held that “all resolves and ordinances by the
states withdrawing from the Union are null and void”; and
he proposed to maintain the Constitution and laws “unless
my rightful masters, the American people, shall withhold the
requisite means or, in some authoritative manner, direct
to the contrary.”

Sumter to be evacuated

On March 5, the day after his inauguration, the Cabinet
conferred over a letter written by Major Anderson, in com¬
mand of Fort Sumter, to the effect that the fort could not
be reinforced and held. After four days consideration it
was resolved by the Cabinet, on the recommendation of Gen¬
eral Scott and other military men, to withdraw the garrison
as a military necessity : but, to give evidence of the admin¬
istration’s policy to hold the propertv of the government,

GILMER’S SAFE COUNSEL

573

Fort Pickens, at Pensacola, in Florida, was to be provisioned,
reinforced and held, and orders were issued for that to
be done.

There were many considerations that appealed to men
differently: Seward feared a civil war. He was in touch
with men devoted to the Union in Virginia and North Caro¬
lina, who insisted that those states could be held in the
Union unless forced out by civil war, and they pleaded for
peace.

John A. Gilmer of North Carolina and YV. Summers of
Virginia probably stood closer to Mr. Seward than any other
Southerners, not Republican. On March 7, Gilmer who had
been hurried from Washington by illness in his family,
wrote from Greensboro to Seward : “The very best thing
that the administration can do will be to frame some excuse
to withdraw the troops from all the fortifications in the se¬
ceding states. There must be no fighting, or the conserva¬
tive Union men in the border states of North Carolina,
Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware,
who are at this time largely in the majority, will be swept
away in a torrent of madness. Let this crisis pass. Let
the Union seem quietly to settle down with the free states
and the border slave states. If collision can be avoided, and
the most vigilant care must be practiced to that end, Georgia,’
Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and even Texas will be
for returning to the Union. South Carolina will not re¬
main in harmony long in any confederacy. You have a
mighty storm to control. If your advice prevails I believe
it can pass without further harm. If we can only get clear
of the Virginia Convention, we will have passed the most
dangerous point immediately ahead of us.”

The next day, March 8, he wrote : “The only hope of the
Secessionists now is that some sort of collision will be
brought about between Federal and state forces in one of the
seceding states. I have full confidence that you, in some
way, wiser and better than I can devise or suggest, can pre¬
vent this. If you can do this, I believe I can say that
Virginia can be kept from secession. If the border states
can be restrained, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas will

March, 1861

Gilmer’s

Letters

Bancroft:
Seward, II,
546

574

THE WAR PARTY

Seward

Diary of a
Public Man,
N. A. Re¬
view, 1879

The commis¬
sioners

soon be back. If for any decent excuse the government
could withdraw the troops from all the Southern fortifica¬
tions, the moment this is done, North Carolina, Virginia,
Maryland, Kentucky, Tennessee, and I believe Arkansas, are
certainly retained. When those states come back, as many
of them will, they will come with their fortifications. The
present excitement should be allowed to pass away as soon
as possible, without fighting.”

On. March 12, he wrote: “The seceders would give a
kingdom for a fight in .some of the seceded states. If the
administration could yield the forts — it would be a grand
movement.” He asserted that in less than two years they
would be returning. “Louisiana will be first to move, and
then all but South Carolina will follow. The great point is to
avoid a collision. If this is done the country will become
quiet at once and the next step will be the gradual return
of the erring states.”

Mr. Seward was also of that mind. Judge Sumner, in
his great Union speech before the Virginia Convention, an¬
nounced, March 11, that the news he had “received that
morning removed all doubt about a pacific policy and the
evacuation of Sumter. These states must be left to time,
to their experiment, to negotiations, to entreaty, to sisterly
'kindness.” The Southern Unionists realized that if war
came they would have to take their stand with their kindred
at the South, and they had more at stake than any other
LMionists.

Under date March 11, 1861, it was recorded that “Mr.
Lincoln has assured Mr. Douglas positively, he tells me,
that he means the fort shall be evacuated as soon as possible
and that all his Cabinet are of the same mind, excepting Mr.
Blair, which is precisely what I expected.”

About March 12, three commissioners, Mr. Crawford
being- the leading one, sent by the Confederate Government
at Montgomery with the purpose to arrange all matters
amicablv, appeared at Washington and asked for an inter¬
view with Mr. Seward. That was refused. There could
be no recognition of the Southern Confederacy, or of the se¬
ceding states. The Southern tender of amity and friendship
was disregarded.

FORT SUMTER QUESTION

575

Later, on March 15, Mr. Lincoln requested each member of
the Cabinet to give a written opinion on the question : “Un¬
der the circumstances is it wise to attempt to provision Fort
Sumter now?” Postmaster-General Blair alone positively fa¬
vored the proposition. It came about that on that day Judge
Campbell, of the Supreme Court, had an interview with Mr.
Seward, who made representations to Judge Campbell to
be communicated to the commissioners on Judge Campbell’s
own responsibility, to the effect that Fort Sumter would be
evacuated, such being the decision of the Cabinet then.
Seward expected that the evacuation would be within three
days. He also declared that the status at Fort Pickens
would not be altered. However, the fort was not evacuated.
Fort Sumter not being evacuated, Judge Campbell again
called on Mr. Seward, and the latter said “the resolution to
evacuate Fort Sumter had been passed and its execution
committed to the President, and he did not know why it
had not been executed ; that there was nothing in the delay
that affected the integrity of the promise or denoted an
intention not to comply. The status of Pickens would not be
‘altered.’ ” It was, however, publicly announced that the
troops would be withdrawn. In the meantime there was
some diversity of opinion manifested among the leading
men at the North. The proposed evacuation “was a bitter
pill.” Apparently there was some other consideration and
the matter of collecting tariff duties now claimed attention.
On March 16, Stanton so wrote to Ex-President Buchanan.
And as the days passed it became a question as to what the
administration should do.

The President on the 18th, called for opinions from
Bates, Chase, and Wells that indicate that he was consid¬
ering the use of a naval force to collect duties.

Mr. Seward in an elaborate opinion said: “In either case,
it seems to me that we will have inaugurated a civil war by
our own act, without an adequate object, after which re¬
union will be hopeless. . . . Fraternity is the element

of union : war is the very element of disunion. ... I
would not provoke war in any way now.” That purpose
then seems to have been abandoned ; but still the difference

A formal
decision

Campbell’s

statement

Connor :
Life of
Campbell,
125-127

Bancroft :
Seward, II,
106

Ibid., 100

Ibid., 123

March, 1861

Request of
the Senate
denied

Connor:

Campbell,

124

The third
meeting

Connor:

Campbell,

127

The war
party

THE WAR PARTY

between the tariffs of the Montgomery government and the
Washington government gave concern.

The Senate had been convened, as customary, in special
session, and the political situation was much discussed.
There were Senators, Douglas and others, who favored rec¬
ognizing what had taken place and urged the withdrawal
from all points in the seceded states, on the ground that any
fort in a seceded state appertained to the state on whose ter¬
ritory it was. But the Senate took no action other than
to ask, on March 25, that the President communicate the
dispatches sent by Major Anderson at Fort Sumter. This
the President declined to do. He proposed to act on his
own responsibility.

When it was publicly announced that Fort Sumter was
to be evacuated the peace men rejoiced. But opposition
developed. Thurlow Weed wrote that he was ‘'sure he
could have made a better arrangement with the commis¬
sioners ; that they would have been willing to allow Major
Anderson’s force to remain in the fort without molestation,
to purchase supplies in Charleston”; and Mr. Weed "re¬
gretted that he had left Washington before something had
been concluded.”

The successive steps

Immediately after the Senate had adjourned the Presi¬
dent, on the 29th, again called for written opinions. Chase,
Blair and Wells agreed that Fort Sumter should be relieved.
Bates was noncommittal. Smith alone stood with Seward.
Seward advised: "I would instruct Major Anderson to
retire from Sumter forthwith,” but he proposed that Fort
Pickens at Pensacola should be held, and on March 29, the
Tribune announced that an expedition was being prepared to
relieve Fort Pickens. But the war party daily became more
clamorous. Realizing what economic and financial advan¬
tages accrued to the North from the Union with the South¬
ern States, some held that without regard to the rights of
any state, or of the Constitution, the powerful North should
enforce Union.

PRESSURE OF NINE GOVERNORS

577

The New York Times of March 30, said: “With us it is
no longer an abstract question, one of constitutional con¬
struction, or reserved or delegated powers of the states to
the Federal government, but of material existence and moral
position both at home and abroad/’ The interests of the
North were superior to right.

Edward M. Stanton, in a letter to Buchanan, said : “I
have no doubt that he (Seward) believed Fort Sumter would
be evacuated, as he stated it would be. But the war party
overruled him . . .”

The President yields

On March 29 the President directed, by secret order, the
preparation of an expedition by the War Department, to be
ready by April 6. _ The Pocahontas, Pawnee, Harriet Lane

and the Powhatan were to be ready; the Powhatan by Fri¬
day. This secret expedition was to provision and hold
Sumter.

Perhaps the better to veil the operation, such dispatches
as the following were sent. The Washington dispatch to
the New York Herald, March 30, was: “All the Cabinet
officers, except General Cameron, who is absent, have been
in consultation with the President today. The preliminaries
f 01 the evacuation of Fort Sumter are going on and will
be effected. The Charlestonians are so anxious to know
when the fort is to be evacuated that dispatches were re¬
ceived here today to know when Colonel Lamon will return
there. The final order for evacuation will undoubtedly be
conveyed by an army officer.”

There were about that time in Washington the governors
of nine of the Northern States, especially under the control
of tariff interests, and these men brought all their pressure
to bear on Mr. Lincoln, offering him men and money for the
purpose of conducting hostile operations.

In addition to the tariff interests involved there was also a
suffffestion that some of those governors urged that a war
would put the Democrats in their states, who would be
sympathetic with their former Democratic associates at the

Bancroft :
Seward, II,
123

Curtis :
Buchanan
II, 459

Connor :

Campbell,

141

Navy opera¬
tions, Series
I, Vol. IV,
227

Crawford :
Fort Sumter

Bancroft :
Seward

N. Y. World,
April 5

Richmond
Ex., April 10

S7§

THE WAR PARTY

Washington
News Letter

Baldwin’s
reply to
Botts

N. Y. Times,
March 30

Schurz’s

Lincoln,

67-73

Fred

Seward’s

Reminis¬

cences

Bancroft’s

Seward

April, 1861

The confer¬
ence

Army
Records,
Yol. I, 368

South, at a political disadvantage that would secure their
own ascendency in their respective states.

Judge Campbell having again called on Mr. Seward to ex¬
plain the delay in evacuating Sumter, on April i, Seward
handed Judge Campbell a writing to the effect that the Pres¬
ident may desire to supply Fort Sumter, but will not under¬
take to do it without first giving notice to Governor Pickens.

Seward’s proposition

The changed attitude of the President profoundly moved
Mr. Seward, who, animated by a sincere desire to maintain
peace with the Southern people, handed a memorandum to
the President, urging a formal announcement of a policy
for the preservation of the Union, eliminating the question
of slavery ; and that the matter of holding the forts should
be decided with a view to preserving the Union; and that
a vigorous foreign policy should be pursued that might lead
to war with France or Spain, and demanding explanation
from Great Britain and Russia; and the American spirit
of independence be aroused. Ffe was for some war, if nec¬
essary, with another nation and a settlement of our own
troubles with renewed Union as the basis. The patriotism
and humanity of Seward, who was experienced in public
affairs and ardently wished for a restoration of the broken
Union, led to a sharp rebuff.

The President said that his policy was expressed in his
inaugural and if there was to be any change, he would him¬
self make the change. Indeed, curt was the reply, that the
responsibility was with the President. Nevertheless, Mr.
Seward at once called on Spain for an explanation in regard
to her acts in San Domingo. Then a secret expedition to
reinforce Fort Pickens was approved.

It now appears that at that time a conference was held in
the office of the President at which measures were agreed
upon that the participants understood would lead to war.
Among those present apparently was Captain Meigs of the
U. S. Engineers.

On April 6 Captain Meigs wrote Seward: “Within less
than six days from the time the subject was broached in the

SITUATION AT THE SOUTH

579

office of the President a war steamer sails from this port,
and the Atlantic will follow this afternoon with 500 troops,
etc., and the Illinois on Monday. This is the beginning of
the war which every statesman and every officer has fore¬
seen.” At sea he wrote again : “The dispatch and the
secrecy with which this expedition has been fitted out will
strike terror into the ranks of rebellion.” The Atlantic
was a Collins Liner chartered for this expedition.

Contemporaneously, on April 1, the President ordered
Col. Harry Brown, U. S. Army, to take command of an
army expedition to reinforce Fort Pickens. Captain Meigs
was to accompany it. No one was to know the object of
the expedition. The movement was unknown to the public.

On that day also the President ordered Lieutenant Porter,
United States Navy, to take the Powhatan on a secret mis¬
sion ; and he also directed the commandant of the navy yard
at New York to fit for sea the Powhatan , “bound on secret
service, and you will, under no circumstances, communicate
to the Navy Department the fact that she is fitting out.”

The President was now acting personally. He gave the
orders himself. The Navy Department was not to be in¬
formed. His action was doubtless in pursuance of the plan
considered and arranged in his office. These secret expedi¬
tions ordered April 1 were for Fort Pickens, that on
March 29 by the Navy was for Sumter.

The name of the Atlantic had been “painted out.” She
was now a “nameless vessel.” And Meigs wrote to Seward
at sea : “The nameless vessel speeds out of the track of
commerce, mysterious, unseen — where will the bolt fall?”
He and Colonel Brown alone on the steamer knew the desti¬
nation, and she carried five hundred soldiers and munitions.

The situation

Having started measures that would lead to war, on the
2d of April, Mr. Lincoln bethought himself of the trouble
Virginia might give him under changed conditions. The situ¬
ation at the South was that North Carolina, Virginia, Tennes¬
see, Arkansas and the border states were adhering to the
LTnion, but the Virginia Convention that had been convened

The wax’
begins

The Atlantic

Army
Records,
Series I,
Vol. I, 368

The

Powhatan

April 2

580

THE WAR PARTY

Atlantic
Monthly,
April, 1875,
p. 443

in February still remained in session, a large majority of the
members, however, being Union men and opposed to seces¬
sion. Indeed, the great desire in the border states was
that measures should be taken to bring the seceded states
into the Union ; for otherwise their own position in the
Union would be such that they would be at the mercy of the
Northern States, that could then alter the Constitution at
their pleasure. The situation, therefore, was the cause of
particular anxiety to the Union men of Virginia. Mr. Lincoln
now desired that the Virginia Convention should adjourn.
He, therefore, on Tuesday, April 2, dispatched a messen¬
ger, Allan Magruder, to Richmond requesting Judge Sum¬
mers, an influential Union man, to come to Washington,
and if he could not come himself, to send some one else.
Mr. Lincoln said: “Let him come by Friday." John A.
Baldwin came, a man of high character, large intelligence
and of influence. There was no delay. Baldwin and Ma¬
gruder reached Washington on Thursday and at once called
on Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln asked, “Baldwin, why do you
not adjourn your convention? It is a menace to me.”

Baldwin urged a conference of the states saying that while
Mr. Lincoln “had the right to ignore secession and hold
the forts, yet he should make a concession of a disputed
right in the interest of peace, and leave all questions to be
settled by the conference of the states.” Mr. Lincoln men¬
tioned “the possible withdrawal of troops from Sumter as
a military necessity,” but that did not go to the root of
the matter; it left the great question unsettled. Mr. Lincoln
then asked : “What about the collection of duties ?” Bald¬
win said “the amount of duties would not be a drop in the
bucket compared to the cost of the war. . . . The only

way you can manage is to withdraw from them the only
means of striking a blow until time for reflection, time for
influence to be brought to bear, can be gained, and thus
settle the matter. If you do not take this course, if a gun
is fired at Sumter, I do not care on which side it is fired, the
opportunity for settlement is lost. Virginia herself, as
strong as the Union majority now is, will be out in forty-
eight hours.” He urged the President to call a national
convention to settle the matter.

THE UNDERCURRENT OF WAR

58i

Mr. Lincoln asked: “But what am I to do with those
men at Montgomery?” Baldwin answered — “Let them
alone until they can be peacefully brought back.” But
Mr. Lincoln was now influenced because of the tariff — and
with that in his mind said: “And open Charleston as a
port of entry with their ten per cent tariff? What then
would become of my tariff?”

General Crawford says : “The evidence of some move¬
ment upon the part of the government was now so manifest
as to induce the general belief that a vigorous policy had
been determined upon, which pointed with official accuracy
to Forts Sumter and Pickens. The concourse of nine
governors of Northern States in Washington gave strength
to the report which the unexplained movements of vessels
of war and transports seem to confirm.”

“During the first week in April it became apparent to
persons in Washington that some important decision in re¬
gard to questions relative to the seceding states had taken
place. The troops which had been collected there were
removed ; rumors among naval officers of movements of
vessels of war were current. There had been an unusual
concourse of politicians there, and the tone of one party be¬
came more menacing and of the other more anxious and de¬
spondent.” These troops were to go on the several expe¬
ditions.

Mr. Baldwin subsequently wrote : “While at the White
House, I saw and was introduced to a number of governors
of Northern States. It was at a time these governors, nine
in number, had come to confer with the President, a time
when there was an immense outside pressure brought to bear
on him and designed to control his course.”

Likewise Magruder wrote : “It is well known that a pre¬
concerted meeting of these governors was held at this time
at Washington. The number of states represented has
been variously stated as seven and nine. It seems certain
that Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and
Michigan were all represented. The urgent appeals and the
promises of aid and support in the program marked out
for Mr. Lincoln by the Northern governors already re-

So. History
Papers, Vol.
I, 443,

IX, 88

Letters and
Times of
Tyler, 637,
638

Goodwin :
Davis, 137

Stephens,
608, 609

Genesis of
the Civil
War, 339

Connor :

Campbell,

129

Atlantic
Monthly,
April, 1875,
•p. 445

Rhodes, III,
346

N. Y. Herald
April 5

582

THE WAR PARTY

N. Y. World
April 5

Richmond
Examiner,
April 10

So. Atlantic
Quarterly,
April, 1914,

p. 260

The Great
Rebellion,
196

The Presi¬
dent’s order

ferred to whose warlike spirit was intensified by the attri¬
tion of personal association in Washington in this crisis,
proved too strong to be resisted and the pressure they exer¬
cised upon Mr. Lincoln sufficed to defeat the policy sup¬
ported by Mr. Baldwin and the Virginia Convention.”

A news letter from Washington, said April 7: “Much
wild talk and guessing had been occasioned by the visits
of half a dozen governors of Northern States to this place.
. . . Some knowing gossipers claim that they came here

to consult with the President as to the expediency of recom¬
mending tenders of men and means by the legislatures of the
respective states they represent.”

Two days after this interview with Baldwin John Minor
Botts, a strong Union man of Virginia, was with Mr. Lin¬
coln Sunday night. In the course of their conversation, Mr.
Lincoln said he had offered to Mr. Baldwin that if the
Virginia Convention would adjourn he would evacuate Fort
Sumter. Thereupon Botts asked Mr. Lincoln : “Will you
authorize me to make that proposition ? I have no doubt the
Union men will accept it.” To which Mr. Lincoln replied :
“It is too late now; the fleet sailed on Friday evening.”

Incidents

Whether or not the influence of the governors was ex¬
erted to institute a wrar in order to secure their own ascend¬
ancy in their respective states, about the first of April, Mr.
Lincoln determined on war and discarded Mr. Seward’s
peace program.

The Navy Department, being ignorant of the orders by the
President assigning the Powhatan to Lieutenant Porter,
ordered that vessel to Charleston, to arrive there on the
morning of the nth; and the object of the expedition for
Fort Sumter rendering the expedition to Pensacola unnec¬
essary, Seward now wired Porter to give up that vessel to
Captain Mercer for Charleston. Porter, when he received
this order, replied: “I received my orders from the Presi¬
dent and shall proceed to execute them,” and, having al¬
ready sailed, he continued on his way to Pensacola.

PURPOSE TO SUPPLY SUMTER

S§3

On March 12, General Scott had issued an order for
Lieutenant Vogdes to land from the steamer Brooklyn his
company of artillery and reinforce Pickens. This order
was not received until April 1, and when informed of it,
Captain Adams, in command of the naval forces at Pen¬
sacola, declined to carry it into effect. On that date he
wrote his report to the Secretary of the Navy that because
of the armistice agreement he could not obey General Scott’s
order. “It would be considered not only a declaration but
an act of war. ... At present both sides are faithfully
observing the agreement entered into by the United States
Government with Mr. Mallory and Colonel Chase. This
agreement binds us not to reinforce Fort Pickens unless it
shall be attacked or threatened. It binds them not to attack
it unless we shall attempt to reinforce it. . . . Under

General Scott’s order, I cannot take on myself the fearful
responsibility of an act which seems to render civil war in¬
evitable.” This report, being received on April 6, the Sec¬
retary of the Navy replied, regretting that Captain Adams
had not obeyed General Scott’s order; and then the Secre¬
tary, despite the fact that it meant war, directed him on the
first favorable opportunity to land the troops.

Mr. Crawford, one of the Confederate commissioners,
having applied to Judge Campbell for a fulfillment of the
pledge to evacuate Fort Sumter, or for an explanation,
Judge Campbell in his statement said: “On the 7th of
April last I addressed Mr. Seward a note, reciting what
had taken place, the anxiety of the commissioners and asked
an explanation. His reply was: ‘Faith fully kept as to
Sumter ; wait and see.’ ”

There had been a pledge that there would be no attempt
made to supply Fort Sumter without notice to Governor
Pickens, so on April 6, the “Secretary of War directed an
officer to go to Charleston and read to Governor Pickens a
formal notice that the President expects to supply Fort
Sumter with provisions only, and if not resisted no effort
will be made to throw in provisions, arms or ammunition
without further notice.” On the same day, Major Anderson
received notice of the expedition to, Charleston. Immedi-

An. act of
war ordered

Navy-
Records,
Series I,

Vol. IV, 110

Ibid., Ill

584

THE WAR PARTY

Major
Anderson
against the
war

Beauregard:
Roman, 34

Rise and
Fall of the
Confederacy,
284

Bancroft :
Seward, II,
143

ately Major Anderson wrote to the Department: “The in¬
formation surprises me very greatly, contradicting so pos¬
itively the assurance Mr. Crawford telegraphed he was
authorized to make. A movement made now, when the
South has been erroneously informed that none such would
be made, would produce most disastrous results. I fear its
result cannot fail to be disastrous to all concerned. We
shall strive to do our duty, though I frankly say that my
heart is not in this war, which I see is to be thus com¬
menced. That God will still avert it and cause us by
pacific means to maintain our rights is my earnest prayer. “

On April 6, James E. Harvey, a friend of Seward, Wash¬
ington correspondent of the New York Times , but a native
of Charleston, sent a telegram from Washington to Charles¬
ton : “Positively determined not to withdraw Anderson.
Supplies go immediately, supported by naval force under
Stringham if their landing be resisted. A Friend.” Seward
gave that information to Harvey and knew that the dispatch
was sent. Notwithstanding that information, relying on
Seward’s statement, the Confederate authorities at Charles¬
ton remained quiet ; and indeed, says Seward’s biographer :
“The Confederate leaders fully realized the undesirability
of a conflict.”

The vessels to reinforce Sumter sailed on the 8th, 9th
and 10th, the expedition being under Fox, and the com¬
mander of the fleet of navy vessels being Captain Mercer.
Fox’s orders, given April 4, were first to endeavor to de¬
liver from his transports the subsistence stores, and, if
opposed, then for the navy vessels to effect an entrance and
place both troops and supplies in Fort Sumter. The ren¬
dezvous of the war vessels was to be ten miles east of the
Charleston lighthouse on the morning of Wednesday, the
nth of April.

In the meanwhile the Atlantic, now nameless, “was steam¬
ing outside the tracks of commerce” to her destination, and
the Powhatan reached the waters of Pensacola. Lieutenant
Porter reported that he “had disguised the Pozvhatan so
that she deceived those who had known her, and, flying the
British flag, was standing in the harbor unnoticed, when the

MADNESS RULES

585

Wyandotte commenced making signals which I did not Navy^
answer, but stood on. The Wyandotte then put herself in series 1’
my way and, being hailed, I stopped. In two minutes more Vo1' IV’ lw“
I would have been inside or sunk.” His progress was thus
arrested conformably to the armistice.

The country startled

The country, North and South alike, had been advised
that Fort Sumter was to be evacuated. The South rejoiced ;
especially the Union men of the South, and particularly
those of North Carolina. Mr. Seward had written of the
promise as a pledge. He had on the 7th of April written,

“Faith fully kept as to Sumter.” Now the country was in¬
formed of the situation. The military men all knew that it
was to be war; and so feared others. Happy indeed had it
been for America and for humanity had the promise of
peace ripened into fruition of sectional conciliation, and
had Buchanan’s horror of imbruing his hands in the blood
of his countrymen been shared by his successor.

Gilmer but voiced what was prevalent in the hearts of the
Union men of the State in writing to Seward April 11:

“I am so deeplv distressed that my heart seems to melt Madness

j rules the

within me. I cannot but still believe that the course I sug- hour
gested would have been wise and the results, had it been
pursued, most beneficial. If what I hear is true that we are
to have fighting at Sumter or Pickens, it is what the Dis-
unionists have most courted, and I seriously apprehend that
it will instantly drive the whole South into secession, and
that before the end of another sixty days, at Washington
City, there will be a contest that makes me shudder to con¬
template. Truly, indeed, may it be said that madness rules
the hour.”

April 11

Roman I,

Fred

Seward’s

Reminis¬

cences

CHAPTER XXXVIII
The War Begins

The war begins. — The bombardment. — The action of the Cabi¬
net. — Congress called to meet in July. — Call on states for troops.
— Ellis’s reply. — The forts occupied. — Vance. — Gilmer. — Settle. —
The Unionists. — Graham. — Ruffin. — Assembly convened. — Volun¬
teers called out. — Col. D. H. Hill. — In the mountains. — Virginia
acts. — The action of the states. — The wager of battle between the
states. — Justice Grier’s opinion. — Mr. Lincoln’s message to Con¬
gress in July. — His acts not approved. — Originally no war of Con¬
gress but of the governors.

Fort Sumter

Notwithstanding the information given by Mr. Lincoln
on the 8th, the Confederate authorities waited until the ioth,
when they authorized General Beauregard to demand the
evacuation of Fort Sumter, and on the nth they advised
•General Beauregard: “We do not desire needlessly to bom¬
bard Fort Sumter." Major Anderson having declined to
evacuate the fort and the Northern fleet being then near, at
4:30 on the morning of April 12 the peaceful stillness of the
night was suddenly broken by a signal shell from Fort
Johnson’s mortar battery, fired by Capt. George S. James,
of South Carolina, to whom Lieut. Stephen D. Lee gave
the order.

A persistent bombardment followed and the fort was re¬
duced, but fortunately without casualties. Charleston was
not to have her great fortress, commanding the city and har¬
bor, occupied by a force hostile to the city and State, under
a claim of rightful dominion. ’ The relief squadron now
approached, but the desired object had been accomplished.
A new situation had been created. The flag had been fired
upon and the patriotic ardor of the North was aroused.
The noble sentiment — our country, right or wrong, our
country — was relied on. There was now no dallying. At
Washington the President was in readiness. The Assistant
Secretary of State has recorded : “President and Cabinet

CONGRESS IGNORED

587

met. President and Cabinet passed most of the day, Sun¬
day, April 14, in consulting over the grave though not un¬
expected event, and its far-reaching consequences; nor was
there any delusive hope that a small force would suffice.
Each of the Cabinet members realized that the contest would
be gigantic. It was determined to call for 75,000 men and
to call Congress together. Congress would be loyal, but it
would be a deliberative body, and to wait for many men of
many minds to shape a war policy would be to invite disaster.
So it was concluded to call Congress to meet on the fourth
of July and to trust to their patriotism to sanction the war
measures taken prior to that time by the Executive.”

Fully aware that under the oath of office the President
had no right to engage in war, with no threatened danger
of any adverse change in the situation, with Congress re¬
cently elected by the people ready to convene, the President
deliberately determined to assume the functions of Congress
and involve the country in a gigantic war, trusting to the
patriotism of Congress to sanction his measures. The proc¬
lamation was written on Sunday. He called for 75,000
men for operations at the South, assigning a quota to each
state. The arrangements doubtless had already been made
with the nine governors, the program mapped out, the actors
awaiting the signal ; the tigers ready to spring ; the several
steps perfunctory.

The Assistant Secretary of State continues : “Every
Governor of a free state promptly promised his quota should
be forthcoming. From Virginia came the ominous news
that the convention had hastily and secretly reversed its pre¬
vious decision, had adopted an ordinance of secession and
had joined the Confederacy.” North Carolina, Tennessee,
Kentucky and Missouri all replied to the call for troops :
“Not one man will be furnished to carry on so unholy a
crusade. . . . Delaware likewise replied in the nega¬

tive. From Maryland no answer came, but, in August, as
the Legislature was about to assemble, by a secret military
coup, the members were all arrested. From New York,
Pennsylvania and Massachusetts and Ohio, troops were hur¬
ried to Washington.”

Not unex¬
pected

Congress not
to be con¬
sulted

The replies

588

THE WAR BEGINS

The State
acts

Sloan’s

Guilford

Grays

Vance

North Carolina’s reply

When on the 15th the President notified Governor Ellis
by telegram: “Call made on you by tonight's mail for two
regiments of militia for immediate service," Governor
Ellis immediately replied : “I regard the levy of troops
made by the administration for the purpose of subjugating
the states of the South as in violation of the Constitution
and a usurpation of power. I can be no party to this wicked
violation of the law of the country, and to this war upon the
liberties of a free people. You can get no troops from
North Carolina.”

Realizing that hostilities had begun, Governor Ellis at
once telegraphed Col. John L. Cantwell, commander of the
militia in the Cape Fear district, to take Forts Caswell and
Johnston without delay; and on the morning of the 16th
Colonel Cantwell proceeded from Wilmington with the Wil¬
mington Light Infantry, Captain DeRosset, the German
Volunteers, Captain Cornehlson, the Wilmington Rifle
Guards, Captain Pen Meares, and the Cape Fear Light Ar¬
tillery, Lieut. James M. Stevenson, and took possession of
those forts. Even earlier, on the nth, without orders, a
local company under Captain Pender, had occupied Fort
Macon ; and now, by direction of the Governor the Orange
Guards, the Goldsboro Rifles, the Wilson Light Infantry,
and the Guilford Grays hastened to that point. Col. C. C.
Tew was appointed to the command, and Captain Guion
was selected as engineer to perfect the defenses. There
also came speedily Captain Latham with his artillery com¬
pany to serve the cannon. The Union flag was replaced
by what tradition had indicated as the old State flag : the
pine tree with a rattlesnake coiled at its foot, with this in¬
scription : “Don’t Tread on Me.”

The effect of the call to arms was electrical. It imme¬
diately changed conditions in North Carolina. Vance in
describing it said : “The Union men had every prop knocked
from under them and, by stress of their own position, were
plunged into the secession movement. For myself, I will
say. I was canvassing for the Union with all my strength.
I was addressing a large and excited crowd, and literally

TAKING SIDES

589

had my arm extended upward, pleading for peace and the
Union of our fathers when the telegraphic news was an¬
nounced of the firing on Sumter and the President’s call
for seventy-five thousand volunteers. When my hand came
down from that impassioned gesticulation, it fell slowly and
sadly, by the side of a Secessionist. I immediately with
altered voice and manner, called upon the assembled multi¬
tude to volunteer, not to fight against, but for, South Caro¬
lina. I said: “If war is to come, I prefer to be with my
own people.”

Gilmer, who was on good footing with the new adminis¬
tration, and being intimate with Secretary Seward, had
been in correspondence with him since March 7, now wrote
to him that he had been away from home attending the
courts, addressing “crowds of Union men,” and that “yes¬
terday (April 20) I heard of the President’s proclamation.
Soon thereafter I heard that a volunteer company in my
own town, among whom was my only son, had been called
for by the Governor, and they have gone to Fort Macon.
I came home and found my own friends greatly excited. I
was too full to address them. I could not rest that night. If
I had supposed that the administration would not pursue the
policy (or something like it) which I had urged on you,
I would have returned to Washington and have gone daily
on my knees to it in behalf of my policy, and to avert that
shedding of blood which now seems inevitable. . . . All

hope is now extinguished.”

Judge Howard, who was with Gilmer, while attending
his courts, and saw him at his home on the day upon which
this letter was written, says that “with deep emotion” he
repeated the language quoted ; and then added, “We are all
one now.”

Judge Howard was holding court and Thomas Settle, a
Democrat, spoke for the Union. They rode away together.
In passing Madison, they heard the news and saw a crowd
collected. Settle stopped, rushed to the excited crowd
and shouted: “My friends, I was all wrong; we are all one
now.” A few days later Settle was soliciting volunteers for
the war. It was so everywhere. “The argument having

Dowd :
Vance, 441

Gilmer

Bancroft :
Seward, II,
549

Settle

590

THE WAR BEGINS

Southern

Unionists

Throughout
the land

Graham

A war of
conquest

Ruffin

ceased and the sword being drawn, all classes in the South
united as by magic.'’

While many Secessionists, relying on the utterances of
distinguished Northern men, on their friendly association
with the Northern Democrats, on such individual opinions
as had been expressed by Greeley and others, and because
the right of secession was at least a mooted question, had
held that there would be no war, the Union men had believed
that peace would be maintained at least as a policy to hold
the border states and North Carolina and Tennessee in the
Union. To both the inauguration of hostilities was a sad
disappointment. The Secessionist faced it with a con¬
viction that his cause was just; but the Unionist felt that
Lincoln had forced him to “fight for a cause that was not
just.”

As the news spread through the country the inhabitants
gathered at the courthouses and at the telegraph stations and
great excitement, not unmixed with anxiety, prevailed.

There were many meetings held in the counties. At
Hillsboro the meeting was addressed by Judge Ruffin, Gov¬
ernor Graham, and others. Governor Graham said : “But
the President gives to the question new alternatives. These
are, on the one hand, to join with him in a war of conquest,
for it is nothing less, against our brethren of the seceded
states, or on the other, resistance to and throwing off the
obligations of the Federal Constitution. Of the two, we do
not hesitate to accept the latter. Blood is thicker than
water.”

The venerable Chief Justice, who had stood so strenuously
for conservatism in the Peace Conference, his whole frame
in a quiver of emotion, extended his arms and exclaimed :
“I say, fight, fight, fight !” The gage of war had been
thrown down, and bravely and with resolution it was
accepted.

On Tuesday, the 16th, a great meeting was held at
Raleigh, where the Unionists had been so dominant. The
underiving thought was that North Carolina had been
officially required to send troops to war upon the South. “We
are Southern men and North Carolinians, and we are at war
with those who are at war with the South and North Caro-

1. George E. Badger
4. Bartholomew F. Moore

3. John A. Gilmer

2. Thomas Settle
5. Augustus S. Merrimon

EARLY PREPARATIONS

59i

lina,” was the firm declaration of the leading editors of the
Union party.

The resolves adopted called for all proper steps to main¬
tain, secure, and defend the rights of North Carolina as one
of the Southern States; and requested the Governor to con¬
vene forthwith the General Assembly, and pledged support
and adherence “to the government and authorities of the
State in such manner as may be deemed necessary to be
taken to assert our rights and defend our soil.” Animated
by the spirit that pervaded every breast in the State, Gov¬
ernor Ellis on the 17th, responded to these resolutions by is¬
suing a proclamation convening the General Assembly in
special session to meet on May 1, and called for thirty
thousand volunteers, the full number authorized by the last
Assembly. On the same day responses came from the com¬
panies already formed. Some were ordered to join those at
the forts, and others were directed to repair to a camp of
instruction established near Raleigh, of which Colonel Daniel
H. Hill was appointed to the command, and drill masters
were selected from the cadets at the military schools. The
military spirit was now fully aroused and a war fever took
possession of the people. Companies were formed in every
part of the State, all citizens acting in harmony. The first
company organized in Buncombe, the Rifles, under Capt.
W. W. McDowell, was quickly followed by Capt. Zeb
Vance’s Rough and Ready Guards, and sons of John A.
Gilmer and of William A. Graham went with the first com¬
panies to seize Fort Macon. It was the same everywhere.
Whigs and Democrats forgot their differences and vied
with each other in patriotic ardor.

The feeling that prevailed in the mountains was por¬
trayed by J. D. Allen, a young man who came at that time
to Asheville from Salisbury. He was for the Union and,
later, shaking the dust of North Carolina from his feet, he
proceeded farther west and enlisted in the Tenth Illinois
Cavalry. On his arrival at Asheville he wrote, April 28 :
“There were two military companies here some time ago —
the Buncombe Rifles and a light horse company of volun¬
teers. On Saturday, the 20th, the citizens of Buncombe
County held a meeting and organized a company of volun-

The Raleigh
meeting

Ellis acts

Whigs and
Democrats
at one

In the
mountains

Letters of a
soldier

592

THE WAR BEGINS

teers, called the Rough and Ready Guards, which number
about 80 men. The Hon. Z. B. Vance has also organized
a company of ioo men. Since these companies were or¬
ganized they have been drilled twice a day and once at night.
They drilled this evening for the first time on Sunday. The
riflemen have been called out by the Governor and will leave
tomorrow. They go from here to Raleigh. All the Union
men here have become Secessionists, and the flag of the
Southern Confederacy floats in triumph over this place. In
East Tennessee many will stick to the Union; among them
Parson Brownlow and Andy Johnson, one of the most prom¬
inent men. The people here held a meeting on Sunday last
and appointed another one Monday for the purpose of get¬
ting more volunteers. Then they sent men all over the
country to notify the people. A few days ago there were five
companies of volunteers cpiartered in town, numbering over
450 men. On yesterday the Madison and Haywood com¬
panies came in, so there are still four here.”

The Council of State met on the 23d and adopted reso¬
lutions approving all that the Governor had done, but it
requested that no more than five thousand troops should be
called into service.

Virginia acts

April 17

Lee at Appo¬
mattox, 403

When the President called on the border states to engage
in war with the five seceded states to coerce them, then the
border states themselves were forced to take action. The
crisis had arrived. On April 17, the Virginia convention
being in session, passed an ordinance of secession, subject
to the approval of the people at the polls, and seized the
arsenal at Harpers Ferry and the navy yard at Norfolk,
both of which, however, the Federal officers had attempted
to destroy when evacuating them, thus preventing the arms
from falling into the possession of the State.

Charles Francis Adams said of Virginia’s secession and
action : “So, logically and consistently, she took her posi¬
tion that, though it might be unwise for a state to secede,
a state that did secede could not and should not be coerced.”

OPINIONS ON THE SITUATION

593

Goldwin Smith, the English publicist, speaking of Presi¬
dent Lincoln, said : “If he saw, he never showed that he
saw, the fundamental character of the situation with which
he had to deal. He always wrote as if he took secession to
be rebellion. . . . To call it rebellion is to speak igno¬

rantly, to call it treason is to add viciousness to stupidity."
Another English writer had said of Virginia: “So far she
had given no overt sign of sympathy with the revolution,
but she was now called on to furnish her quota of regiments
for the Federal Army. To have acceded to the call would
have been to abjure the most cherished principles of her
political existence. Neutrality was impossible. If the moral¬
ity of secession may be questioned ; if South Carolina acted
with undue haste, it can hardly be denied that the action
of Virginia was not only fully justified but beyond
suspicion."

The action of the Southern States

With regard to the action by the seceding states before
Mr. Lincoln’s call for troops, it is to be remarked that there
were two schools of statesmen — one maintaining the right
of a state to withdraw from the Union, the other denying
it. The first considered that by the Constitution there was
formed a Union of states ; that the Constitution was “es¬
tablished between the states" ratifying it. That the inhab¬
itants were not brought together into a nation was some¬
what indicated by the careful elimination of the word
“national" from the instrument. The statehood of the
states was recognized throughout the Constitution. But the
states agreed to restrict the exercise of some of their sover¬
eign rights; and they delegated sovereign powers to the
Union, and agreed that the laws made by Congress should be
the supreme law of the land. But there was no power dele¬
gated to coerce a state ; or to make war on a state, nor was
there any agreement that a state should not withdraw from
the Union. Allegiance of the citizens of each state had
been to the state; and there was nothing said on the subject
of allegiance whatever. But it was agreed that “Treason
against the United States shall consist only in levying war
38

594

THE WAR BEGINS

Buchanan

67 U. S.
Reports, 668

against them , or in adhering to their enemies/’ and a person
“charged in any state with treason, felony or other crime
shall, on demand of the executive authority of the state from
which he has fled, be delivered up.” Thus there was recog¬
nized both treason against the states in union, and treason
against a particular state.

Each state had its own law for the admission of foreigners
to its citizenship, with allegiance to the state; Congress was
authorized “to establish an uniform rule of naturalization,”
so that there would be uniformity, but the allegiance to the
state was not abandoned by the Constitution, only “the cit¬
izens of each state were to have the immunities and privi¬
leges of the citizens of the several states.”

]No authority to declare war

In his annual message to Congress, December, i860, Presi¬
dent Buchanan said : “The question fairly stated is : Has
the Constitution delegated to Congress the power to coerce
a state into submission which is attempting to withdraw, or
has actually withdrawn from the Confederacy? If an¬
swered in the affirmative, it must be on the principle that
the power has been conferred upon Congress to make war
against a state. After much serious reflection I have ar¬
rived at the conclusion that no such power has been dele¬
gated to Congress or to any other department of the Federal
government. It is manifest, upon an inspection of the
Constitution, that this is not among the specific and enu¬
merated powers granted to Congress ; and it is equally appar¬
ent that its exercise is not necessary and proper for carrying
into execution any one of these powers. So far from this
power having been delegated to Congress, it was expressly
refused by the convention which framed the Constitution.”

The war between the states

In the United States Supreme Court, in the Prize Cases,
in December, 1862, after twenty months of war, Justice
Grier said : “By the Constitution, Congress alone has the
power to declare a national or foreign war. It cannot de¬
clare war against a state, or any number of states, by virtue

WAR WITHOUT AUTHORITY

595

of any clause in the Constitution. . . . The President

has no power to initiate or declare war against either a
foreign nation or a domestic state.” But, said the court,
“a civil war suddenly came into being. It is none the less
a civil war, because it may be called an insurrection by one
side.” And the court said : “We have shown that a civil
war, as that now waged between the Northern and Southern
States, is properly conducted according to humane regu¬
lations,” etc.

And again said the Court : “Under the very peculiar
Constitution of this government, although the citizens owe
supreme allegiance to the Federal government, they owe a
qualified allegiance to the state in which they are domiciled.
Their persons and property are subject to its laws. Hence,
in organizing this rebellion, they have acted as states claim¬
ing to be sovereign over all persons and property within
their respective limits, and asserting a right to absolve their
citizens from their allegiance to the Federal government.
Their right to do so is now being decided by wager of bat¬
tle.” Wager of battle was an appeal to might. He who
conquered had the right.

While the Supreme Court struck the keynote — that the
crux of the matter was the ultimate allegiance of the citi¬
zens of the seceding states — yet it forebore to point out
how the allegiance to the Union became superior to the
natural allegiance due to the state, for there was no transfer
of ultimate allegiance from the state to the Union agreed
to in the Constitution. The first Legislature of this State
after the ratification of the Constitution, declined to take
an oath to support the Constitution, but the next one, when
the act of Congress had been received, passed an act con¬
formable to the law of Congress prescribing that oath for
certain state officers.

The Constitution being silent on the subject, it was only
a mere theory, no matter how nebulous the foundation of it,
by which the Northern States could hold that a state could
not withdraw its citizens from under the provisions of the
Constitution.

Ibid., 670

Wager of
battle

596

THE WAR BEGINS

Between
the States

The court said : The states “have acted as states claiming
to be sovereign over all persons and property within their
respective limits/' Thus it was the action of the states
that was in question. And the court points out that neither
the President nor Congress had any authority to wage war
against a state. ” So the court speaks of it “as a civil war
between the Northern and Southern States.’’ And the mas¬
terful leader in Congress, Thaddeus Stevens, agreed with
the court and held that all that was done by the North was
outside of the Constitution. Mr. Lincoln, however, as¬
serted that the people in the seceded states were in insur¬
rection, and that his oath to execute the laws required him
to disregard the action of the states. Considering the ob¬
stacle to executing the law as an insurrection, the President
under Art. IV of the Constitution could act only at the re¬
quest of the state, and Mr. Lincoln was sworn to obey the
Constitution. He, however, after an understanding with the
governors of certain Northern States, undertook measures
that would lead to war — that event being “not unexpected”
— and then he called on the states to furnish the soldiers to
carry on the war ; and the Northern States responded. The
war opened with troops furnished by Northern States,
not by Congress ; and it was conducted without the author¬
ity of Congress for four months, with the expectation that
Congress would sanction what might be done.

From the beginning it was a war of the Northern States
against the Southern States, and Congress, after it had
been waged for months, merely carried it on without any
authority under the Constitution, as the Supreme Court
said. Goldwin Smith, an eminent publicist, and entirely
disinterested, has written of Mr. Lincoln’s attitude to the
South in 1861 : “With all his wisdom and goodness of
heart he never took, or at least showed that he took, a right
view of the case with which he had to deal. If he had, per¬
haps there would have been no war.”

But for one reason or another, Mr. Lincoln and the
Northern governors had determined on war: Constitution
or no Constitution, the will of these men was to prevail.

PRECIPITATING A STRUGGLE

597

Lincoln’s Avar

Such were the successive steps of those fateful days ;
a determined stand against having any parley with the
millions of Southern people who considered that a state had
a right to withdraw from the Union, coining the phrase
“insurrectionary states/’ the President treating millions of
those whom he regarded as his “fellow citizens” as rebels
since, not agreeing with his fanciful notion of the effect of
the association of the colonies in their war for independence,
they held with the Declaration itself that the states were
free and independent states; and initiating a gigantic strug¬
gle between millions of the most enlightened, prosperous,
happy, Christian people of the world because he held an
opinion not based on any historical fact, which he would
not submit to the consideration of Congress. Virtually, it
was Mr. Lincoln’s own war, he not allowing his fellow
citizens, “his .masters,” as he termed them in his inaugural,
any opportunity for an adjustment, although strongly urged
to do so. Having initiated the war and postponed the
meeting of Congress until July, when it met, after making
in his message a statement of ihe several steps that had
led to the bombardment of Sumter, Mr. Lincoln said: “So
viewing the issue, no choice was left but to call out the war
powers of the government.” Referring to the measures he
had taken, he said : “Those measures, whether strictly
legal or not, were ventured upon under what appeared to
be a popular demand and. a public necessity, trusting then
as now that Congress would ratify them. It is believed
that nothing has been done beyond the constitutional com¬
petency of Congress” — not the constitutional competency
of the President, but of Congress. However, when resolu¬
tions were introduced in Congress proposing to legalize
the President’s acts they were not passed. His actions
were illegal at their inception, and Congress had no power
to make 'them lawful although ventured upon “on a popular
demand and a public necessity,” without regard to the
Constitution. Indeed under Section 4, Article IV of the
Constitution, “Congress shall protect each state against in-

Richardson,
VI, 31

Ibid., 24

59§

THE WAR BEGINS

McClure

vasion,” and Congress alone had the power to declare war;
but Mr. Lincoln, relying on the aid of his partisan governors,
waged war and invaded states without regard to the Con¬
stitution, and without even asking the leave of Congress,
postponing its meeting for three months, to the sacred day
of patriotism, expecting its concurrence after three months
of hostilities, and suggesting that he had done nothing
“beyond the constitutional competency of Congress.” Until
then at least it was no war of Congress, but of Mr. Lincoln
and the Republican governors.

It is narrated that the Governor of Pennsylvania, after
having furnished his quota, went on and sent forward many
more troops that the Secretary of War would not receive.
The Governor appealed to the President, and thereupon a
famous controversy arose.

CHAPTER XXXIX

North Carolina Stands with the South

In the State. — Dearth of supplies. — Arms stored at arsenal. —
The first regiment. — The ports blockaded. — The prevailing excite¬
ment. — The Assembly meets. — Troops ordered to Virginia and a
convention called. — The military board. — War measures. — Officers
of the old army and navy. — The State navy. — Col. D. H. Hill car¬
ries first regiment to Richmond. — Other regiments. — The State
troops and the volunteers. — The defenses. — The Unionists. —
Worth voices their sentiments. — Holden’s attitude. — The elec¬
tion. — The membership. — The convention. — Badger’s ordinance. —
Craige’s ordinance adopted. — The flag. — The basis of the action.
— Judge Connor’s view. — Mr. Lincoln’s action. — His “Sophism.”

In the State

Immediately on the fall of Sumter, Major W. H. C.
Whiting of the engineers, whose merits placed him easily
in the highest rank of military men, being intimately asso¬
ciated with the people of Cape Fear, where he had mar¬
ried, arrived at Wilmington and was commissioned by the
Governor to take charge. Necessarily every department
had to be organized and all things necessary for defense
and preparation had to be created. Major Whiting ap¬
pointed Capt. F. L. Childs, an experienced artillery officer,
chief of artillery, and S. A. Ashe, a lieutenant in the same
department, while Governor Ellis sent as engineer Capt.
John C. Winder.

Writing to Beauregard on the 22d, Whiting said, “the
worst is I have nothing to work with.” He asked for
“some fuses for shells, sponge staffs, and the various im¬
plements belonging to the guns you have lent us. I have
started all the ladies to making cartridge bags and sand
bags, and that serves to keep their little hearts quiet. We
have the arsenal today.” Under Captain Childs’s direction
every available artisan at Wilmington was soon at work,
while incessantly preparations for defense were pressed.

The arsenal at Fayetteville was the depository of arms
for distribution at the South under the Federal law; and

Chronicles
of the Cape
Fear

Dearth of
supplies

6oo NORTH CAROLINA STANDS WITH THE SOUTH

April 22

The arsenal
surrendered

Arms and
stores

Men but
no arms

there also a considerable quantity of powder was stored.
Because of the John Brown episode some of the citizens
of Fayetteville had, in October, petitioned the War Depart¬
ment to garrison the arsenal with a company of regulars,
and accordingly a detachment of troops had been stationed
there, under the command of Major S. S. Anderson and
Lieutenant De Lagnel, while the post was in charge of
Capt. J. A. J. Bradford of the ordnance service. Contem¬
poraneously with seizing the forts, the Governor addressed
himself to securing possession of the arsenal and its valu¬
able stores. Hon. Warren Winslow, skilled in all the ac¬
complishments of a diplomat, acting as an aide to the Gov¬
ernor, was commissioned to bring about its peaceable sur¬
render. In the town were the Fayetteville Independent
Light Infantry, the oldest company of the South, organ¬
ized in 1793, Captain Huske ; and the Lafayette Light In¬
fantry, Captain Starr, and other troops were available. On
the 22d the surrender was accomplished, and Lieut. J. A.
Pemberton, of the Fayetteville Light Infantry, was put in
charge. The next day Major Anderson officially reported
the fact to the authorities at Washington, saying that the
Governor made his demand sustained by a force of one
thousand and fifty rank and file of State troops well equipped
and could not be resisted. The terms agreed on for the
withdrawal of the garrison were reduced to writing and
signed by Warren Winslow on the part of the Governor, and
by Major Anderson. The garrison was to salute their flag
with twenty-one guns, and were to retain their quarters
until removed, and no flag was to be hoisted permanently
until their departure. In the arsenal were 37,000 stands
of arms, a battery of field pieces, a large quantity of pow¬
der, and other stores, and the machinery for the manufac¬
ture of munitions of war. The supply of arms thus gained
was all important ; for on the very day of the surrender the
Confederate Secretary of War requested Governor Ellis to
send a regiment to Virginia, and on the 25th asked him to
send two thousand muskets for three regiments from Ten¬
nessee and Arkansas then at Lynchburg without arms. The
South had men enough, but was not supplied with arms

MUSTERING FORCES

601

and munitions. The war had come so suddenly that no
preparation had been made for it. The states had no sup¬
plies. The powder and arms obtained at Fayetteville were
thus of the utmost advantage. Ten thousand muskets were
given to Virginia, and a more limited supply furnished to
other states.

While every effort was being made to put the forts in a
condition for defense companies were being enlisted in nearly
every county and community, and so prompt was the re¬
sponse to the Governor’s call that on the 19th the Adjutant-
General, Col. John F. Hoke, directed Colonel Hill, in com¬
mand of the camp, to organize the first regiment, the service
of which was to be for six months, and its destination the
seat of war in Virginia. The companies finally assigned to
this regiment were :

Co. A, Edgecombe Guards, Capt. John L. Bridgers.

Co. B, Hornet’s Nest Rifles, Capt. Lewis S. Williams.

Co. C, Charlotte Grays, Capt. E. A. Ross.

Co. D, Orange Light Infantry, Capt. Richard J. Ashe.

Co. E, Buncombe Riflemen, Capt. W. W. McDowell.

Co. F, Lafayette Light Infantry, Capt. Jos. B. Starr.

Co. G, Burke Rifles, Capt. C. M. Avery.

Co. H, Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry, Capt.

Wright Huske.

Co. I, Enfield Blues, Capt. D. B. Bell.

Co. K, Southern Stars, Capt. W. J. Hoke.

Virtually a condition of war prevailed in North Carolina
from the middle of April, and President Lincoln recognized
it by extending to the ports of the State the blockade he had
proclaimed of the seceded states. The peaceful life of the
people — religious. God-fearing, and law-abiding — now gave
place to a hot and enthusiastic spirit of resistance. Without
experience in the trials, pains, sorrows, and disasters of
actual war, anxieties were repressed, and with pride and
blessings the women prepared the men for the front and
hastened them away. Uniforms, accoutrements, haversacks,
and equipments were utterly lacking and had to be impro¬
vised, and at once societies were formed to furnish such
articles as the women could make, and the whole State was

Virginia

supplied

April, 1861

Women at
work

602 NORTH CAROLINA STANDS WITH THE SOUTH

May 1, 1861

The

G-overnor’s

address

Troops to
Virginia

Convention

called

at work in one common patriotic endeavor. And so a fort¬
night passed rapidly, the State quivering with excitement
and carried away with the furore developed by the great and
unexpected events that had so suddenly precipitated the war.

When the Assembly met on May i, there was no differ¬
ence of opinion as to the duty of the State. In his message
the Governor said : “The outburst of indignation with
which the proclamation of the President has been received
by all the citizens of the State convinces me that I did not
mistake the people whose chief magistrate I am. The alac¬
rity with which they have sprung to arms is proof that long
years of peace and order have only made more dear to them
their rights and liberties and have not in the least impaired
their readiness and ability to defend them.”

He had been requested by the Confederate Secretary of
War to send troops to Virginia, although neither Virginia
nor North Carolina were as yet members of the Confeder¬
acy, and he had promised to do so. Accordingly, he urged
that a convention with unlimited powers should be called to
adopt an ordinance of secession ; that preparations should
be made for war; and that he be authorized to send troops
out of the State to the scene of operations in Virginia. The
Assembly was in full accord with the Governor. It first
authorized the dispatch of troops to Virginia, and the House
within two hours after it met passed a bill to call a con¬
vention. The vote was unanimous. The bill being hastily
carried to the Senate, that body within three hours likewise
passed it ; but here there were three voices in dissent —
L. 0. Sharpe, Jonathan Worth, and Josiah Turner objected
that there was undue haste, and they likewise objected to a
convention with power to adopt secession without submitting
the matter to the people, preferring to follow the example
of Virginia.

The convention was to be composed of 120 members ap¬
portioned among the counties as the members of the House
of Commons were. The election of delegates was to be held
on the 13th of May, and the convention was to meet at
Raleigh on May 20.

DEFENSE MEASURES

603

Having provided for the withdrawal of the State from
the Union, the Assembly at once turned its attention to war
measures. Agreeably to the recommendations of the Gov¬
ernor the arsenal at Fayetteville was directed to be equipped
as an arsenal of construction to manufacture arms and
munitions of war. The health of Governor Ellis being pre¬
carious, a military board of three members was established,
to be appointed by the Governor and to advise with him
relative to appointments and about naval and military mat¬
ters. The Governor appointed on this board Warren Win¬
slow, Col. J. A. Bradford, who had recently been a U. S.
Artillery officer in command of the Fayetteville arsenal,
and Haywood W. Guion, a thorough business man, then
the president of the Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford
Railroad Company.

To provide for defense the Governor was authorized to
enlist a force of ten thousand State troops to serve during
the war, all of whose officers were to be appointed by the
Governor. These State troops were to consist of one regi¬
ment of artillery and engineers, one regiment of cavalry, and
eight regiments of infantry. In addition to these troops
for the war, the Governor was empowered to call for 20,000
volunteers to serve for twelve months, to be increased if
need be to 50,000. These volunteers were to choose their
own company officers, who in turn were to elect their field
officers, but the general officers were to be appointed by the
Governor. To meet the expenses of these troops an issue
of treasury notes and of bonds amounting to five million
dollars was authorized ; and, because of public conditions,
it was enacted that no court should give judgment on notes
and pecuniary obligations except for interest, and no execu¬
tion should be issued to collect debts until otherwise pro¬
vided. The Assembly also passed an act defining treason
and punishing rebellion and inciting slaves to rise. It

omitted from all oaths the words “United States” ; author-

ized elections to be held in camps by the officers ; and con¬
ferred on the Governor power to establish and to take pos¬
session of all telegraph lines, to conduct mail service, to
appoint a commissioner to represent the State in the Con-

War meas¬
ures

10,000 State
troops

50,000 vol¬
unteers

Stay law

Powers con¬
ferred on
Governor

604 NORTH CAROLINA STANDS WITH THE SOUTH

Officers of

United

States

Resigned

officers

Not a war
of Congress

gress at Montgomery, Thomas L. Clingman being selected ;
to provide subsistence for the troops of other states passing
through North Carolina, and to erect batteries at the inlets
of Hatteras and Ocracoke, and also to commission such
officers as might resign from the service of the United
States. Having made ample provision for the present, the
Assembly, after a session of thirteen days, adjourned to
meet again on the 25th of June.

In considering the possibility of hostilities Southern
men had cast an eye to the experienced officers of the United
States service appointed from the South. Many of these
officers were distinguished in their professions and de¬
votedly attached to their flag and country. It was a severe
trial of their devotion to duty to abandon their positions
and sever the ties of a lifetime and take service in an antag¬
onistic organization. But when the hour for determination
came nearly all the officers in each service appointed from
North Carolina retired from their positions and cast their
lot with North Carolina. Among the army officers who
did so were Majors T. H. Holmes and James G. Martin,
Captains R. C. Gatlin, Gabriel J. Rains, and Robert Ran¬
som, and Lieutenants G. B. Anderson, W. D. Pender, R. H.
Riddick, J. P. Jones, Sol Williams, Alexander McRae, L. S.
Baker, Reuben Campbell, Gabriel H. Hill, S. D. Ramseur
and R. C. Hill.

Among the navy officers who resigned were Commanders
John Manning and William T. Muse, and Lieutenants James
I. Waddell, J. T. Cook, W. E. Bordinot, J. N. Maffitt and
P. U. Murphy, while Lieutenant Crossan had resigned a
little earlier. The students at West Point and at Annapolis
likewise resigned.

Some adverse comment was made at the North on the
resignation of Southern men from the army and their taking
up arms for the South in April, 1861 ; but it should be

borne in mind that the war was not begun by the war¬
making power of the Union — that it was not the action of

Congress that instituted it, that it was not a war of their

government ; but it was arranged by the Executive in co¬
operation with the governors of some of the Northern

THE STATE’S LITTLE NAVY

605

states. And, again, it was their homes and firesides that
were to be desolated, and they answered the call of their
people and of their State, their allegiance to their State and
homes being held superior to all other obligations. More¬
over, Lee and others had been taught at West Point that
“the states then may wholly withdraw from the Union.”
“The secession of a state from the Union depends on the
will of the people of such state.”

As quickly as possible Governor Ellis bought at Norfolk
two small steamers and chartered another, and put in com¬
mission a little fleet to operate along the coast and in the
sounds. He called to his aid on his staff L. O’B. Branch
as quartermaster general and Colonel William Johnston as
commissary general and Dr. Charles Johnson as surgeon
general. Dr. Johnson at once began the selection and ap¬
pointment of surgeons and assistant surgeons for the regi¬
ments. As soon as possible a general hospital was estab¬
lished for the troops at Raleigh, and the supervision was
entrusted to the eminent Dr. Burke Haywood as surgeon in
charge.

On the nth of May the First Regiment organized and
elected for field officers D. H. Hill, Colonel ; C. C. Lee,
Lieutenant-Colonel; and J. H. Lane, Major. Both Hill and
Lee were graduates of West Point, and Lane was a gradu¬
ate of the Virginia Military Institute, and all were accom¬
plished professors connected with the North Carolina Mil¬
itary Institute. The soldiers in going to the field proposed
to be under the guidance of the very best officers, and all
of these attained high distinction during the war. On the
1 8th of May Colonel Hill and the two Fayetteville com¬
panies and the Southern Stars arrived at Richmond, where
three days later the other companies joined the camp at
Howard’s Grove. The regiment was received with much
enthusiasm at Richmond, and, being well drilled and
equipped, it merited the high encomiums so lavishly be¬
stowed upon it.

Under the authority of the act of May 8 the Governor
began the organization of the State troops, or three-year
men, while facilitating the completion of other regiments of

Rawle : View
of the Con¬
stitution,
1825, pp.
288-300

Navy and
staff

The First
Regiment

State troops

6o6 NORTH CAROLINA STANDS WITH THE SOUTH

twelve-months men. Hundreds of companies were being
enlisted and put under active men in various parts of the
State, and these formed the nucleus both of the State troops
and of the volunteer regiments. D. H. Hill had been com¬
missioned Colonel in April. On May 8 C. C. Tew, then
in command of Fort Macon, was commissioned Colonel, as
were also Robert Ransom, M. S. Stokes and George B. An¬
derson, all of the Old Army, and D. K. McRae. Colonel
Ransom was assigned to the cavalry. On May 16 com¬
missions as Colonels were issued to Gaston Meares, J. A. J.
Bradford, Reuben Campbell, also military men, and to
Charles F. Fisher, who was already raising a regiment for
the service. Camps were established near Raleigh, at Com¬
pany Shops, at Warrenton, at Ridgeway, at Garysburg,
and at Halifax. Col. John F. Hoke was the efficient Adju¬
tant General of the State. The Legislature had provided
specially for an adjutant general of the “ State Troops,”
and had directed that these regiments should be numbered
from one up, while the regiments of volunteers, of whom
before the end of May io, many had been accepted by the
Governor, were being numbered in the same way. Com¬
panies were being drilled at Garysburg and other camps of
instruction and regiments were departing for the seat of
war in Virginia. The Second Regiment of Volunteers or¬
ganized at Garysburg on May 15, electing Sol Williams,
a graduate of West Point, Colonel; and on the 22d it moved
on to Richmond, and then to Sewells Point near Norfolk.
On the 16th the Third Regiment of Volunteers elected as
its Colonel, W. D. Pender, also a West Point graduate, who
had been in command of the camp of instruction, and it
departed for Suffolk, and later was stationed at Newport
News. Early in Tune the Fourth Volunteers organized at
Garysburg, electing Junius Daniel, likewise of West Point,
Colonel, and it was stationed at Suffolk. Other regiments
of volunteers were forming, and the officers appointed for
the ten regiments of State Troops were actively enlisting
men for the war, drilling companies at camps of instruc¬
tion, and preparing men for the front.

COAST DEFENSES

607

All along- the coast there was incessant activity, erecting
batteries, perfecting defenses, mounting guns, getting in
ammunition, and making preparations for battle. The value
of the seacoast sand for the erection of batteries was at once
discerned and that material was quickly utilized. To com¬
mand New Inlet, Capt. C. P. Bolles erected a two-gun bat¬
tery at Confederate Point, the first step toward those mag¬
nificent fortifications which subsequently became famous as
Fort Fisher. As soon as completed Battery Bolles was
occupied by the Wilmington Light Infantry under Captain
DeRosset. Captain Winder was erecting batteries near
Fort Caswell ; Captain Guion had charge of the engineering
at Fort Macon, and to General Walter Gwynn, an experi¬
enced engineer, was committed the defenses of the northeast.
To guard the entrance into the sounds forts were begun at
Ocracoke and Hatteras inlets, and companies were hurry¬
ing to occupy these points. At the forts quite a number
of old cannon had been found, others had been procured
from Charleston, and some cast at Richmond had been pur¬
chased by the State. The work of defense was in rapid
progress. At Fort Caswell were 500 troops as a garrison ;
at Fort Johnson, 280; at Battery Bolles, 60; and at Rad-
cliffe Battery, 60. Fort Macon was in good condition and
well garrisoned; originally under command of Colonel Tew,
on June 1 Major DeRosset became its commander. At
Hatteras 16 cannon were in position, while only one was
then mounted at Ocracoke, but 14 were on the way to that
point. At Fort Point, below New Bern, 46 were mounted
and ready.

Such were the conditions when the canvass was being
made to choose delegates to the Convention. As the elec¬
tion was to be held on the thirteenth of May, the time was
short, and there was but little opportunity for canvassing.
Virginia was threatened from beyond the mountains, as well
as from the Potomac and by way of Fortress Monroe, and
her troops were in the field under the command of General
R. E. Lee. It was considered that although her ordinance
was yet to be ratified at the polls, Virginia had already se¬
ceded. That North Carolina would do likewise no one

Coast de¬
fense

The canvass

6o8 NORTH CAROLINA STANDS WITH THE SOUTH

Union men

Worth’s

views

Lincoln and
the Union
men

doubted. No public men now raised their voices against
separation. There was general denunciation of President
Lincoln and of the Republicans, yet it was among those
who had been Unionists that indignation was most pro¬
nounced. It was considered that the administration had
precipitated hostilities, that it had knocked the props from
under the Unionists, that it had rushed Virginia, North
Carolina, Tennessee, and the border states, into secession,
and while the Secessionists loudly denounced the inaugura¬
tion of war, to the Unionists it was gall and wormwood.
No one could better voice their sentiments than Jonathan
Worth, of Quaker parentage, not a lover of slavery, never
an advocate of extreme Southern views, a representative
man of the extensive central region where the people had
been devoted to the Union. Writing on the day of the
election, he said: “Slavery thus far has been only a pretext
for this sectional contest. The multitude North and South
regard it as the cause. It is true that I believe Lincoln
had no right to call out the militia, make war and blockade
the ports when Congress, with full knowledge of the ex¬
isting state of rebellion had just refused to pass the Force
Bill; but conceding to him the right, if reunion was his ob¬
ject, he showed want of common sense in adopting the
course he did. If the restoration of the Union was his
object, which I believe was his object, then he is a fool. If
his purpose was to drive off all the slave states in order to
make war on them and annihilate slavery, then he is a devil,
and in the latter supposition, I could fight with a hearty
good will/’

To Philadelphia he wrote: “I have just returned from
Raleigh. The State regards the impending war as a sec¬
tional one and all seem determined to repel it. A large
majority up to the issuing of Lincoln’s proclamation were
firm for the Union. Some of us would have made any
sacrifice to preserve it. Lincoln prostrated us. He could
have devised no scheme more effectual than the one he has
pursued to overthrow the friends of the Union here . . .

Whatever may be his purpose, any sensible man could fore¬
see and this act of his will prove, that he is the most efficient

FEELING AGAINST LINCOLN

609

auxiliary of the Secessionists. I have been the most per¬
severing and determined public man in my State to pre¬
serve the Union — the last to abandon the hope. . . .

Lincoln has made us a unit to resist until we repel our
invaders or die.”

Again he wrote, concerning President Lincoln: “All of
us who had stood by the Union felt that he had abandoned
us, and surrendered us to the tender mercies of democracy
and the devil. . . . All sensible men knew it would be the
effect. We are still at a loss to determine whether he is an
old goose, thinking to preserve the Union by his course, or
whether he became apprehensive that the Union men were
about to gain strength enough in the South to stay secession,
and he desired to drive us all into rebellion in order to make
a crusade against slavery and desolate our section. In the
former case he is a fool — in the latter, a devil. He could
have adopted no policy so effectual to destroy the Union.”
And Worth issued an address to the people of his county
that had a wide circulation, embracing the above ideas,
which became the basis of the action of the Union men.

And to Boston he wrote : “Congress having refused to
pass the Force Bill, we felt that the President could aban¬
don Sumter and Pickens without any sacrifice of his prin¬
ciples, but in conformity with the legislative will. . . .

He (Lincoln) did more than all the Secessionists to break
up the Union. . . . Reason has left. Rage controls
both sections. God save the country !”

A candidate for the Convention antagonizing State action
would have received but few, if any, votes in any county.
But while there was this agreement on the great important
point, there were many shades of opinion. Generally the
several counties chose as delegates those who had been most
esteemed by them — the Whig counties electing Union men,
and the Democratic counties States’ Rights men. In Wake
there was a great contest. George W. Mordecai and Sen¬
ator Bragg were supported by the Democrats, and Badger,
Kemp Battle, and W. W. Holden bv the Unionists. At a
meeting, chiefly of the Union element, on the 19th of April,
Holden had offered resolutions that were adopted — “That
39

Correspon¬
dence of
Jonathan
Worth, I,
147

6io NORTH CAROLINA STANDS WITH THE SOUTH

Holden

Sprunt’s
Monographs,
I, 9

Edwards

Schenck :

Convention

Sketches

we will unite as one man to defend our rights and liberties
at all hazards and to the last extremity." And on the 24th
he declared in the Standard, “We must fight. ‘God and
our native land.’ ” And such was the position of his assso-
ciates. At the election on a full vote, Badger and Battle
were elected by a hundred majority, but Holden received
only five votes more than Mordecai — a change of three
would have beaten him. Similarly, the election was close
in some other counties. But notwithstanding these divi¬
sions, those voted for were men of prominence and many of
the best men in the State were chosen.

The Convention

When the Convention met it was not a revolutionary body,
but rather an assemblage of the strongest representatives of
the highest intelligence of the State. The proportion of
college bred men in it was unusually large. Of the 147
who first and last were members and officers no less than 83
had been to college, while there were sixteen physicians in
the membership. Chief Justice Ruffin, Judges Badger, Per¬
son, Howard, Osborne and Biggs were among the jurists
of the body ; Graham, Badger, Brown, Reid, Biggs had
been Senators ; Edwards, Winslow, Venable, Shaw, Ashe,
Craige, Gilmer, Rayner, had been men of distinguished
careers in Congress. Among the others were many who
likewise brought fine intelligence and a lofty patriotism to
the discharge of their duties, some of whom attained high
distinction later on the field of battle or in civil life. Weldon
Edwards, the oldest member, was a prince among Demo¬
crats. About seventy-three years of age, he, like several
other members, had been a delegate to the convention of
1835, the associate of Nat Macon. Full of animation and
spirit, he carried himself erect and was always richly clad,
carrying a cane for ornament rather than support. A de¬
lightful companion, courtly in his manners, loving his grasses
and his grains, his horses and cattle, his discourse won the
hearts of all. It was his personal popularity that brought
him the suffrage of the Disunionists for president of the
Convention.

OUTSTANDING MEN

611

William A. Graham was at the zenith of his mature
powers. Full of honors and illustrious, his prestige was
great, arid leadership was accorded him by the former Union
men of the Convention. He gave out no uncertain sound in
the new conditions of the day, but declared that the crisis
of war had come and that the gage of battle must be ac¬
cepted. The handsomest man in the Convention, tall, erect,
majestic, severely dignified in manner, he was the embodi¬
ment of conservatism and prudence.

Judge Badger was a rigid partisan, and even his fervid
patriotism did not obliterate his prejudice against his
former political opponents. He had an exuberance of spirits
that ever distinguished him. He was never depressed, and
when misfortune befell the cause he cited some parallel in
history or related some humorous anecdote to comfort those
about him. Conscious of his great powers, he determined
his own course, and supported measures that commended
themselves to his judgment, regardless of the opinions of
others. As a speaker he was distinguished. It seemed as if
he knew everything that was beautiful and enchanting and
eloquent and could blend them at will into harmony, ex¬
citing the wonder and admiration of all who heard him ;
but his oratory, while ornate, no longer had the fire and
fervor of youth.

Judge Ruffin’s age and dignity and the prestige of his dis¬
tinguished career as Chief Justice invested him with a rev¬
erence above all others. Like Badger, he spoke often. His
style of declamation was rapid and vehement, his gesticu¬
lation angular and without regard to grace, and with a
stamp of his foot he sealed the conclusion of his inexorable
logic. His patriotism and purity were unquestioned, and
men hesitated to differ from his views.

Perhaps Bedford Brown was the next most notable mem¬
ber. A personal friend of President Jackson, he had vio¬
lently opposed nullification in 1833, and in 1861 he had been
the leader in the State Senate of those who rejected seces¬
sion as the remedy for the admitted evils of the times. But
now that the fight was on, he cried aloud, “Lay on, McDuff.”
Ill-favored, he was pompous in his dignity, but none equaled

Graham

Badger

Ruffin

Brown

612 NORTH CAROLINA STANDS WITH THE SOUTH

Holclen

Battle, N. C.
Review, May
1, 1911

him in politeness and courtesy. Tall, spare, and always
elegantly clad, he moved with a firm step and spoke fre¬
quently, using deliberation, emphasis, and a careful selec¬
tion of phrases.

A unique figure was W. W. Holden. Originally a
Whig editor, he had become the leading Democratic editor,
and had been very aggressive and intemperate in his de¬
nunciation of the Whigs, and especially disagreeable to
Governor Graham and the others of his old home, Hills¬
boro. Of late he had separated himself from the straight
Democrats, and now was cooperating with those who for
years had been the targets of his envenomed shafts. As
editor of the Standard , his power was fully appreciated by
his new allies, and he exerted great influence among them.
And so it happened that the windings of political action at
length brought about the strange but significant spectacle
of the highminded and illustrious Graham presiding at a
caucus of Union men held in the parlor of Mr. Holden,
who had been so caustic and denunciatory against him, and
who had so often vehemently villified him.

The meeting1

On the morning of Monday, May 20, the members of the
Convention began to assemble in the hall of the House of
Commons, which was crowded with spectators, and at eleven
o’clock, at the instance of Judge Biggs, they produced their
credentials, and, a quorum being present, Mr. Leake, of
Richmond, nominated Weldon N. Edwards for president of
the body, while Judge Badger presented the name of Wil¬
liam A. Graham, who had been agreed on bv a caucus of the
Union men. Mr. Edwards received 65 votes, and Mr.
Graham 48.

As soon as the president had taken his seat Mr. Badger
presented an ordinance of separation, but the body had
not yet organized, a secretary not having been chosen. Col.
Walter L. Steele was elected principal secretary; I.. C.
Edwards of Granville, who was not a Secessionist, was
elected assistant secretary; James Page of Randolph, W. R.
Lovell of Surry, and John C. Moore of Wake, none Seces-

DRIFTING TOWARD SECESSION

613

sionists, were elected doorkeepers. Before any other busi¬
ness was done Rev. J. W. Tucker, of the Methodist Church,
offered a prayer, invoking the guidance of the Almighty.
Then the president laid before the body a- communication
from Franklin J. Moses, a commissioner of the State of
South Carolina, who on invitation addressed the Convention.
This address was so in consonance with the spirit of the
hour that on the next morning the Convention unanimously
adopted resolutions expressing its gratification at the energy
and ability with which the commissioner had executed his
trust.

Walter F. Leak, now advanced in years, a man of large
experience and the owner of many slaves, deeply imbued
with the spirit that prevailed in South Carolina, proposed,
“Three cheers for South Carolina, ‘the noblest Roman of
them all’ ” ; and many of the Convention went wild in
hurrahs.

But notwithstanding this incident the feeling and senti¬
ment of the members were not in entire harmony. The
Union men were ready, if need be, to fight the North, but
they did not love South Carolina, nor did they choose to
unite their fortunes with the Secession Democrats of the
cotton states. Indeed, Holden, who now had made per¬
sonal peace with Graham, as well as Badger, was already
asserting that Jeff Davis had brought on the war, and the
Southern Democrats were responsible for the bloodshed.

Badger’s ordinance

Mr. Badger’s proposed ordinance recited the secession
of some of the states and the formation of the Confederate
States, and that North Carolina had abstained from separat¬
ing from the Union, and that President Lincoln had called
upon the states to furnish large bodies of troops under the
false pretense of executing the laws, there being no law
of Congress authorizing it, and no constitutional right, and,
that it was the fixed purpose of the government and people
of the non-slaveholding states to wage war on the seceded
states, and it continued : “Since his accession to power the
whole conduct of said Lincoln has been marked by a suc-

Convention
Journal, 23

614 NORTH CAROLINA STANDS WITH THE SOUTH

Craige’ s
ordinance

cession of false, disingenuous,. and treacherous acts and dec¬
larations, proving incontestably that he is void of faith and
honor; and whereas, in all his wicked and diabolical pur¬
poses he is encouraged by the great body of the people of
the nonslaveholding states; therefore this convention hereby
declares all connection of government between this State and
the United States of America dissolved and abrogated, and
this State to be a free, sovereign, and independent State,
and we will to the last extremity maintain, defend, and up¬
hold this declaration.”

The statements and declarations contained in this paper
found a ready response in every heart, save, perhaps, they
were not sufficiently emphatic in the denunciation of Mr.
Lincoln and the Republican administration. But, as it
was based merely on the natural right of revolution, it was
not satisfactory to the States’ Rights leaders, who held that
a state, by virtue of its sovereignty, had a legal right to re¬
peal and annul its former action in joining the Union. In¬
deed, preliminary to the meeting of the Convention, an ordi¬
nance of secession to be adopted had received consideration.
South Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia had repealed the or¬
dinances by which those states had ratified the Federal Con¬
stitution, and it was deemed expedient that the North Caro¬
lina ordinance should be of the same character, thus asserting
the legal right of secession. Such a paper had been drawn at
Rocky Point, being a virtual copy of the Georgia ordinance,
and without doubt this draft was the subject of conference
between Governor Ellis and other leaders', and, being agreed
on, the distinction of offering it was accorded to Burton
Craige, a delegate from Governor Ellis’s home county.

Judge Badger’s proposition being before the Convention,
Mr. Craige moved to strike out and to substitute the
following:

An Ordinance Dissolving the Union between the State of

North Carolina and the Other States United with Her

UNDER THE COMPACT GOVERNMENT ENTITLED “THE CONSTI¬
TUTION of the United States.”

We, the people of the iState of North Carolina, in convention
assembled, do declare and ordain, and. it is hereby declared and
ordained, that the ordinance adopted by the State of North Caro¬
lina in the convention of 1789, whereby the Constitution of the

RUFFIN PROPOSES SEPARATION

615

United States was ratified and adopted, and also all acts and
parts of acts of the General Assembly ratifying and adopting
amendments to the said Constitution are hereby repealed, re¬
scinded, and abrogated.

We do further declare and ordain that the union now sub¬
sisting between the State of North Carolina and the other States
under the title of “The United States of America” is hereby dis¬
solved, and the State of North Carolina is in full possession and
exercise of all those rights of sovereignty which belong and ap¬
pertain to a free and independent state.*

Judge Ruffin, who differed with his party friends since
he did not believe in the right of secession, came forward
in opposition, and moved that the subject lie on the table
and that a committee he appointed to prepare an “ordinance
of separation.” But this did not accord with the purpose of
the Secessionists, and the motion was not concurred in, and,
by a vote of 72 to 40, the Convention proceeded to strike
out the Badger proposition, with a view to substituting that
of Mr. Craige. Judge Ruffin then made another effort to
prevent the Convention from committing itself to States’
Rights secession, proposing that the Craige proposition
should be amended by omitting the words that repealed the
ordinance of 1789. But the Convention could not be
swerved from its purpose, and the proposition of that
honored Democrat shared the same fate as that of the great
and illustrious leader of the Whig element of the Conven¬
tion. Mr. Ashe, probably the leading Secessionist in the
body, called for the yeas and nays, and the vote cast was
49 to 66, the members dividing substantially as in the elec¬
tion of the presiding officer. Defeated in these preliminary
votes, those who opposed the doctrine of secession now
acquiesced. In particular the two leaders, Governor Graham
and Judge Ruffin, announced that they would make no
further opposition; but Judge Badger, discomfited, indig¬
nant, and hurt, withdrew from the hall.

The galleries and lobbies were packed with interested
spectators, the city was filled with soldiers and the local
companies were parading. The Ellis battery with their
brass pieces stood at the west portico of the Capitol ready

*Governor Ellis, in his diary, noted that he handed this paper to Mr. Craige
(Hamilton, p. 29 ^ It was the same as that drafted at Rocky Point, the
Georgia ordinance, with a slight change.

Ruffin

The scene

616 NORTH CAROLINA STANDS WITH THE SOUTH

Unanimous

vote

State flag

to fire a salute. All knew that an ordinance of separation
would be adopted, and with intense enthusiasm the announce¬
ment was awaited.

Finally, about six o’clock in the afternoon the vote was
taken — by yeas and nays — and every member present voted
for the ordinance. The announcement created the wildest
enthusiasm. The military bands struck up, the church
bells pealed, and the battery thundered its salute, while the
vast crowd shouted their hurrahs. Within the hall business
was suspended, and on the floor and in the galleries there
was long-continued applause.

“One hundred guns were fired as a salute, then ten guns
for each state in the Confederacy, then the whole battery
fired a salute, with nine cheers for North Carolina.” It
was then resolved that the Ordinance of Secession should
be enrolled on parchment and should be signed in open
session on the morrow.

Later, a State flag was adopted. It had a red field with a
white star in the center. Above the star, “May 20, 1775,”
below it “May 20, 1861.” There were two bars of equal
width, the upper blue, the lower white.

Before the flag had been adopted by the Confederacy
banners of varying devices were used. One hoisted in
Raleigh contained 15 stars. Major Orrin R. Smith, who
had served in the Mexican War in the company raised at
Hillsboro, has stated that he devised a Confederate flag and
hoisted it at Louisburg, and he submitted his design to the
authorities at Montgomery, who adopted' it; this, it is said,
being the first Confederate flag. One of the earliest flags
of that design was presented to the Franklin Rifles by the
ladies of Louisburg, April 27, 1861. It is now preserved
in the Hall of History.

The original Confederate flag was the Stars and Bars,
but late in 1862, a white flag with one blue star in the center
was adopted, and then in 1863, the “battle flag” supplanted
the stars for the Union ; and still later a red perpendicular
stripe crossed the end of the field.

BUCHANAN’S POSITION

617

The basis of action

. *

The action of North Carolina was based on citizenship
and ultimate allegiance. The judicious Henry G. Connor,
who had adorned the judicial annals of the State, in a
memorable address on George Davis said: “Standing here
today and looking backward over the events of half a cen¬
tury, and again looking backward over the events of the
preceding century of North Carolina history, beginning
with the action of the men of the lower Cape Fear, when
they declared ‘that the cause of Boston town was the cause
of all/ and of the men of Mecklenburg, and through all the
years of loyal service to the Union of the states, responding
to every constitutional obligation, with absolute loyalty to
the present and confidence in the future, it is impossible to
see how, without foreswearing her past, renouncing her
noblest traditions, doing violence to her honor, if she had
any regard for her glory, or for the past, or for the ages
to come, North Carolina could have done otherwise. If the
result had been foreseen with absolute certainty, yet North
Carolina must have refused to make war upon Virginia,
South Carolina and the other states.”

Mr. Lincoln’s action

The consequences of beginning the war were so terrible
that a particular consideration of its inception comes within
the scope of historical investigation. Mr. Buchanan had
declared that he would not imbrue his hands in the blood
of his fellow-citizens. In a message to Congress he held
there was no constitutional power to coerce a state. Many
of the leading men held the same creed. Two years later
Justice Grier in the Supreme Court said the same. When
Mr. Lincoln succeeded to the Presidency the cotton states
had already withdrawn from the Union, but the quietude
was unbroken. Congress, the depository of the powers con¬
ferred on the government, made no denial. When Senators
withdrew there were no protests. The states in peace con¬
ference made no protest. They proposed a measure to per¬
petuate the Union. Congress, acquiescing in the situation,

618 NORTH CAROLINA STANDS WITH THE SOUTH

Richardson,
VI, 26

proposed a constitutional amendment to quiet the appre¬
hensions of the slaveholding states and to open a pathway
for the return of the seceded states. Mr. Lincoln, himself,
had no objection to the proposed amendment. Possibly it
might have been adopted and the cause of differences be¬
tween the sections might disappear. Time was necessary.
Congress had paved the way. There was to be nothing done
to render its action inoperative. Such certainly was the will
and expectation of Congress in the plenitude of its ex¬
clusive power under the Constitution. Mr. Lincoln and his
Cabinet at first agreed on measures that would have been
in agreement with the will of Congress. But no sooner
had the special session of the Senate adjourned than Mr.
Lincoln changed his purpose and, despite the inclination of
a majority of his Cabinet, brought about such ‘“not unex¬
pected” conditions that the North was inflamed, and “a
public demand” created for war and the will of Congress
overridden. Backed by the nine Governors, he disregarded
the peaceful policy of Congress, rendered nugatory the
proposition for a constitutional amendment and, without any
constitutional sanction, brought on a calamitous war within
a month from the time he was inaugurated. Having planned
the war and inaugurated it unnecessarily, the holocaust of its
human victims constitutes a monument to his fame that will
remain as long as Americans value American history.

In passing it may be observed that Mr. Lincoln said in
his inaugural that by the Declaration of Independence the
separate colonies were brought into an indissoluble union :
and speaking of those engaged in secession, said : “They
invented an ingenious sophism. . . . The sophism it¬

self is that any state of the Union may consistently with
the National Constitution and therefore can, lawfully and
peacefully withdraw from the Union without the consent
of the LTnion or of any other state.”

But the right of a state to withdraw was asserted both
by New York and Virginia when adopting the Consti¬
tution. In every generation it had been asserted. Jeffer¬
son expressed the opinion, in 1798. New England began a

OPINION OF PUBLIC MEN

619

movement for it after the Louisiana Purchase — and again
during the war of 1812 — the great Philadelphia lawyer,
Rawle, U. S. District Attorney, so expounded the Constitu¬
tion in his important volume on the Constitution that was
a textbook at West Point. Calhoun even proposed to act
on it, as did New England statesmen at various times.
There was no '‘invention” in i860, only a recognition and
an assertion of a right claimed from the beginning and
not specifically denied in the Constitution.

CHAPTER XL

Out of the Union

Out of the Union. — To join the Confederacy. — Differences in
Convention. — Holden’s attitude. — The Union men organize. — The
Convention continues. — Amendments to the Constitution proposed.
— The enlistments. — The sea coast. — Colonel Hill moves to Big
Bethel. — The first battle. — Henry L. Wyatt of Edgecombe County
first soldier to fall. — His death. — Federal Major Winthrop killed.
— The Federals withdraw. — The chase. — In the Convention. — Wild
excitement over Bethel. — Impulse to enlistment. — The expense. —
State troops turned over to the Confederacy.— The Fayetteville
arsenal. — Delegates in Congress. — Appointments. — Kemp Battle
in opposition. — Meeting of Assembly postponed. — The Governor
absent, ill. — Speaker Clark acts. — Convention in recess. — Death
of Ellis. — Organization of the troops. — James G. Martin Adjutant
General. — The camps of instruction. — Location of troops. — Battle
of Manassas. — Stonewall Jackson. — Fisher’s regiment. — Its
charge. — Death of Fisher and Mangum. — Beauregard advances. —
The rout. — The Confederates at Vienna. — The joyful tidings. —
The grief. — Congress meets. — The President not sustained by
Congress.

Journal, 17

In the Con¬
federacy

The State being out of the Union, Mr. Meares, who was
an old Whig, proposed an ordinance to ratify the Constitu¬
tion of the Provisional Government of the Confederate
States. This, however, was not at all what Governor
Graham wished, and he moved to adjourn; but the Conven¬
tion stood against him substantially with respect to the char¬
acter of the ordinance. Nor was Mr. Dick content, unless
the matter of joining the Confederacy should be submitted
to a vote of the people. Virginia had submitted to the pop¬
ular vote the question of secession, but oblivious of that
formality, had arranged by treaty for cooperation with the
new Confederacy. Yet, although North Carolina had se¬
ceded, it was proposed that the people should determine
whether or not she should join the Southern Confederacy,
and the proposition received thirty-four votes, among them
Gilmer, Graham, W arren and Woodfin ; but by more than
two to one the motion failed. On its failure, opposition
ceased, and without dissent the Convention agreed to the
ordinance ratifying the Constitution of the Provisional

SECESSIONISTS JUBILANT

621

Government of the Confederacy. Apparently the day’s work
was done. The Secessionists had carried their point, and
the Unionists had, for weal or woe, been swept by the irre¬
sistible course of events into association with the cotton
states. But something yet remained: Mr. Venable pro¬
posed an ordinance to ratify the Constitution of the Con¬
federate States, adopted on March 1 1 ; but that was made
the special order for the morrow, and the session closed.

As the news spread throughout the State there was unre¬
strained jubilation. For a month the people had themselves
been out of the Union and in arms against the Lincoln gov¬
ernment; and now by a unanimous vote the Convention
had ratified their action, and, responding to the people’s will,
had by an act of sovereignty dissolved the legal connection
with the former Union, and had united the fortunes of
North Carolina with the Confederacy.

On the next day the five members who were absent and
did not vote on the ordinance of secession, stated that had
they been present they would have voted for it ; and the or¬
dinance having been enrolled on parchment, at eight o’clock
on the evening of the 21st it was signed with great and
solemn formality by every member of the Convention.

Early on the morning of the second day a further indi¬
cation of division among the members was observed. It
was necessary to have a printer for the body, and John
Spelman, the Public Printer, was not acceptable to all. Mr.
Badger, from Wake, presented the name of Frank I. Wilson,
of the Standard; Mr. Reid nominated Spelman; Mr. Foy
offered the name of John Y. Syme, editor of the Register.
Syme received a majority of the whole Convention and was
elected.

A proposition to present to President Davis certified
copies of the Ordinance of Secession and of the ordinance
ratifying ‘ the Provisional Constitution of the Confederate
States was agreed to without debate ; but when the ordinance
to ratify the permanent Constitution of the Confederate
States came up as unfinished business, after “some time
spent thereon,” it was referred to a committee. Two days
later a substitute was reported, and opposition to its im-

The ordi¬
nance signed

Divergence
as to the
Constitution

622

OUT OF THE UNION

The Consti¬
tution
adopted

The right to
secede

Journal,
74, 97

Holden’s

course

meditate adoption at once developed. At first, a certified
copy of the Constitution was directed to be obtained at
Montgomery and printed. Later, Governor Graham moved
that the consideration of the ordinance be postponed until
August; and from day to day, as the proposition came up
as “unfinished business,” the Convention adjourned. A
proposition by Mr. Dick to submit it to the popular vote,
however, failed by two to one. On June 6, Mr. Warren, by
birth a Northern man, a Whig and a Union man, who did
not believe in the right of secession, moved to amend the
ordinance by inserting a declaration of the right of secession,
but those who wished immediate ratification were generally
opposed to any amendment, and his motion received only
twenty-six votes. At Judge Ruffin’s instance, however, it
was agreed that the Constitution of the Confederate States
should be annexed as a part of the ordinance, and then
after the committee’s substitute had been adopted by 76 to 41,
the ordinance was passed unanimously.

On the next morning Mr. Ashe, who had voted against
the Warren resolution, moved to suspend the rules and pass
a resolution declaring the right of secession in the same
terms contained in the Warren proposition. The motion
failed, 49 to 53, Mr. Warren voting in the negative. Some
days later when this resolution came up again a motion to
lay on the table failed by a tie vote, 55 to 55, and the reso¬
lution, being displaced, never came to a vote.

From the very beginning of the Convention divisions
were pronounced — the Secessionists on one side and the
Union men on the other, the latter largely influenced by
Badger, Graham, and Holden. Indeed, Holden, who
wielded the power of a great newspaper, now became a
most important coadjutor of those who opposed the ex¬
treme Southern element. Adept in politics, he gave direc¬
tion to thought and evolved the ideas which became the
basis of their action. “If party is put before country, if
public affairs are mismanaged, if injustice is done, if
favorites without merit are singled out and honored, while
the honest and worthy are left in the ranks,” were the in¬
sidious suggestions the Standard rang the changes on. In

PARTY READJUSTMENTS

623

vain did the Register reply : “Those untrue statements are
made solely for the purpose of gratifying vindictive feelings
towards Governor Ellis.” Ellis himself, stricken by dis¬
ease, lay sick unto death. Earlier, the Assembly had in¬
stituted the Board of War, relieving him of details, and
Winslow and Guion, men of the first capacity, and Brad¬
ford, a military man of large experience, constituted the
Board. “There have been but two parties in the State,”
urged the Standard, “the conservatives and the precipitators,
or the Union men and the Secessionists. The precipitators,
we claim, are entitled to no immunity from the war, cer¬
tainly they are not entitled to pay for bringing it on.” And
thus, at the very birth of North Carolina as a member of
the Confederacy, were the lines drawn marking the division
between the factions in the Convention. “The old Union
element,” wrote Dr. Kemp P. Battle, who was a member
of that faction, “soon organized into a separate party, and
Governor Graham presided over the caucus, which was held
in Holden’s parlor.”

And at once it was proclaimed that “confidence had not
been accorded them,” that “partiality had found expression
in appointments to military command mostly of those who
were Secessionists, or those affiliated with them.” Indeed
the former Union men felt keenly the hard fortune which
gave the direction of affairs to those who had thought differ¬
ently from them. The course of events had been disastrous to
their hopes and at variance with their expectations. They
found the old Union gone, their country at war with the
Union, and themselves forced to cooperate with the Seces¬
sionists. If the Secessionists were jubilant, they were de¬
pressed. In exasperation Worth wrote: “Abolitionism
and Democracy, aided and instigated by the devil, have
forced everybody under one of their banners. . . . The

reluctance with which I have submitted to subjugation makes
me particularly obnoxious to low, mean Democrats about
home.” Similar feelings were doubtless the basis of the
action of the Unionists in the Convention. They recognized
the conditions that made it necessary to sever their con¬
nection with the Union and they were willing to fight for

Holden
organizes a
party

Battle, N. C.
Review,
May, 1911

The old
Whigs

624

OUT OF THE UNION

Hamilton, 33

The Conven¬
tion at work

Ad valorem

North Carolina and to die in defense of the South, but they
were not in sympathy with the Secessionists.

The divergence was a survival of former clashings. It
was seen on the hustings, at the election on May 13. It was
apparent when the Convention elected its presiding officer.
It was emphasized in the vote on the Ordinance of Secession
and by the proposition to submit the ratification of the Con¬
stitution of the Confederate States to the popular vote,
seeking to delay the inevitable union with the Southern
States to the last moment.

The differences could not be ignored. Judge Ruffin,
whose patriotism knew no turnings, no devious ways, un¬
successfully urged: “Let us no longer talk of being Se¬
cessionists from Northern tyranny and Union men for the
Southern Confederacy.” But his voice was unheeded, the
purpose to maintain an “opposition” was settled.

The purpose in calling the Convention having been to
withdraw from the Union, when that was accomplished, the
public thought that the Convention would speedily adjourn.
But its members were public men, deeply interested in gov¬
ernment and proudly conscious of the fact that they were
the depositories of the sovereignty of the people. There
were many things that might well be done and they had
the power to do them. The Constitution needed amend¬
ment and they proposed to amend it. Many of the dele¬
gates were versed in public affairs, practiced in debate, full
of information and ideas, versatile in accomplishments, and
ready to discuss at length any proposition that was made,
and there was no limit to the propositions.

On the second day of the session Judge Biggs offered
a resolution that all propositions to amend the Constitution
should be received and lie on the table, to be acted on at a
subsequent session ; but, instead, the Convention appointed a
committee to consider all propositions touching the subjects
of taxation and revenue.

An ordinance having been introduced with respect to tax¬
ation, Mr. Holden offered an amendment providing that
slaves should be taxed according to their value, thus pre¬
cipitating one of the political issues on which the people

FEARS OF SLAVE STAMPEDE

625

had divided in the last election. Eventually, an ordinance
was passed taxing lands and negroes at their value, and de¬
claring that the poll tax should be equal to the tax on three
hundred dollars’ worth of property.

In 1835 the political disabilities had been removed from
the Catholics, and now that some accessions were being
made to the few Hebrews who resided in the State, the
Constitution was again amended so as to remove their disa¬
bilities — a denial of “the divine authority of both the Old and
New Testaments,” being substituted for the former pro¬
vision of the Constitution, which made a denial of either
a cause of disability.

And not only did the Convention undertake the amend¬
ment of the organic law, but it took up questions relating to
the defense of the State, and financial conditions, and en¬
tered generally on matters of legislation.

Governor Ellis reported that 10,717 volunteers had been
accepted, but that the 10,000 three-year State Troops had
not been entirely raised. It was estimated that some 15,000
troops would be needed for State defense, and that the cost
would be over six and a half million dollars for the first
year. This information challenged the thoughtful atten¬
tion of the Convention and startled the delegates as to the
expense of war. The necessity of protecting the coast
was, however, apparent, and that subject early received
earnest consideration. Day after day it was considered in
secret session. “Indignation was expressed at the move¬
ment of troops by the Confederate Government. There
was apprehension that there would be a stampede of slaves
to the Federal army as soon as it appeared on the coast ;
but after much debate it was resolved that four regiments
should be raised from the eastern counties to protect that
region.”

The battle of Bethel

A Washington dispatch to the New York Times reads:
“I am at last enabled to send you a comprehensive an¬
nouncement of the government policy concerning offensive

movements. It is the intention of the President to crush
40

Military

affairs

Battle :
Personnel of
Convention,
127

626

OUT OF THE UNION

The Fii’st
Regiment

Hill’s dispo¬
sitions to re¬
pel attack

out this rebellion, if possible, before the 4th of July, 1861.
He has determined and ordered that, if it be practicable,
simultaneous attacks be made upon Norfolk, Richmond,
Harpers Ferry and Pensacola, and that a flotilla be sent
down the Mississippi River. There is to be no trifling.
Good citizens will be protected, but traitors will be hung
and their property be confiscated."

In accord with the above announcement steps were
taken to invade the Southern States. Fortress Monroe was
naturally one base of operations.

On May 24 the First Regiment was ordered from Rich¬
mond to Yorktown, in front of the Federal force, which,
under Gen. B. F. Butler, occupied Fortress Monroe and the
surrounding country. Colonel Magruder was in command
of that part of Virginia. A week later Colonel Hill pro¬
ceeded under orders to Big Bethel Church, some thirteen
miles from Yorktown and only eight miles distant from
Hampton. He was accompanied by Captain Randolph, of
the Virginia artillery, who carried with him four pieces of
artillery. The Federal troops had been foraging in that
region, and there had been some slight collisions. Being
exposed to attack and far to the front, Colonel Hill selected
a location for his camp with Back River in his front, and
began to construct an enclosed earthwork for protection.
Little Bethel Church was three miles distant towards the
enemy, and there Colonel Hill posted his advance pickets.
But small progress had been made with the earthwork when
there were observed signs of the proximity of a column of
the enemy. Colonel Magruder himself had arrived ; there
had been some movements, and at three o’clock on the morn¬
ing of the 10th of Tune, Colonel Hill, under orders, marched
some three miles to the front, when it was discovered that
the enemy in large force was approaching. Colonel Hill at
once retired to his fortifications and awaited the expected
assault. The road crossed the river on a bridge just at his
camp, but the stream was fordable elsewhere. Company
A was thrown out as skirmishers in a dense wood beyond
the river on the left, while Company G was similarly ad¬
vanced on the right. Still further in advance on the right

BATTLE OF BETHEL

627

were three Virginia companies under Colonel Stewart, with
some artillery of Randolph’s Battery. The remaining com¬
panies were stationed around the fortifications, Company B
being at the south face, commanding the approach by the
road. The first demonstration by the enemy was against
Hill’s right. It was promptly met by Company G and Com¬
pany B, whose fire was deliberate and effective. So posi¬
tively checked, the enemy seemed to hesitate. Simulta¬
neously with this movement, the enemy threw forward a
force against the left, but it was driven off and the river in¬
terfered with the direct assault. After a short interval the
attack on the right was renewed in greater force, and Colo¬
nel Magruder ordered Stewart to withdraw. The earth¬
work that had been occupied by Captain Brown of Ran¬
dolph’s artillery was seized by the Federal Zouaves, and
Company G thereupon likewise retired. At this critical
moment Colonel Hill called in Captain Bridgers with Com¬
pany A and directed him to cross over and retake the aban¬
doned battery. This Captain Bridgers accomplished, press¬
ing forward with determination, and driving the Zouaves
out, and Stewart now again advanced and occupied his
original position. Another demonstration was now made
against that point, but it was effectually met by Stewart’s
Virginians and by Company G, under Captain Avery. At
the front, however, was a house occupied bv Federal sharp¬
shooters, and at Colonel Hill’s suggestion Captain Bridgers
called for volunteers to burn it. Corporal George Wil¬
liams, and Privates Henry L. Wyatt, Thomas Fallon, John
Thorpe, and R. H. Bradley responded. At once they leaped
the works and went on their dangerous mission. They be¬
haved with great gallantry, said Colonel Hill in his report.

Wyatt the first to fall

On the way Wyatt was killed, and later the others were
recalled. Of Wyatt, Colonel Magruder said : “Too much
praise cannot be bestowed upon the heroic soldier whom we
lost. He was one of four who volunteered to set fire to a
house in our front which was thought to afford protection
to our enemies, and advancing between the two fires, he

The vol¬
unteers

628

OUT OF THE UNION

fell midway, pierced in the forehead by a musket ball.,,
Private Thorpe, afterwards Captain in the Forty-seventh
Regiment, thus described the death of the first soldier who
fell in battle during the war:* “When we got to the re¬
doubt I saw a Zouave regiment of the enemy in line of bat¬
tle about three hundred yards away. A few minutes later,
Colonel Hill, passing from our right, said : ‘Captain

Bridgers, can't you have that house burned?’ and immedi¬
ately went on. Captain Bridgers asked if five of the com¬
pany would volunteer to burn it, suggesting that one of
the number should be an officer. Corporal George T. Wil¬
liams said he would be the officer, and four others said they
would go. Matches and a hatchet were provided at once,
and a minute later the little party scrambled over the breast¬
works in the following order : George T. Williams, Thomas
Fallon, John H. Thorpe, Henry L. Wyatt, and R. H. Brad¬
ley. A volley was fired at us by a company, not from the
house, but from the road to our left. As we were well
drilled in skirmishing, all of us instantly dropped to the
ground, Wyatt mortally wounded. He never uttered a word
or a groan, but lay limp on his back, a clot of blood on his
forehead as large as a man’s fist. He was lying within
four feet of me.”

Death of Winthrop

Foiled on the right, the enemy now made a strong as¬
sault on the left. A column consisting of Vermont and
Massachusetts troops, under the direction of Major Win¬
throp of Butler’s staff, crossed the river and appeared at the
angle of the earthworks on the left, being the northeast
angle, where they were met by a withering fire from Com¬
panies B and C, as well as D. Colonel Magruder now hur¬
ried portions of Companies G and H from the other side to
assist the defense. The three field officers were present and
the men, said Colonel Hill, were in high glee, firing with
coolness and precision. The contest had lasted only twenty
minutes when Major Winthrop, while gallantly urging his

*In Virginia, near Fairfax Station, a soldier had previously been killed in
a chance encounter between some squads of troops.

RETREAT BECOMES FLIGHT

629

men forward, fell, pierced through the heart, and, confusion
ensuing, the Federal column precipitately withdrew. Com¬
pletely discouraged, the enemy made no further attack, but
General Pierce, in command, brought up two fresh New
York regiments, and under their protection removed the
dead and wounded. The retreat then began, the two New
York regiments covering the rear.

Captain Hoke with Company K now advanced into the
woods in front, and it being ascertained that the road was
clear, some hundred dragoons, under Captain Douthat, pur¬
sued the enemy as far as New Market Bridge, which they
tore up behind them. “The enemy,” said Colonel Hill,
“threw away canteens, haversacks, overcoats, etc., etc., etc. ;
even the dead were thrown from the wagons, and the pur¬
suit soon became a chase.”

The casualties on the side of the Confederates were one
killed and nine wounded: on the side of the Federals, as
officially reported, 18 killed, 53 wounded, and 5 missing.

In the Convention

On the 12th day of June the Convention, after considering
some political questions that sharply divided the old parties,
took up the resolution declaratory of the right of secession ;
but before a vote was reached the subject was displaced by
another equally irritating to many members — an ordinance
dissolving the Assembly and ordering a new election of
Representatives. It was a day when the clashing was bitter.
But the hour for the dinner recess arrived and the delegates
separated. At four o’clock the clashing was renewed with
intemperate zeal, but suddenly the President laid before the
body a message from the Governor, transmitting an official
dispatch from Colonel Hill giving the first news of the
battle of Bethel. It fell on most willing ears.

In his dispatch Colonel Hill said: “Eight hundred of my
regiment and 360 Virginians were engaged for five and a
half hours with four and a half regiments of the enemy at
Bethel Church, near Hampton. The enemy made three
distinct and well-sustained charges, but were repulsed with
heavy loss. Our cavalry pursued them for six miles, when

Federals

retire

The pursuit

Hill’s

dispatch

630

OUT OF THE UNION

Enthusiasm

General

rejoicing

their retreat became a total rout. I regret to report the
loss of one man killed (Private Henry L. Wyatt, of the
Edgecombe Guards) and several wounded. The loss of the
enemy by their own confession was 150, but it may be safely
estimated at 250. Our regiment behaved most gallantly.
Not a man shrunk from his post or showed symptoms of
fear. Our Heavenly Father has most wonderfully inter¬
posed to shield our heads in the day of battle. Unto Him
be all the praise for our success.”

The reading of the dispatch was received with unre¬
strained enthusiasm. The Convention broke up for about
an hour in frenzied tumult. The wildest excitement took
possession of all, and joy beamed from every countenance.

Governor Ellis, in his message, recommended that Colonel
Hill be promoted to the rank of brigadier general, and that
a full brigade be at once placed under his command, and he
added that the testimonials of approbation most grateful to
a soldier should be tendered to the brave officers and men.
Mr. Badger at once proposed the sincere and hearty thanks
of the Convention to the Governor for his message, and an
assurance that the Convention would cooperate in offering
any testimonial of honor and grateful acknowledgment to
that gallant commander and the officers and men under his
command that the Governor might recommend. On motion
of Mr. Spruill, who had been an old Union man, a committee
was appointed to illuminate the Capitol and grounds in
honor of the brilliant victory. And then the Convention
adjourned over until Friday, “tomorrow being the day set
apart by President Davis as a day of prayer and thanks¬
giving to Almighty God for His protection and blessings to
our people and nation.” Later, the Convention authorized
the First Regiment to inscribe “Bethel” on its banners.

Indeed, the effect of this first conflict on the field of battle
was electrical. The news was hailed with delight in every
part of the South. In Virginia and North Carolina it was the
signal for many demonstrations of enthusiasm. Every¬
where there was rejoicing. The Richmond Dispatch said:
“It is one of the most extraordinary victories in the annals
of war. Four thousand thoroughly drilled and equipped

BETHEL INSPIRES WAR SPIRIT

C31

troops routed and driven from the field by 1,100 men. They
have crowned the name of their country with imperishable
luster and made their own names immortal. With odds of
four to one against them, they have achieved a complete
victory, putting the enemy to inglorious flight and giving
to the world a brilliant pledge of the manner in which the
South can defend its firesides and altars." And such were
the sentiments that found expression in every paper and in
every hamlet in the South. Within the State the victory
was a source of intense pride. It fed the war spirit, and
inspired the soldiers in every camp. The regiments and
companies lying inactive in the forts and camps of instruc¬
tion longed for the glory of the Bethel regiment, and were
eager to go to the seat of war in Virginia. Volunteers
flocked to the standards, and a great impulse was given to
enlistments.

About the middle of June the Eighth, Tenth, and Seven¬
teenths Volunteers were organized from the companies
stationed for the protection of the forts. The Eighth
elected J. D. Radclifife, Colonel; the Tenth, Alfred Iverson;
the Seventeenth, G. B. Singletary; but several of the com¬
panies of the Seventeenth then enlisted for the war, and it
was some time before their places were filled.

The expense

The Convention, however, was appalled at the expense of
the war. At a secret session of the body Judge Ruffin and
Governor Graham were appointed a committee to confer
with President Davis about the troops North Carolina was
raising. The President said that the Confederate govern¬
ment would accept all of the ten regiments for the war, and
the four regiments of twelve-months men already in the
field, and two other regiments for twelve months ; and on the
27th of June it was determined to transfer these troops to
the Confederacy. The transfer was to be made on the 20th
of August, and recruiting for the ten regiments of State
troops was to cease on that day. All other volunteers were
to be discharged, and all officers not accepted by the Con¬
federacy were to be dropped. All staff officers and generals

New regi¬
ments

Transfer otf
troops

632

OUT OF THE UNION

Army and
Navy

Delegates
in Congress

were to be appointed by the Confederate authorities. Sim¬
ilarly, the naval forces were turned over to the Confederate
government, and the vessels not accepted were to be sold.
The Board of War was abolished and the defense of the
State was virtually conferred upon the Confederacy. But
it was provided that the General Assembly might repeal
so much of that ordinance as required the discharge of the
volunteers.

The arsenal

In pursuance of the design to make the arsenal at Fay¬
etteville one of construction, application was made to the
Confederate government for the installation there of a part
of the machinery that had been taken at Harpers Ferry,
and the machinery for the manufacture of rifles was re¬
moved to Fayetteville. Accompanying the machinery was
a considerable number of the operatives, making a valuable
addition to the residents of the town.

Now the arsenal and the forts were turned over to the
Confederacy, and passed under the command and direction
of the Confederate authorities.

Many members of the Assembly had resigned and elec¬
tions were held to supply the vacancies.

On the 1 8th of June the Convention elected delegates to
represent the State in the Confederate Congress, two dele¬
gates to represent the State at large and one for each
district. W. W. Avery, a former Democrat, and George
Davis, a former Whig, were chosen for the State, receiving
57 and 59 votes, while Bedford Brown and Henry W. Miller,
Union men, received 47 and 42. For the delegate to repre¬
sent the First District W. N. H. Smith, a Union-Whig, re¬
ceived 76, while Richard H. Smith of Halifax received 28
votes. For the Second District Thomas Ruffin of Wayne
received 59 and George G. Green of New Bern. 46 votes.
In the Third and Fourth districts Thomas D. McDowell and
Abraham W. Venable were elected over Walter F. Leak
and A. H. Arrington. In the Seventh District Burton
Craige was elected, but in the Fifth John M. Morehead was
chosen by a vote of 64 over John W. Cunningham, the

OFFICERS OF SUPERIOR MERIT

633

Democratic candidate. R. C. Puryear was elected in the
Sixth over Rufus L. Patterson, who was voted for by the
Democrats, and A. T. Davidson in the Mountain District
over N. W. Woodfin, the candidate of the Democrats.

An ordinance was adopted to appoint a board of claims
to settle, all accounts between the counties and others with
the State. Messrs. B. F. Moore, P. H. Winston, and S. F.
Phillips, all former Union men, but of the first capacity,
were selected, the delegates not dividing, however, on
party lines.

Appointments

On the next day, as if because of dissatisfaction with the
result of the Congressional election, at the instance of
Kemp P. Battle, there was adopted a resolution asking the
Governor for information with reference to the appointment
of military officers, which was doubtless intended as a par¬
tisan attack on Governor Ellis ; for these appointments do
not appear to have been a subject of proper adverse
criticism. Gen. Walter Gwynn, formerly of the United States
Army, an engineer of high reputation, had been assigned to
the defense of the Northeast; Gen. Theophilus Holmes, the
senior officer from North Carolina, who had resigned from
the United States Army, had been given command of the
Southeast. The colonels appointed to the eight regiments
of State Troops, then organized, were all men of military
experience, with the single exception of Col. Charles Fisher,
who had been one of the foremost men in the State to under¬
take the organization of a regiment, and he gave up the
presidency of the North Carolina Railroad to take the field.
It is to be remarked that it was a subject of just pride to
most North Carolinians that the regiments of State Troops,
whose officers were appointed by the Board of War, were
provided with officers of superior merit, attesting at once
the excellent judgment and the patriotism of the Board.
Nor was there any evidence of nepotism.

The Convention, by virtue of its representing the sover¬
eigns of the State, assumed power over the General As¬
sembly and while some proposed that the existing Legisla-

Superior

selections

634

OUT OF THE UNION

Speaker
Clark act¬
ing Gov¬
ernor

Death of
Ellis

ture should be dissolved and a new election held, others
thought differently but that the date of the meeting should
be postponed. The latter prevailed, and an ordinance was
passed postponing the meeting from June 25 to August 15.
The health of Governor Ellis had been failing, and, under
the pressure of arduous duties, his malady made rapid in¬
roads upon his constitution. He remained at his post of
duty until the last moment, but at length, under the direction
of his physician, he went to the Red Sulphur Springs in
Virginia; and on the morning of the 27th the Convention
sent a messenger to inform Hon. Henry T. Clark, Speaker
of the Senate, of the Governor’s absence from the State and
requested his presence in the city to assume the duties
which, under the Constitution, devolved on him, and the
Speaker entered upon the duties of governor, as Warren
Winslow had done some years earlier.

Towards the close of June the personnel of the Conven¬
tion had changed in some measure ; several members having
resigned to take positions in Congress or in the military
service. Fifteen members who voted for Edwards entered
the military service, and eight of those who voted for
Graham ; and four of the members who voted for Edwards
were elected to Congress, and one who voted for Graham.

Finally, on June 28, the Convention adjourned to meet
again on November 18.

Governor Ellis had fallen into ill health, but, pressed
by his exacting duties, he had delayed following the advice
of his medical advisers to husband his failing strength.
Toward the end of June, when already within the shadow
of death, he sought some benefit from the waters of the
Red Sulphur Springs in Virginia, where profoundly la¬
mented, he expired on the 7th of July. His remains were
borne through Virginia with military honors, and at Peters¬
burg they were formally committed to an escort of the
Ellis Light Artillery, who conveyed them to Raleigh. All
business was suspended and the city was draped in mourn¬
ing. The bells tolled, and half-hour guns fired throughout
the day. A civil and military cortege escorted the remains
first to the State Capitol, and then to the Mansion, where

1. Henry T. Clark
4. Thomas Bragg

3. John W. Ellis

James G. Martin
George Davis

MOVING MEN TO THE FRONT

635

religious services were held. The next morning, with an
escort civil, military, and Masonic, the body was interred
with solemn ceremonial in the family burying ground at
Holtsburg, in Davidson County.

Speaker Clark at once took the oath and entered upon
the discharge of the duties of governor. Governor Clark
was a planter, who had been called to preside over the
Senate because of his high character and personal worth
rather than because of distinguished talents. Candid, up¬
right, and of inflexible virtue, prudent and wise in his ad¬
ministration, he commanded the respect of all factions ; but
he had no great administrative ability, nor was he ambitious
of conducting the afifairs of state during the turmoils of a
great war. He made no changes in the personnel of the
staff, maintained the settled policy of the State, and mani¬
fested wisdom and patriotism in seeking to enlarge the
powers of General Martin, the efficient Adjutant General of
the State Troops, whose able administration justified every
confidence.

As men enlisted and companies were formed, the im¬
mense value of the North Carolina Railroad and of the
other railroads in affording adequate transportation came
to be realized. The benefits of immediate transportation
were incalculable.

To succeed Charles Fisher as President of the North
Carolina Railroad when, in 1861, he went to the front, Paul

C. Cameron was selected ; while William J. Hawkins was
President of the Raleigh & Gaston ; William S. Ashe of the
Wilmington & Weldon, and on his death in 1862, Stephen

D. Wallace. Those lines afforded not merely State trans¬
portation but the only means of transportation from the
south to the battlefield in Virginia. Thousands of soldiers,
their provisions, equipments and munitions had to be con¬
tinually transported. The issue depended on their efficiency.
There were no facilities to renew rolling stock, or railroad
iron, or any of the appliances necessary for repairs. The
difficulties strained every nerve. But Hawkins, Cameron
and Wallace managed to maintain efficient service ; and their
work was equal to that of a general in the field, and it was so

Clark,

Governor

636

OUT OF THE UNION

Regiments

march

Colonel Lee

Colonel

Pettigrew

admirably performed that their several administrations con¬
tinued all through the war and until years afterwards.

The work of forming regiments had continued with no
abatement of zeal. Towards the end of June the Fifth
Volunteers, Colonel McKinney, moved from Garysburg to
Virginia, and was stationed at Yorktown, near the Bethel
regiment. About the same time, the Sixth elected Stephen
Lee Colonel, and in July proceeded to Western Virginia
to reinforce General Garnet, who was hard pressed by
General Rosecrans. There Colonel Lee soon won the high
regard of all his superiors, being particularly distinguished
as a “most efficient officer.” Overcoming unusual difficul¬
ties, he pressed forward and occupied an important position
on Middle Mountain, and held that pass under trying
circumstances.

The Seventh Volunteers, composed of companies raised
in the northeastern counties, was assigned to the defense of
the seacoast. Its colonel was W. F. Martin, greatly beloved
in that region. The Eleventh Volunteers, W. W. Kirkland,
colonel, was, on the 17th of July, ordered to report to Beau¬
regard at Manassas, where it arrived on the next morning
and was assigned to Benhanrs Brigade. The Twelfth early
in July elected as its colonel J. Johnston Pettigrew, formerly
of Tyrrell County, who had won a distinguished name at the
University, but had removed to South Carolina. He had
been a student of military affairs and had seen service at
Charleston. It reported to General Holmes at Acquia
Creek, on the Potomac. The Thirteenth, about the same
date, elected for its colonel John F. Hoke, Adjutant Gen¬
eral of the State. Under his administration, all of the vol¬
unteer regiments had been organized, and his efficiencv led
to his election to command a regiment in the field. Until
the Legislature should appoint another Adjutant General,
the duties of the office were assigned by Governor Clark
to General Martin, a brother of Colonel Martin.

Early on the morning of the 2ist of July, Colonel Hoke’s
Regiment, beinp- then at Richmond, was ordered to Manas¬
sas, but was sidetracked en route, and so delayed that night
came on before it reached the field.

ARMY ORGANIZATIONS

63 7

The Fourteenth was organized at Weldon about the first
of July, electing W. J. Clarke Colonel. It joined General
Floyd, then in the region of the Gauley River in Western
Virginia, and saw hard service in that mountainous country.

Simultaneously with the organization of these volunteer
regiments, that of the three-year men was proceeding with
equal rapidity.

In July, the First State Troops, Colonel Stokes, joined
Holmes’s Brigade at Acquia Creek; the Second, Colonel
Tew, was stationed on the Potomac; the Third, Colonel
Meares, was assigned to Holmes's Brigade ; the Fourth,
Colonel George B. Anderson, was, about the end of the
month, ordered to Manassas, where Colonel Anderson later
became the post commander; the Fifth, Colonel McRae,
reported to General Longstreet at Manassas on the 19th
of July; the Sixth, Colonel Fisher, was the first of all to
perfect its organization. After acting as escort at the
funeral of Governor Ellis, it proceeded to Winchester and
was assigned to Bee’s Brigade.

The supply of arms secured from the arsenal at Fayette¬
ville had enabled the State to arm the men as soon as they
reported at camp, and all of these regiments were formed
from companies that had been long in camp and were well
drilled, as well as efficiently officered. Thus fortunately
from the first, the North Carolina troops took the field
under auspicious circumstances. Their officers were of
superlative merit; the men not only enthusiastic, but dis¬
ciplined soldiers.

Besides the infantry regiments, artillery and cavalry
companies were likewise being formed, and the State was
also preparing the seacoast defenses. It was a time of great
activity. To procure clothing, equipment, and a supply of
food and medicines taxed the energies of the staff, but no
state surpassed North Carolina in providing for her soldiers.

In addition to Camp Mangum at Raleigh, there were
camps of instruction near Warrenton and at Asheville,
Garysburg, and other points. As the regiments organized
and marched to the front, they were brigaded under the
command of general officers appointed by the Confederate

The State
troops

Disciplined

soldiers

638

OUT OF THE UNION

July 21,
1861

McDowell’s

army

The local
situation

authorities. Virginia was necessarily to be the battlefield,
and the points of threatened conflict were in Western Vir¬
ginia, on the Potomac, at Harpers Ferry and lower down,
and in the vicinity of Fortress Monroe. As we have seen,
most of the North Carolina regiments were stationed near
Norfolk and Yorktown, where columns of Federal troops
threatened the interior; but the most important clash of
arms was to occur elsewhere.

At Manassas

On Sunday, July 21, the greatest battle ever fought in the
New World — up to that time — took place near Manassas.
General Beauregard, with a considerable force, had for
some time occupied a strategic point on Bull Run, west of
the Potomac, near Washington, with advanced post at Cen-
treville and Fairfax Station. A fine Federal army was
held at Washington, under General McDowell. Further to
the west, another Federal army was posted at Harpers
Ferry, under General Patterson, in whose front was Gen¬
eral Johnston at Winchester. About the middle of July the
Federal government, being ready for offensive operations,
directed McDowell to advance, brush Beauregard aside,
and proceed to Richmond. McDowell’s army was so well
appointed, so superior in numbers and equipment, that it
was regarded a holiday movement for it to drive off the
Confederates and take the Confederate capital.

On the 1 6th of July the Federal army, in magnificent
array, proudly entered Virginia, confident of triumph ; two
days later it appeared at Centreville, near the lower fords
of Bull Run. Along there the stream runs nearly east,
and Beauregard had taken a position on the southern side,
where he expected the crossing to be made. Higher up.
the course of the river is from north to south; but at a dis¬
tance of four miles it again bends directlv to the west,
towards Sudley Springs. About midway of the north and
south stretch was Stone Bridge, across which ran, al¬
most east and west, the pike from Centreville to Warrenton ;
and from Sudley Springs a good road ran south to Manas¬
sas, crossing the pike at Stone House, about a mile west of

FIRST BATTLE OF MANASSAS

639

Stone Bridge. In the northeastern angle made by the inter¬
section of these two roads was the Matthews Hill, and
nearly a mile to the south, in the southeastern angle, was
the Henry Hill, rising more than a hundred feet above the
river. Young’s Branch ran east between these two emi¬
nences; with a deep ravine on the east of Henry Hill, to¬
ward the fords and Stone Bridge, where Cooke’s Bri¬
gade and fourteen companies under Colonel Evans were
stationed to guard Beauregard’s left. The Confederate
forces at Manassas originally numbered less than 22,000,
but 6,000 more had arrived by the morning of the 21st.
The Federal army consisted of 55 regiments of volunteers,
8 companies of regulars, infantry, 9 of cavalry, and 12 bat¬
teries with 1 19 guns, a total force nearly twice as large as
that of the Confederates.

McDowell had advanced a strong force to the lower fords,
where Beauregard prepared to meet him, but misleading
Beauregard, at daybreak on Sunday, the 21st, he marched
with three divisions, numbering 16,000 men, to the west, and
crossed at Sudley’s Ford, two miles beyond Stone Bridge,
and took the road to Stone House. It was a masterly move¬
ment, turning the Confederate position, and striking Beau¬
regard on his exposed flank, five miles away from the main
Confederate force. Colonel Evans sought to meet this ad¬
vance toward his rear by taking possession of Matthews
Hill; and in the early morning the battle began at this un¬
expected point, with Johnston and Beauregard several miles
away awaiting the expected attack at the lower fords. Bee,
Hampton, and Jackson were ordered to Evans’s aid, but the
significance of McDowell’s movement was not at first under¬
stood. It was not until eleven o’clock that Beauregard
realized the true situation. Then Holmes and Early and
others were also ordered to the support of the left ; but they
were miles away, and were long in arriving. The line of bat¬
tle was at right angles to the original line of defense, and
the great superiority of the Federal force enabled it to en¬
velop the narrow Confederate front. Bee, Bartow, Cooke,
and Evans, after a stubborn fight of several hours, were
driven from Matthews Hill, and retired to the ravine to the

Tlie armies

McDowell’s
flank move¬
ment

The first
clash

640

OUT OF THE UNION

Jackson

arrives

Death of
Bee

Fisher

arrives

Johnston,
p. 51

east of Henry Hill. At this critical moment disaster was
imminent. But Jackson then arrived and took position on
the left and in advance of the ravine in which were huddled
the remains of the shattered brigades, disorganized and un¬
responsive to the appeals of their officers to rally and reform.
Strong masses of Federal infantry were rapidly advanced
on the Henry Hill, and Bee, exhausted and in despair be¬
cause of his fruitless efforts to rally his men, cried out to
T. J. Jackson, amid the confusion and carnage wrought by
the heavy artillery fire: “General, they are beating us
back.” Jackson replied with resolution: We will give them
the bayonet.” Jackson’s determination gave new life to
Bee, who galloped back to his demoralized troops, shouting :
“Look ! There is Jackson standing like a stone wall. Fol¬
low me!” A number rallied and followed him; and along
with Jackson he charged, but only to meet his death. From
that day Jackson became known to fame as “Stonewall.”

Soon Johnston and Beauregard, hastening from below,
reached the field, and it was arranged for the latter to have
command at the front, while Johnston should take post at
the Lewis House in the rear, the better to direct the move¬
ment of the troops as they should arrive.

In the march from Harpers Ferry to the railroad station
at Piedmont, Fisher’s Regiment had become separated from
Bee’s Brigade, and its turn for transportation would have
long delayed its departure. But there was a derailment on
the road, which Colonel Fisher volunteered to repair. In
recompense for this valuable service, he was allowed to
proceed on the first train, and thus the Sixth Regiment
reached Manassas soon after noon on the 21st. Hearing the
firing, Colonel Fisher hurried to the front, making his way
to the sound of the puns. As he passed the Lewis House,
General Tohnston directed him to go to the left. It was
then half past two o’clock. Kershaw’s and another regi¬
ment followed Fisher, and they too were directed to the
left. Meanwhile other regiments from the lower fords
from time to time had strengthened the right and center,
where the battle ra^ed incessantly.

FIERCE FIGHTING

641

The Federals, however, with greater numbers, continued
to extend their line to the west. Their advance was accom¬
panied by several fine batteries — one Ricketts’s, being the
most famous in the army. It had been posted far to the
front, and its fire had been destructive. At about three
o’clock, a section of it moved to a position on the southern
brow of the Henry Hill, close up to the Confederate line,
and opened with great effect.

On receiving directions from General Johnston, Fisher
led his regiment to the west, and up a deep ravine towards
the Henry Hill, marching by the flank. The ravine ended
just in front of the position in which Rickett had placed a
section of his battery a few moments before Fisher emerged
into the open. On the appearance of Fisher’s Regiment,
so close to the battery, it was mistaken for a Federal regi¬
ment; but quickly the companies formed front, and, at
about eighty yards from the battery, delivered a volley that
was fearfully destructive. The Eleventh and Fourteenth
New York were in line to support the battery, but they were
thoroughly demoralized by the effective fire of the Con¬
federates at short range; and, making but slight effort to
resist, fled from the field. The Sixth now charged the
battery, which consisted of a number of Parrott’s rifle guns,
killing and disabling the men and horses, and took pos¬
session. When they reached the guns they found every
horse killed and the ground covered with the bodies of the
dead and wounded artillerymen, and of the Brooklyn
Zouaves and the Second New York. The field was cleared.
At the guns collected Major Webb, Captains Avery, Craige,
and Parrish, and Lieutenants White, Burns, McPherson,
Smith, Rosehoro, Lockhart, and Willie P. Mangum, sur¬
rounded by their jubilant soldiers. Colonel Fisher had
passed by the guns toward the west, and was observed to
wave his rifle above his head in triumph. Mangum, ex¬
claiming, “I am so tired,” threw himself on the ground in
the shade of one of the pieces. There was no enemy in
sight, and for a few moments the quiet was unbroken.
Some five minutes elapsed, and then a regiment clad in
gray appeared on the left and began firing, which the Sixth
41

Henry Hill

Reg. Hist.,
I, 345

642

OUT OF THE UNION

Death of
Fisher and
Mangum

Effect of the
encounter

Reinforce¬
ments arrive

Suspension

bridge

Panic

began to return ; but the officers believing it a Confederate
regiment, directed the men to cease firing. However, the
other regiment continued to fire, and Colonel Fisher fell
dead, as also did Lieutenant Mangum, who had remained
at the guns. Presently, the other regiment disappeared, and
no enemy being in sight, the Sixth retraced its steps and
returned down the ravine to its first position.

The annihilation of this battery and the withdrawal from
the field of the two New York regiments on the Federal
right disorganized the Federal advance, arresting its prog¬
ress, and was the first distinct reverse that turned the tide
of its victorious onslaught. Almost simultaneously, Beau¬
regard rushed forward his entire line on the east of Henry
Hill, and the Federals were driven from the plateau back
beyond the Sudley Road. But fresh regiments continued to
arrive, swelling McDowell's force, and he made a great
final effort, with a front extending from the Matthews
House far to the west and south, and threatening to sweep
the field. Yet on the Confederate side there was also im¬
portant accession; Kirby Smith’s Brigade arrived, taking
post on the left, where it checked the Federal advance.
Early, who had passed still farther to the west, now moved
up and vehemently fell upon their flank and rear, and the
Federal right, unable to withstand the double attack, gave
way.

The Federals give way

The Confederate regiments, among them the Sixth North
Carolina, now pushed their advantage with great vigor and
enthusiasm, and the Federals, broken and dismayed, retired
in disorder from the field. Crossing Bull Run pell-mell,
the routed columns precipitately fled toward Centreville,
and at the entrance of the suspension bridge on the pike,
some two miles away, met the Federal reserve from the
lower ford also retiring, the one preventing the passage of
the other. The pursuing Confederate batteries now began
to play with great effect upon the confused mass of disor¬
ganized Federals, throwing them into a fearful panic.
The pike became completely blocked. A barricade was

VICTORY HAILED WITH DELIGHT

643

formed of cannon, caissons, ambulances, and wagons, which
the drivers hastily abandoned, with horses and harness com¬
plete. The soldiers in their mad efforts to rush on, threw
away their muskets, accoutrements, and haversacks. A
vast quantity of spoils was subsequently gathered up by the
Confederates at that point. All efforts to arrest the shame¬
ful flight were unavailing, and the splendid army that had
just marched so proudly to the front rushed back to Wash¬
ington, a terrified mass of disorganized soldiers. Seldom
has an army been so thoroughly destroyed by a single stroke
as McDowell’s was on that fateful Sunday. Two days
later the Confederates were holding Vienna and other points
near the Federal capital.

The result of this first great battle brought wild joy to
the people of the Confederacy. The enthusiasm it created
was prodigious. It seemed to show the superiority of the
Southern soldier and gave full confidence of ultimate suc¬
cess. But there was cause for mourning. In the joyful
tidings- of the complete destruction of McDowell’s army,
were mingled accounts of the death and wounds of those
who had fallen victims in the encounter. A wave of sorrow
and of sympathy swept over the land, while hearts swelled
with pride at the glorious victory. The entire Confederate
loss was 376 killed, and 1,489 wounded, while that of the
Federals was much greater, 955 killed, 2,004 wounded, and
some 3,000 missing. There were but three North Carolina
regiments present. The Fifth was on duty at the lower
fords ; Kirkland, in Benham’s Brigade, was not engaged
until the rout, when it joined in the pursuit. The loss of the
Sixth was 15 killed outright, and 53 wounded. The State
deeply mourned the deaths of Fisher, Mangum, and the
brave men who fell with them ; and Fisher’s name was per¬
petuated by calling the extensive fortifications at Confed¬
erate Point in his honor; and at the next session the Legis¬
lature adopted resolutions extending sympathy and condo¬
lence to Mrs. Willie P. Mangum on the death of her la¬
mented husband, Judge Mangum, and of her only son.

Enthusiasm
in the South

644

OUT OF THE UNION

July, 1861

Richardson,
VI, 31

Ibid., 24

Globe, LVI,
44

Ibid., 45

Congress refuses to sustain the President

The states, when framing the Constitution, having denied
to Congress the right to make war on any one of themselves,
and Mr. Lincoln in disregard of the Constitution and of the
will of Congress having, with the aid of some governors,
precipitated a war, he postponed calling Congress together
until the Fourth of July. When it met, after making in his
message a statement of the several steps that had led to the
bombardment of Sumter, Mr. Lincoln said: ‘‘So viewing
the issue, no choice was left but to call out the war powers of
the government.” Referring to the measures he had taken,
he said : ‘‘Those measures, whether strictly legal or not,
were ventured upon under what appeared to be a popular
demand and a public necessity, trusting then as now that
Congress would ratify them. It is believed that nothing
has been done beyond the constitutional competency of Con¬
gress” ; not the constitutional competency of the President,
but of Congress.

The President had not merely made war, but had sus¬
pended the writ of habeas corpus and had increased the
army without authority. The first resolution offered in the
Senate was one “to ratify and confirm the acts of the Pres¬
ident, making them legal and valid as if done by previous
authorization.” At .once there was objection and debate.
The Republican Senators did not care to declare legal in¬
fringements of the Constitution. Senator Baker of Oregon
thought that the South could be subjugated by February:
Mr. Seward always said “in ninety days.” Mr. Baker fa¬
vored “reducing the population to abject subjection to the
the sway of the government.” He said : “We may have to
reduce the Southern States to the condition of territories and
send from Massachusetts or from Illinois governors to con¬
trol them. ... I would do that.”

Senator Polk of Missouri examined the whole proceed¬
ings. He declared that the act of 1795 authorizing the
President to call out the militia had no application ; that
Congress alone had the right to declare war, “that the
President had usurped the war powers of Congress,” and

HOLIDAY TURNED TO PANIC

had “usurped” other powers. That Congress had been de¬
nied the power to make war on any state, and that the last
Congress had declined to do that. But though Con¬
gress would not, yet — “we are in the midst of a war mon¬
strous in its character and hugely monstrous in its propor¬
tions brought on by the President of his own motion and
of his own wrong.”

And so the debate went on from time to time. In the
meanwhile Mr. Lincoln had prepared an army to invade
Virginia ; and Beauregard was guarding the graves of
Washington and Jefferson and Patrick Henry and Madison
and Monroe, and the homes of the kindred of those an¬
cient worthies. At length the advance was to be made, and it
is said a number of Congressmen went out to witness the un¬
usual sight and see the fun ; among them perhaps were
Senator Baker and Senator Chandler and Thaddeus Stevens,
who always held that the entire proceedings were outside
of the Constitution. They saw the advance and were in
the panic.

Whatever may have been individual fancies and theories,
now Congress was up against war : “Right or wrong, our
country,” and it acted with patriotism in increasing the army
and navy. But as for declaring valid some of the Presi¬
dent’s acts, Senator Breckinridge asserted on August 2
that he “knew that the Senators would never vote for the
resolution.” The resolution was before the Senate fifteen
times, and eventually on the last day of the session, August 6,
it was referred to the Judiciary Committee, and was not
passed.

645

Globe,

LVI, 47

Ibid., 47, 49

Ibid., 47
302-453

CHAPTER XLI

Hostilities Recognized as War

The Confederate government. — Absence of supplies. — In the
State. — The navy. — The sounds. — General Hill. — The lower Cape
Fear. — The transfer of troops. — August 20, Gatlin in command. —
Organization lacking. — French at Wilmington. — New regiments.
— Clingman and Vance colonels. — The Assembly. — Speaker Clark.
— The fall of Hatteras. — Butler demands full capitulation. — Rec¬
ognition of prisoners of war. — Kautz. — First exchange. — Effect
of the disaster. — At Raleigh. — Military Board abolished. — Martin
adjutant and general-in-chief. — Civil affairs. — Feeling against
Convention. — Election of Senators. — Davis. — Dortch. — Assembly
adjourns. — New regiments. — Bethel Regiment. — North Carolina’s
contingent. — Interest at west greater than at the east. — The war
feeling in the State. — Divergences. — Roanoke Island. — Shaw in
command. — The Federals at Hatteras. — At Chickamaeomico. —
Lynch makes a capture. — The proposed attack. — The Indianians
driven off. — General Hill’s action. — Asks for negro labor. — He calls
for militia to work. — Friction results. — At his request, assigned to
the field. — Roanoke Island attached to Norfolk District and com¬
mand vested in General Wise. — Unfavorable conditions. — The
Federal fleet at Hilton Head. — Lee given command of South
Carolina. — The Convention. — Salt. — The Worths. — Prices. — Dan¬
ville connection postponed. — Oath of allegiance and forbidding
traitorous acts proposed. — Graham opposed. — Lines drawn. — Post¬
poned. — -Confidence in President. — Biggs Confederate judge. —
More troops. — Expenses. — Confederate tax assessed. — Special
taxes. — Piedmont railroad chartered.

1861

Dearth of
supplies

The Confederate government was a sudden creation, the
development of unexpected circumstances, and it had none
of the resources of established governments, no arsenals of
construction, and no magazines of supplies. There was an
absolute dearth of munitions of war. The foundries of
the Tredegar Iron Works at Richmond, however, soon be¬
gan to cast cannon, and efforts were made to improvise
facilities for the manufacture of equipments, and a powder
mill was started near Raleigh. Every battery constructed
needed guns, cannon balls and gun carriages, as well as
powder. So scant was the supply of powder that the situ¬
ation was grave, so grave that the officers in responsible
position were greatly depressed. All during the summer

SUPPLIES FROM ENGLAND

647

this condition continued. At length in September a vessel
arrived at Savannah with a cargo of munitions, and from
the Bureau of Ordnance came this cry of joy: “A steamer
from England has come into Savannah with powder (thank
God!), blankets, and munitions of war. I am glad to say
that our prospects for a plenty of this munition are im¬
proving, and on yesterday, I had the pleasure of obtaining
a quantity of saltpeter and sulphur from a mill in Raleigh.
Good news, is it not? I confess my breath comes easier
now that our prospects are not so blue.” The difficulties
and obstacles in the way of preparation of remote batteries
at inaccessible points were almost insuperable. But the
officers were indefatigable in their efforts and spared no
exertions. Their enthusiasm and determination overcame
difficulties that seemed insurmountable.

From the first, preparations for seacoast defense had
proceeded with activity. Energy and enterprise were de¬
veloped among men not trained to arms. Enthusiastically
they worked to build earthworks and equip them, but fa¬
cilities and supplies being lacking, the progress was slow,
and results not effective. North Carolina had early taken
steps to provide a small naval force for the protection of
her sounds. She purchased at Norfolk a small sidewheel
steamer, naming her the Winslow, in honor of Warren
Winslow, but her equipment was only a single gun. The
command was bestowed on Captain Thomas M. Crossan,
a former naval officer, who brought her into Pamlico Sound.
Captain Crossan was active in cruising off the coast and
succeeded in capturing several merchantmen. Among his
prizes was the brig Hannah Batch, which had been seized
by the Federal fleet near Charleston and was on its way
to the North under the command of Lieutenant Albert
Kautz of the United States Navy, who thus became a
prisoner to the State. He was paroled at first in Warren
County to Crossan’s farm, and later was allowed to reside
in Virginia.

The next vessel put in command was the Beaufort, Cap¬
tain Duval. The Raleigh, Captain Joseph W. Alexander,
and the Ellis, Commander Muse, soon followed. These

1861

The first
cargo

Naval
Records,
Series II,
Vol. VI, 731

Seacoast

defenses

The navy

648

HOSTILITIES RECOGNIZED AS WAR

1S61

General

Gwynn

Naval
Records,
Series I,
Yol. VI,

small cruisers were so watchful and enterprising that in six
weeks they captured eight schooners, seven barks, and one
brig, all with good cargoes. These frequent losses greatly
excited and exasperated the Northern merchants, and at
their instance cruisers were stationed off the coast.

Ocracoke and Hatteras

To secure the safety of the sounds, early in the war Gen¬
eral Walter Gwynn, a graduate of West Point and an en¬
gineer of distinction, had been employed in planning de¬
fenses. General Gwynn in the past had had some associa¬
tion in the State; he had also been employed at Charleston
until the fall of Sumter, and then at Norfolk. Fort Morgan
was erected at Ocracoke, and Hatteras Inlet was defended
by Forts Hatteras and Clark. The former, mounting twelve
smooth-bore 32-pounders, was constructed south of the
inlet, at a point almost surrounded by water, the only ap¬
proach being over a narrow tongue of land within easy
musket range. Fort Clark, a smaller work, mounting five
guns, was about a mile distant and half way between the
sound and the inlet. Here was stationed Capt. John C.
Lamb of the Seventh Volunteers, and a small garrison. At
Fort Hatteras there were eight companies of the same reg¬
iment, under Colonel Martin ; and to man the guns there
were some detachments of the Tenth North Carolina Artil¬
lery, under Major W. C. Andrews. Indeed, the work of
construction at Hatteras, under Major W. B. Thompson
of the Confederate Engineers, had progressed so satisfac¬
torily that on July 25 he reported to Warren Winslow,
the Military Secretary, that both Fort Hatteras and Fort
Clark were completed, and he considered the inlet secure,
although the garrison should be increased. These forts
had been well constructed. and the best cannon available had
713 been sent there.

Much work had likewise been done to strengthen Fort
Macon. But supplies were deficient and there was no skilled
ordnance officer at that fort.

THE CONFEDERACY TAKES CHARGE

649

The Cape Fear

On the Cape Fear conditions had been more favorable.
The energy of Major Whiting and of Captain Childs had
borne fine fruit, and the superior facilities furnished by the
established industries of Wilmington were utilized to pro¬
vide equipments. Although Major Whiting and Captain
Childs were soon transferred to other fields of usefulness,
the work of preparation was efficiently continued under the
superintendence of Col. S. L. Fremont, the Superintendent
of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, who had been an
artillery officer, and who zealously cooperated with Captain
Winder, the accomplished engineer.

At length the 20th of August arrived when the North
Carolina troops were to be transferred to the Confederacy,
and the defense passed into the hands of the Confederate
government. Immediately, the next day, Gen. R. C. Gatlin,
a North Carolinian of the Old Army, was assigned to
the command of the Department of North Carolina, and
the President sent his aide-de-camp, Col. Custis Lee, to in¬
spect the forts on the coast, and report their condition and
necessities.

General Gatlin established his headquarters at Goldsboro,
and sought to organize the department, but the points to be
defended were so far separated and so difficult of access
that he experienced insurmountable obstacles in his work.
Under the arrangement made by the State, the State officers
of the Engineer and Artillery Corps engaged in construc¬
tion, not being transferred, were dropped, and it became
evident that the Convention had been inadvertent to con¬
tingencies. The Confederate authorities, pressed by the ad¬
vancing columns of the Federal forces from Missouri to
Fortress Monroe, were unable at once to send officers to
continue the work, and the State system, under which con¬
struction had been in progress, fell with nothing to replace
it. Disorganization necessarily resulted. To some extent
the defense of the great sounds was embarrassed; but the
local companies and their officers did the best they could.

August 20

Naval
Records,
Series I,

Vol. VI, 750

August 20,
1862

650 HOSTILITIES RECOGNIZED AS WAR

Confederate Point

The situation on the Cape Fear was more fortunate.
By some temporary arrangement, Colonel Fremont was
continued as a colonel of artillery, and Captain Winder and
his associate, Lieutenant Ashe, remained at their post
without rank or pay, building and equipping batteries and
perfecting the defenses. At that time a casemate battery
was constructed at Confederate Point, using palmetto logs,
railroad iron, and sand bags. Also two batteries were
erected along the beach toward the head of the sound, and
Captain Winder’s plan of defense provided for a covered
way from the head of the sound to the redoubt at the point.
Maj. J. J. Hedrick was in command at the point, and was
very active and efficient in erecting the earthworks there.

Fort Caswell remained under Colonel Cantwell for some
months, the garrison being well drilled and the fort being in
a fair state of defense ; but eventually Colonel Brown, an
artillery officer of experience, was assigned to the command.

In October, Gen. J. R. Anderson was assigned to the
command of the district of the Cape Fear, but later he was
replaced by General French, who was particularly active in
pressing forward the fortifications, calling on the planters
for the use of 450 negro men for that purpose.

Tlie new regiments

The action of the Convention in directing that recruiting
should cease had thrown a damper on those who were rais¬
ing companies, but the victory at Manassas awoke a new
enthusiasm and the enlistment of men received a strong
impetus. New regiments were speedily organized, and be¬
cause of the inconvenience of having two sets of regiments
with the same numbers, a change was made in numbering
the volunteers. The ten regiments of three-year men were
accorded priority, the Second and Third Volunteers be¬
coming the Twelfth and Thirteenth; and thus on down the
list. So the next volunteer regiment formed was called the
Twenty-fifth. It organized at Asheville, electing Thomas
L. Clingman Colonel, and hurried to Wilmington. But

BANDED LIKE BROTHERS

651

hardly had it moved when another favorite son of Bun¬
combe County, Zeb Vance, a former political opponent of
Clingman, now colonel of the Twenty-sixth, led his regi¬
ment to the defense of New Bern, where he was soon
joined by the Seventh State Troops, under Col. Reuben
Campbell, an experienced officer of the Old Army. The
war spirit was now running very high in every part of the
State, and as the middle of August approached and the
Assembly was about to meet, much interest was felt as to
its possible action in regard to enlistments.

The Assembly

The Assembly met on the 15th of August, and Speaker
Clark opened the session of the Senate with a declaration
that as Speaker he was discharging the functions of Gov¬
ernor, but that he was still Speaker, and he continued to act
in that capacity, not vacating the chair. As Governor,
however, he sent a message to the Assembly. In it he re¬
ferred to the unanimity of the people of the State in the
great struggle, declaring that it was so highly to their
honor that it embellished their history. “Men,” he said,
“who but yesterday were fronting each other in fierce and
angry debate, on this very issue, are today marshaled side
by side in the same ranks, banded like brothers and staking
their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor in the
common cause.” He had, however, found that because of
the action of the Convention companies had disbanded and
a check was given to volunteering. The State’s naval arma¬
ment, as well as the regiments, had been transferred to the
Confederacy, and an inspection had been made by Confed¬
erate officers of the coast fortifications preparatory to as¬
suming command. But much remained to be done. Clark
took the responsibility of varying somewhat the policy pre¬
scribed by the Convention, and urged that the State should
persist in creating and maintaining an army of her own.
The power of the Assembly to legislate, he asserted, re¬
mained unimpaired by the Convention, and he called on the
Legislature to exercise its functions and embody a force for
the defense of the State. The hurried demand for troops

1861

August 15

Governor

Clark

652

HOSTILITIES RECOGNIZED AS WAR

The Federal
force

Spirit of the
garrison

to meet the enemy in Virginia had strained the ability and
power of the State. It had been the aim not only to equip
the troops thoroughly, but to furnish them with every pos¬
sible comfort. And he proudly mentioned that the State
had been complimented on every side because it had sent
to the front the best equipped troops in the field.

The Legislature was in entire accord with the Governor,
and, unmindful of the expense, was proceeding to carry out
his recommendations, when the fall of Hatteras came as a
thunder clap and redoubled their zeal.

The fall of Hatteras

Toward the close of August, 1861, there being a large
Federal force, both naval and army, at Fortress Monroe, it
was determined by Admiral Goldsborough and General But¬
ler to make a descent upon the North Carolina coast and
take possession of the entrance to the sounds. An expedi¬
tion was organized under the immediate command of Com¬
modore Stringham, consisting of the frigates Wabash,
Minnesota, and Cumberland and the steamers Susquehanna,
Pawnee, Harriet Lane, and Fanny, carrying 140 guns and
accompanied by the army transport Adelaide, carrying 800
troops. These ships were in fine condition and were
equipped with the best naval cannon then in use, long range
heavy ordnance.

Leaving Hampton Roads on the 26th of August, during
that afternoon they reached the vicinity of Hatteras. On
their appearance Colonel Martin dispatched a pilot boat to
Col. George W. Johnston at Portsmouth Island, asking for
all reinforcements possible, and he ordered up the garrison
of Ocracoke. All were inexperienced in warfare and in the
effect of bombardment with great guns. There was a gen¬
eral impression that one gun on shore was more effective
than several on moving ships, and the forts had been pro¬
nounced impregnable. The garrison expected to easily
beat off the vessels, and the spirit of defiance ran high. But
they suffered a great disappointment. The next morning
the attacking fleet took position just out of reach of the

AN UNFORTUNATE SITUATION

653

guns of the forts and, entirely secure themselves, fired with
precision of target practice. Their fine guns of long range
and superior metal gave them an advantage that was de¬
cisive. Captain Lamb soon exhausted his supply of ammu¬
nition in a fruitless cannonade, and the garrison at Fort
Clark, incapable of effective resistance, returned to Fort Hat-
teras. On the other hand, the Federal force was under the
direction of able and accomplished officers who acted with
energy.

During the bombardment a detachment of three hundred
German troops landed some three miles down the beach,
unopposed, and on the withdrawal of Captain Lamb they
took possession of the abandoned fort.

The Confederates now realized their unfortunate situa¬
tion. They were helpless and could inflict no injury on
their assailants. Moreover the security of their own posi¬
tion was imperiled. It was apprehended that a night attack
would be made by the Federal forces from Fort Clark, and
a large picket guard was thrown out to meet it. Respond¬
ing to the call for help on the afternoon of the 28th, Colo¬
nel Johnston and Maj. Henry A. Gilliam arrived from
Ocracoke with the companies of Captain Sparrow, Captain
Gilliam, Captain Johnston, and Captain Sharp.

The vessels equipped by the State had in July been trans¬
ferred to the Confederate States, and early in the night
Commodore Barron, accompanied by Col. J. A. J. Bradford,
Lieutenant Murdock of the navy and other officers, ar¬
rived with a small naval contingent, increasing the garrison
to 781. But the vessels, although of light draft, could not
approach near the shore because of shoal water, and it was
far into the night before the munitions and provisions they
brought could be landed. On the arrival of Commodore
Barron, in view of his high rank and experience, the com¬
mand was accorded him, and he subsequently conducted all
the operations. Necessarily there was much excitement, and
there was such confusion that the men got no rest, and they
were utterly worn out and broken down by their all-night’s
work.

Sparrow’s
Narrative,
Clark, 50

654

HOSTILITIES RECOGNIZED AS WAR

Withdrawal

imprac¬

ticable

Sparrow,
Clark, 52

Early the next morning the bombardment was resumed
by the fleet with telling effect. As the shot from the old
smooth-bore guns of the fort could not reach the distant
ships, while a number of the garrison had been wounded, it
was deemed useless to expose the men by manning the guns,
and the fort ceased firing. After the bombardment had
continued for some hours, there being no hope of successful
resistance, and nothing to be gained by a protracted endur¬
ance, a council of officers was held, and it was deter¬
mined to evacuate the fort. Steps to that end were
taken, but the transfer of the men to the gunboats
was found to be impracticable; and the fort being much
damaged, the guns dismounted, and one of the maga¬
zines being reported on fire, the purpose to attempt an evac¬
uation was abandoned, and without hope of either success¬
ful resistance or of escape, at a council it was determined to
surrender. Commodore Barron thereupon ordered the
white flag of capitulation to be raised, and he offered the
surrender of the fort with the arms and munitions, but the
officers and men to be allowed to retire, the former with
their side arms. Gen. B. F. Butler, in command of the ex¬
pedition, however, persistently declined to consider any terms
except full capitulation, the officers and men to be prisoners
of war.

The surrender

Up to this time the Federal government and officers had
regarded the Confederates as rebels or insurgents, and as
not being entitled to be treated as prisoners of war, and this
was the first recognition of the national character of the
conflict. The terms imposed by General Butler were finally
agreed to, and the surrender took place accordingly. Of
the garrison two had been killed and thirty-four wounded,
among them Lieutenant Murdock and other officers. Be¬
sides 670 men captured, 1,000 stands of arms and 35 cannon
fell into the hands of the Federals. The prisoners, includ¬
ing Commodore Barron, Colonel Bradford, Colonel Martin
and Captain Sparrow, were taken on board the ships and

FALL OF FORT HATTERAS

655

conveyed to New York. Later, they were transferred to
Fort Warren.

While Lieutenant Kautz was on parole, the Federals hav¬
ing captured Lieutenant Loyall and some other Confederate
naval officers, had tried them as pirates and condemned
them to death. North Carolina, at the request of President
Davis, delivered Kautz to the Confederate States, and he
was held in Libby Prison as a hostage. Thereupon, his
former roommate at Annapolis, T. W. W. Davies of Vir¬
ginia, requested Mr. Davis to parole Kautz, and let him
proceed to Washington City and seek to arrange an ex¬
change. President Davis declined, saying that if Kautz were
released he would not return. Davis then offered to take
Kautz’s place in the prison and himself be the hostage until
Kautz’s return. Unable to resist such an appeal, Mr. Davis
allowed Kautz liberty to proceed to Washington and seek
to effect an exchange, trusting to his honor to return. Ar¬
riving at Washington, Kautz found the Secretary of the
Navy and the President both opposed to any exchange; but
eventually they abandoned their opposition and belligerent
rights were accorded to the Confederate naval and military
forces. The first exchanges embraced Kautz and the naval
officers, who had been condemned as pirates, and the pris¬
oners taken at Flatteras and the Federals captured at Bull
Run.

1861

Kautz and
Davies

Exchange of
prisoners

Effects of the disaster

The fall of Fort Hatteras and the capture of the garrison,
composed chiefly of local companies, caused great sorrow
and consternation throughout that entire region, and appre¬
hension was felt that Roanoke Island and the towns on the
sound would be immediately attacked and taken, and the
adjacent part of the State laid open to the incursions of the
enemy. Indeed, that disaster was the first that touched our
people, and when information of it reached the interior, it
was so unexpected, so at variance with the confidence that
had been expressed that any attack would be easily repelled,
that the public was greatly shocked. At Raleigh, where
was always a disposition to criticize the Confederate gov-

656

HOSTILITIES RECOGNIZED AS WAR

Sept., 1861

State de¬
fense

ernment, it was said that North Carolina had made every
exertion to meet the enemy in Virginia; she had responded
to the requests of the Confederate authorities with unselfish
zeal and had disfurnished herself in doing so, and now
after her defense had been committed to the Confederacy,
her own coast was not effectively defended. Mingled with
the sorrow and regret and consternation were many un¬
favorable comments at the alleged indifference of the Con¬
federate government or its inefficiency. However, in a
measure the reverse awakened the people of the State to
the possibilities of the war. Invasion was imminent.

The great sounds

The great sounds were opened to the enemy’s vessels, and
the adjacent country was subject to incursions. But while
the recognition of the possibility was depressing it stirred
the people to patriotic endeavor and aroused the Legislature
to determined action. Two commissioners were immediately
dispatched to confer with the President about the defense
of the State. An appropriation of two million dollars was
made to be expended by the Governor to secure the coast
and frontiers; but this fund, however, was to be used only
in case the Confederate authorities should fail to begin
all necessary work for effectual defense. In particular, the
Governor was empowered to purchase five steamers to be
made into ironclads for service on the sounds. The militia
law was revised, and the one hundred and sixteen militia
regiments were thrown into twenty-eight brigades, and pro¬
vision was made for calling the militia into active service.
On the call for troops the Governor was to apportion the
number required among the militia regiments, the levy being
so made as to equalize the quotas of the several counties.
The Governor was to keep thirty regiments in the Confed¬
erate army, and more if needed. The ten regiments of
State troops were to be completed and maintained and five
additional companies of heavy artillery were to be organ¬
ized, while eight regiments were to be enlisted as a reserve.
Finally, the Governor was directed to raise 11,000 men for
the special defense of the State. The Military Board had

657

CIVIL LIBERTY IMPERILED

exercised the power of appointing officers and, generally,
had conducted the war on the part of the State. It was now
abolished, but Warren Winslow was continued as Military
Secretary for some months. Col. James G. Martin, Adju¬
tant General of the State Troops, had so commended him¬
self by the thorough discharge of his duties that every con¬
fidence was reposed in him. He had lost an arm in Mexico,
and was an officer of much experience and great ability.
The Assembly now unanimously elected him Adjutant-
General of the State, conferring on him the rank of Major
General, and, with the title of General-in-chief, invested
him with the full command of all the forces of the State
and placed every department under his control. And he
proved equal to the demands of his great position : for his
administration was characterized by vigor and intelligence,
and every branch of the service was efficiently conducted.
But his authority was limited to organizing, equipping and
maintaining troops of the State, and he had no power to in¬
terfere with the military operations of the Confederate
government.

Civil matters

Civil as well as military matters claimed the attention of
the Assembly. That the Convention should perpetuate it¬
self and exercise the power of legislation was widely dis¬
cussed through the State, and shortly after the Assembly
met sentiment unfavorable to the continuance of the Con¬
vention found expression in a proposition offered in the
Senate to take the sense of the people as to whether it should
reassemble; and, later, resolutions were introduced declaring
that “a convention unlimited as to duration was dangerous
to civil liberty and free institutions/’ This declaration,
with regard to a body whose leaders esteemed themselves
the particular guardians of civil liberty and free institu¬
tions, met with warm opposition from those in sympathy
with them. A bitter controversy opened, and the respective
partisans were warm and earnest. A motion to table the
resolution failed by two votes; but, later, the contest was

abandoned and the whole subject was laid on the table.

General

Martin

Senate Jour¬
nal, second
session, 199

658 HOSTILITIES RECOGNIZED AS WAR

Tax on negroes

Responsive to public sentiment, the Assembly, when
framing a revenue bill, following the lead of the Conven¬
tion, imposed a tax on negroes as property, thus inaugu¬
rating a change in the system of taxation that militated
against the extension and perpetuation of slavery in the
State. It was the fruition of the ad valorem campaign of
i860. In view of the unsettled condition of affairs, the
State assumed the payment of the entire Confederate tax
apportioned to North Carolina.

Election of Senators

While old party lines were measurably observed among
the members, party spirit did not run to extremes, and the
action of the Assembly was both conservative and patriotic.
In choosing Senators personal preference and local consider¬
ations seem to have largely controlled the members. On the
27th of August, when the first vote was taken, only one
Senator was balloted for. Judge Person, the distinguished
Senator from New Hanover, who earlier in the session had
been foremost in the advocacy of secession, led on the ballot,
receiving 31 votes; Graham, 21; Bragg, 17; Clingman and
Avery, 14 each: Reid, Davis, and five others followed.

Two days later, another ballot was taken for a single
Senator, Person again leading, but W. T. Dortch, the popu¬
lar Speaker of the House, coming next.

On the third ballot, the strength of both Bragg and Gra¬
ham appears to have gone to Dortch, who received 52 votes
and led Person by ten votes; buB still there was no election.
Then a change was made in the method of procedure. On
Davis and 6th of September two Senators were voted for, simul-

Dortch taneously, and twenty-two persons were in nomination.

Clingman led with 38 votes, followed by Outlaw with 35.
It was not until a week later, after many ballots, that any
result was reached ; the Whigs then dropping their own
candidate and voting for George Davis, who received 79
votes, and was elected, the others standing, Clingman, 45 ;
Dortch, 36; Avery, 31. On the next ballot the Whigs voted

THE WAR LOOMS LARGE

659

for Dortch, who was chosen by 71 votes; Avery receiving
34 ; and Clingman 26. In both cases it appears that the
former Democrats divided between several candidates, al¬
though it was understood that Avery was the Democratic
candidate, he being the incumbent ; and the Whigs cast the
determining vote against him.

Speaker Dortch having resigned to accept the Senator-
ship, a high appreciation of Augustus S. Merrimon was
manifested by the support given him for Speaker of the
House, but Nathan N. Fleming of Rowan, who had had
longer legislative service, received the honor — a man of
particular merit who, however, unfortunately fell in the bat¬
tle of the Wilderness.

The Assembly having made provision for the election in
November of both presidential electors and of Representa¬
tives in the Confederate Congress when it should be organ¬
ized under the permanent Constitution in February, and
having completed its business, on 23d of September brought
its session to a close.

Magnitude of the struggle

As the months passed and the preparation for pressing the
war progressed, it became more and more evident that the
struggle was to be on a scale far exceeding anything ever
thought of in America. The need for troops was great;
and worse, guns were lacking for the men, and horses for
the cavalry and artillery.

The Eighth State Troops was organized by Colonel Shaw
at Warrenton, September 13th. The Ninth was the first
cavalry regiment to organize, Robert Ransom, Colonel. The
men had long been enlisted and horses had been obtained
from Tennessee and Kentucky, but there was delay in ob¬
taining sabres. Finally, in October, being fully equipped,
they marched to Manassas. The Tenth Regiment was ar¬
tillery, J. A. J. Bradford, Colonel, and John L. Bridgers,
Lieutenant-Colonel. It was organized August 16th, and
was composed of five light batteries, Ramseur’s, Reilly’s,
Brem’s, Moore’s and Southerland’s ; and five heavy artillery

Sept., 1861

Mei'rimon
and Fleming

66o

HOSTILITIES RECOGNIZED AS WAR

Spirit of the
west

companies, two of which, under Captain Andrews and Cap¬
tain Sparrow, were captured at Hatteras, and the others
were at Fort Macon.

The Twenty-seventh Volunteer Regiment elected George
B. Singletary, Colonel, and was stationed at Fort Macon;
the Twenty-eighth, James H. Lane, Colonel, was ordered
to Wilmington. The Twenty-ninth, R. B. Vance, Colonel,
crossed the mountains to serve in Tennessee; the Thirtieth,
F. M. Parker, Colonel, was at first stationed at Fort Fisher.
Toward the end of September the Thirty-first organized by
electing J. V. Jordan, Colonel.

The Convention having authorized the formation of a
second regiment of cavalry, in August the companies as¬
signed to it assembled at Kittrell, and it became the Thirty-
second Regiment. Arms and equipment could not at first
be procured for this regiment, and it was not until October
that it broke camp and marched to the eastern part of the
State, even then not being fully armed.

The six months for which the companies composing
the Bethel Regiment had enlisted having expired, that regi¬
ment was disbanded at Richmond early in November. Those
companies, like the Wilmington Light Infantry and the
Wilmington Rifle Guards, were indeed a nursery of officers.
Four of the Bethel Regiment became generals ; fourteen,
colonels; ten, lieutenant colonels; eight, majors; twenty-
eight, staff officers ; fifty-seven, Captains ; and seventy, lieu¬
tenants. On disbandment the privates mostly joined other
companies then in the field ; while many of its officers served
in the Eleventh Regiment, which was regarded as its
successor.

The first six months

Thus in the first six months of the war North Carolina
had sent to the front at least thirty-five thousand men, while
many more were enlisted and were in camps of instruction.
These troops came from every section of the State and the
men of mountain counties, where the people relatively were
not interested in slavery, were as swift to volunteer as
those in the east. From Ashe to the Georgia line, the thir-

POLITICIANS SOW DISCORD

66 1

teen mountain counties, with 68,000 population, had fur¬
nished by the last of October 4,400 soldiers, one in fifteen,
while the remaining counties furnished only one in nineteen.

Whatever hopes had been built by the advisers of President
Lincoln on the disaffection of non-slaveholders proved
groundless. Major Bingham narrates that in his company,
raised in Orange, out of ninety odd men there were only Thenon.
two slaveholders. It was largely the same in every part of slaveholders
the State — the non-slaveholders sprang to the defense of the
State with the same alacrity as the others. Human nature,
manhood and patriotism determined the action of men.

When hostilities began the original contention passed from
view, and men fought for their country and government.

It was the South withstanding the invasion of the North.

At any time the North could have ceased the slaughter
President Lincoln and his friends had so needlessly inaug¬
urated in their spirit of intolerance.

Divergences

But notwithstanding the general unanimity of the people,
politicians were sowing the seeds of faction. In the Con¬
vention, some effort founded in faction had been made to
displace Governor Clark and choose a new Governor, and
in the Legislature Josiah Turner, ever an agitator, made a
similar move, but without much comfort.

When the presidential electors came to be chosen, al¬
though there was no opposition to President Davis, the di¬
vergence was emphasized. The Register suggested a ticket
composed equally of men taken from the old parties, Graham
and Bragg being on it. But a second ticket proposed by the
State Journal had only five of the same names on it. There
was no canvassing for these tickets ; but ten Congressmen
were also to be elected, and the friends of the aspirants
were active. In the presidential election the total vote -cast
was 46.390. Edwards, representing the Journal ticket,
received 27,077; Graham, on the other, 18,919. Bragg fell
behind Graham, his vote being onlv 18,162. In the con¬
gressional delegation only McDowell, Smith and Davidson
were returned. The new members were Thomas S. Ashe.

662 HOSTILITIES RECOGNIZED AS WAR

A. H. Arrington, Robert R. Bridgers, B. S. Gaither, Owen
Kenan, William Lander and J. R. McLean. On the whole
the result of the election was comforting to the Secession
element in the State, and the vote was claimed by them as
one of confidence. But there were those who greatly de¬
plored the division of the people on party lines.

The Federals at Hatteras

The captured forts at Hatteras were occupied by the
Federals under Gen. John F. Reynolds, who sought to
establish friendly relations with the inhabitants of the ad¬
jacent region. Many who lived on the banks and some of
the people of Hyde County declared their adherence to the
Union and took the oath of allegiance, and General Reynolds
was kept well informed of what was passing on the main¬
land.

When Hatteras fell the sounds lay open to the Federal
gunboats. Fortunately, the small fleet improvised by the
State, now commanded by Commodore Lynch, offered some
protection, but Roanoke Island had not been fortified. The
Third Georgia, Col. A. R. Wright, had been hurried from
Virginia to reinforce the garrison at Hatteras, but, arriv¬
ing too late, Colonel Wright occupied Roanoke Island.
Fortifications had been planned, and now, under the direc¬
tion of Lieut. W. B. Seldon of the Confederate Engi¬
neers, the soldiers fell to work to erect them. But every
difficulty beset them. No tools, no cannon, no supplies, no
ammunition, no conveniences, and the island remote and
difficult of access. Governor Clark urgently called for the
return of some of the North Carolina regiments from Vir¬
ginia to defend the State, but in vain ; they could not be
withdrawn from their location in the field. There was a
promise of powder and munitions, but they were not fur¬
nished in sufficient quantities. The equipment of the Eighth
State Troops was hurried, and at length being ready, that
regiment left Warrenton on the 13th of September by way
of Norfolk and reached the island on the 21st, where Colo¬
nel Shaw being in command, a part drilled while others

FIGHTING ON THE COAST

663

worked on the construction of the fortification. Later,
Governor Clark again urgently insisted on an additional
supply of powder and of arms, but the Confederacy at that
time had none to send.

Chickamacomico

The Twentieth Indiana was advanced up the banks to
Chickamacomico, near Oregon Inlet, but it hardly established
its camp before the activities of the Confederates were
directed against it.

The tug Fanny , armed with two rifled cannon and with
fifty men on board, was dispatched to carry a large quantity
of clothing and an ample supply of ammunition and pro¬
visions to the camp. As soon as she had anchored off Chick¬
amacomico, October 1st, Commodore Lynch with three of
his vessels attacked her, and forced her surrender. This
success so inspired the Confederates that they determined
to undertake an expedition against the Indiana regiment.
The proposed plan was that the fleet should shell the camp,
drive the Federals from their position, and then land the
Georgia regiment there, while the North Carolina regiment
was to be conveyed down to cut off the retreat.

On the evening of the third of October, every detail hav¬
ing been perfected, the troops embarked and the next morn¬
ing reached the vicinity of Chickamacomico. The gunboats
successfully shelled the camp, from which the Indianians
precipitately withdrew, with some small loss.

The Georgians then landed and pursued them down the
beach. The boats now conveyed the North Carolina regi¬
ment to the point where they were to land, some twenty
miles below, but it was found that the sound was so shallow
that the barges could not approach nearer than three miles
to the beach. The men, full of enthusiasm, resolutely
jumped into the sound and essayed to wade ashore. But
proceeding a mile through the water, they came to sluices
that were too deep to be crossed, and, greatly disappointed,
they had to return. That part of the plan thus miscarried,
but the capture of the Federal camp with its abundant
supplies and the discomfiture of the Indianians made the

Clark, I, 390

Oct., 1861

Clark, I,
55, 56

66\

HOSTILITIES RECOGNIZED AS WAR

Work on
Roanoke
Island

General Hill

Naval
Records,
Series I,

Vol. VI, 739

troops buoyant with hope in case of a conflict. The Geor¬
gians remained at Chickamacomico until the next day and,
although shelled by the Pawnee, suffered no loss. Later in
the month Colonel Wright’s Regiment was moved to Vir¬
ginia, being replaced by the Thirty-first North Carolina
under Colonel Jordan. The work of constructing the for¬
tifications and of drilling the troops and trying to convert
them into artillerists progressed as rapidly as possible under
the direction of Colonel Shaw, but there was a deplorable
lack of men and munitions and especially of officers who
had some acquaintance with cannon. In the emergency, a
midshipman was detached by Commodore Lynch to drill
the soldiers at one of the batteries. Colonel Hill, who had
won high praise for his efficiency at the battle of Bethel,
had been promoted by the President to be Brigadier General
on July ioth, and at the request of Governor Clark he was
on September 29th assigned to the duty of preparing the
fortifications from Fort Macon to the Virginia line. General
Hill at once asked for cannon to be supplied by the navy,
there having been a considerable number at the Norfolk
Navy Yard, but Mr. Mallory, Secretary of the Navy, re¬
plied that up to October 2 he had already sent to North
Carolina 242 guns, and could not spare more then. Gen¬
eral Hill, however, was insistent, and on the 18th of October
he again made application, saying that Fort Macon could
not be held without four more guns of long range. He
reported the battery at New Bern well constructed. Wash¬
ington had two good batteries. “Roanoke Island,” he said,
“is the key to one-third of North Carolina. This all-
important island is in want of men and guns. It should have
at least six more rifled cannon. I am confident Manassas
itself is not more important than it.” General Hill, how¬
ever, met with difficulties. The points to be fortified were
remote and detached. There was not only a want of effi¬
cient subordinates, but a want of workmen and of imple¬
ments. The soldiers were not available for the needed
work, and when he asked for negroes to be supplied, the
owners objected. In October General Hill visited Roanoke
Island and gave directions about the construction of de-

of Eastern North Carolina

IN THE ALBEMARLE REGION

665

fenses. On the second visit he found that but little had
been done, and he asked to have the officer in command
removed; and, believing that he had authority from the
State authorities, he called out the militia of the neighbor¬
ing counties to report on the island. Later, he found that
only 500 from Chowan had responded, and that the Gov¬
ernor had revoked his order. Some friction arose, and
General Hill deemed it best to ask to be relieved; and
November 16th he was ordered to report to General John¬
ston, who assigned him to the command of a brigade in
the field.

At that period there were no railroad communications
with the Albemarle region, and realizing that Roanoke
Island could be easier defended from Norfolk than else¬
where, the authorities of North Carolina asked that that
part of the State should be attached to the Military District
of Norfolk, then under the command of General Huger ;
and on December 1 the territory east of the Chowan, and
including the counties of Washington and Tyrrell was made
a military district, and the command assigned to Gen. Henry
A. Wise of Virginia. General Wise earlier in the war
raised a legion which had operated in the field and now was
scattered. He at once visited Roanoke Island and then
returned to Richmond, seeking to have his legion again
consolidated and to secure needed supplies of men and
munition for his district. He, however, established his
headquarters at Nags Head and there held such reinforce¬
ments as were sent to him. Roanoke Island was then under
the immediate command of Colonel Shaw, who, however,
had no staff for such a command, no facilities for commu¬
nicating either with the General at Nags Head or with the
mainland.

In November it became known that a Federal expedition
was being fitted out to take possession of some point on the
coast, and there was much apprehension that it was destined
for North Carolina ; but eventually the fleet passed on to
Hilton Head. Immediately, Radcliffe’s Eighth Volunteers,
now called the Eighteenth, and Clingman’s Regiment were
dispatched to that vicinity, along with Moore’s fine light

Hill insists

Albemarle
transferred
to Norfolk
District

Wise

assigned to
the district

Clark, Vol.
V, 57

Aid to South
Carolina

666

HOSTILITIES RECOGNIZED AS WAR

Nov., 1861

Salt

The Worths

Prices

battery, and Gen. R. E. Lee was assigned to the command
of the department.

Tlie Convention

The Convention reassembled November 18th. Already
there had been several changes in membership. McDowell,
Venable, Craige and Davidson had gone to Congress; Hill
and Stewart had died ; Chowan, Grimes and Shaw had en¬
tered the military service ; Henkel and Lander had resigned ;
Johnston, a man of marked capacity, had become Commis¬
sary General ; Ashe, who was president of the Wilmington
Railroad and acquired a high reputation for administrative
ability, had been selected by President Davis to have charge
of all the transportation of troops and supplies east of the
Mississippi River. The vacant seats had been filled by new
members. On assembling, the Convention, notwithstanding
the turmoils of the war, addressed itself with earnestness to
the consideration of constitutional changes, discussing many
subjects with high intelligence and ability. But it also con¬
sidered matters of more immediate concern. It passed an
ordinance to obtain the great essential, a supply of salt,
and salt works were directed to be established along the
coast, and a surer supply was sought in the salt works of
Western Virginia. Dr. John Milton Worth was chosen the
salt commissioner. He had the earnest cooperation of his
brother, the Senator from Randolph, who said : “In the
undertaking in which you are embarked our family reputa¬
tion for energy and success is involved, and I will sustain
you to the utmost of my ability.” With wise advice and
great concern, he urged the work forward.

Prices had advanced because there was no communication
with other countries ; all commerce was stopped, and sup¬
plies were running short. An ordinance limiting prices
and authorizing the seizure of commodities was introduced
by Judge Badger and came before the Convention, sus¬
tained by the weight of his great influence. It was also cor¬
dially supported by Judge Ruffin and Mr. Holden, who as
editor had access to the public ear. But it met with warm op¬
position. It was only after much debate that the vote was

HEATED DISCUSSIONS

667

taken, when it passed by 60 to 39. The former Democrats
generally voted in the affirmative, but some followed the lead
of Governor Graham in opposition. A proposition to char¬
ter the Piedmont Railroad to connect Greensboro with Dan¬
ville likewise raised much opposition. It was antagonized
by the eastern members who still adhered to the State policy
of preventing the division of the commonwealth by such
a north and south line, and they succeeded in postponing
a vote on it.

An ordinance, offered by Judge Biggs following the prec¬
edent of the action in 1775, to require every male citizen
except those in the army to take an oath of fealty, engen¬
dered much heat in the Convention. Besides the oath pre¬
scribed, the proposed ordinance declared that the following
acts should be held high misdemeanors : attempting to con¬
vey intelligence to the enemy ; deliberately speaking or
writing against the public defense; maliciously endeavoring
to incite the people to resist the government of the State or
of the Confederate States; maliciously terrifying or dis¬
couraging the people from enlisting; stirring up tumults or
insurrection; disposing the people to favor the enemy and
endeavoring to prevent the measures carried on in support
of the freedom and independence of the Confederate States.
Governor Graham opposed the ordinance, making a speech,
thought to be the greatest of his life. While he particularly
opposed the oath, he “traced and laid bare” the dangerous
tendencies which everywhere lurked under this ordinance,
declaring, “We are resolved to be independent and free not
only in the end, but in the means.” The proposed ordinance
was regarded by its opponents as plenary evidence that the
Secessionists would strike down civil liberty in their zeal
for independence. But its advocates did not consider that
civil liberty was at all involved in the measure. They held
it no more an impairment of civil liberty to suppress enemies
at home than to kill enemies at the front. This discussion
tended to draw a strong line between the factions, and its
effect was felt among the people, Governor Graham’s
speech being distributed in pamphlet throughout the State.
Eventually the subject was postponed by a vote of 79 to 22:

Fealty

Biggs’s ordi¬
nance

GVaham

opposes

McGehee :
Oration on
Graham

Battle in
N.& O.
Review

668

HOSTILITIES RECOGNIZED AS WAR

All Confed¬
erates

Journal,
Sept. 2, pp.
15, 22

Journal, 37,
56, 64

Jan., 1862

Changes

To repel
invasion

but by a unanimous vote the Convention reasserted its
devotion to the South and affirmed its full confidence in the
wisdom, integrity, and patriotism of the “President of the
Confederate States,” and “we congratulate him and our
whole country upon the success with which he has admin¬
istered the government.” Also, resolutions were offered
declaring that “unanimity and harmony are necessary,” and
that “we will discourage all party spirit,” but as they con¬
tained what the supporters of the administration deemed
reflections on the administration, which the Convention re¬
fused to strike out, they were laid on the table. After a
session lasting less than a month the Convention adjourned
to meet towards the end of January.

When the Convention reassembled in January there were
other changes in its membership. Judge Biggs had been
appointed to the Confederate bench, and Arrington had been
elected to Congress, and several others had resigned. The
Federal fleet was already at anchor at Hatteras, and, al¬
though its great power was not thoroughly comprehended,
the Governor was authorized to take steps to meet any ex¬
igencies. He was directed to call out such portions of the
militia as might be necessary to repel invasion. Later on
in the session, in view of the expiration of the enlistments of
the twelve-months men, the Governor was directed to call for
volunteers for three years or the war, and he was to urge
the volunteers already in the service to enlist for the war.
All companies enlisting could either retain their old organi¬
zation or elect new officers. Besides, the Governor was
authorized to appoint as captain any one who could recruit
40 privates ; as first lieutenant, one who could secure 25
privates, and as second lieutenant, one who had 1 5 privates :
and $50 bounty was to be paid to every one who enlisted.

The current expenses were already heavy and the re¬
sources of the treasury were taxed to their capacity. The
disbursements for militarv purposes had been $3,976,000,
and for other purposes $047,307. The bountv of $50 to
each of the 38,000 troops in the field would add nearly two
millions more. Yet the Convention was not daunted by this
expenditure. Without hesitation it went on making pro-

PROVIDING SINEWS OF WAR

669

vision for defense. It assumed the payment of the Con¬
federate tax, and for that purpose issued treasury notes
bearing seven per cent interest and convertible into seven
per cent bonds. To meet other requirements it authorized
the funding of the outstanding notes into eight per cent
bonds and the issue of additional notes. It laid special
taxes, and especially a tax of thirty cents a gallon on
spirituous liquors; but after April, 1862, the manufacture of
spirits was to cease. Not only were the ordinary subjects
of legislation taken into consideration, but constitutional
provisions were carefully considered. The Cheraw and
Coalfield Railroad, and the Washington Railroad were
chartered. But particularly was the Convention concerned
about the state of affairs in the eastern part of the State, a
Federal fleet having passed through Ocracoke Inlet and
entered the sound, threatening Roanoke Island.

When at length the news came of the disaster of Roanoke
Island there was almost a panic. A few advocated im¬
mediate adjournment, but for five days the Convention sat,
chiefly with closed doors, and on the 26th of February it
adjourned to meet again in April.

Prohibition

Roanoke

Island

CHAPTER XLII

Fall of Roanoke Island

Conditions near Hatteras. — The loyal government. — Colonel
Weber acts on the Philadelphia motto. — The First United States
Regiment. — North Carolina volunteers. — Marble Taylor and Fos¬
ter. — Bancroft’s meeting in New York. — The Convention of 20. —
Election. — Ignored by Congress. — The appointment of General
Wise. — The Federal expedition. — The defenses imperfect. — Colo¬
nel Shaw in local command. — The Confederate flotilla. — The
attack. — Major Hill defends Fort Bartow. — The Federals land. —
The Confederates concentrate at the road intrenchments. —
The assault. — The stubborn defense.' — The death of 0. Jennings
Wise. — Seldon and Coles. — Flanked, Colonel Shaw withdraws. —
Arrival of Colonel Wharton Green and Major Fry. — The surren¬
der. — Elizabeth City occupied. — The general consternation. — The
proclamation of Burnside and Rowan. — Finding of the Congres¬
sional Committee. — The Delaware repulsed by Colonel Williams
at Winton. — The Confederates retire. — The gunboats return and
burn Winton. — The prisoners paroled.

The loyal government

Sept,, 1861 Within a week after the fall of Hatteras 250 persons had
taken the oath of allegiance to the Union, and on their
representations as to the prevalence of Union sentiment in
the Albemarle counties efforts were made to interest others
on the Union side. On September 17, Colonel Hawkins, in
command, issued an address and proclamation,
a r., Iv, Judge Biggs informed General Gatlin, the general in
command, that “while bul^ few of the inhabitants were dis- ,
loyal, the sentiment in Washington, Tyrrell and Beaufort
gave uneasiness. And Hyde was even more amenable to
Union persuasion than these. ”

Removed from elbow touch with the rest of the State,
open to invasions and fearful of hostilities, many of the
inhabitants thought to save themselves by submission.

They were in a novel predicament. At heart, the people
ibid., 608 there had loved the Union like the people of the State and
of the South, generally. Forced to withdraw from it, by the

BEAUTY AND BOOTY

671

alternative presented by President Lincoln, they now were
awakened to the perils of their situation.

In Philadelphia, it was commonly reported that to secure
enlistments, a standard had been raised, inscribed ‘‘Beauty
and Booty” — and as soon as the Federal soldiers had put
foot on ground they began their work of pillage. Colonel
Rush interfered to prevent; but the Twentieth New York,
under Colonel Weber, was so intent on despoiling the enemy
and, incidentally, appropriating the goods of others to their
own use, that Colonel Rush was ignored.

Not amenable to discipline — although perhaps yielding
as to the Beauty — they would not be denied Booty, until
at length Colonel Rush threatened to turn his artillery on
them. Not unnaturally, fears spread throughout all the
country accessible to their inroads. It was the first ex¬
perience of any of the inhabitants under such conditions.
Cut off from close intercourse with the interior of the
State, some thought it behooved them to make terms ; and
the wonder is that many bore themselves so steadfastly un¬
der their trying conditions. Those who forsook their
neighbors seemed to realize that they had embraced the
fortunes of an outcast, and generally acted as if they bore
the mark of Cain.

In order to fix some in their loyalty, it was arranged to
have them enlist as soldiers in the First Regiment of North
Carolina V olunteers ; and later this regiment was stationed
at Fort Macon.

Among those who sought to cooperate with the Federals
were a Methodist minister, Marble Nash Taylor, who orig¬
inally came from the panhandle of Virginia, and Charles
H. Foster, originally from Maine, who had been expelled
from Murfreesboro by a meeting of the citizens. These
went to New York early in November and a plan was
formed for the establishment of a legal government in
North Carolina. At a meeting held for the purpose, George
Bancroft, the historian, presided. Mr. Bancroft’s interest
in North Carolina had early been so keenly excited that in
the first edition of his history he paid a glowing but just
tribute to the patriotic fervor of the freemen of the Albe-

Beauty and
Booty

First N. C.
Volunteers

Taylor and
Foster

Nov., 1861

O. R., rC
122, 630

672

FALL OF ROANOKE ISLAND

1.S61

marie region and their devotion to government; but in the
second edition of his great work, after secession, he ex¬
punged that admirable and truthful portrayal of the char¬
acteristics of the Colonial Carolinians.

Pursuant to Foster’s plan a meeting was held at Hatteras
on November 18, called a convention, but attended by only
twenty persons. Ordinances were adopted proclaiming the
Ordinance of Secession a nullity; proclaiming Taylor the
Provisional Governor, and instructing the Governor to
hold an election for Representative in Congress, that honor
being reserved for Foster. An election was held, the voting
being in Hyde County, and Foster received all the votes
cast, but the House declined to admit him. Thereupon,
another election was held January 16, and again he re¬
ceived all the votes cast ; but not satisfied, a third election
was held January 30, 1862, but he was not admitted as a
Representative.

Foster, however, remained of the same mind. In De¬
cember, 1862, Governor Stanly ordered an election for rep¬
resentatives for the Second district. Jennings Pigott, his
private secretary, was chosen ; but Foster contested the
election. Neither was seated. After the war Taylor set¬
tled at Fayetteville, and became an esteemed citizen.

The fall of Roanoke Island

After General Hill’s departure from the State the work
of preparing for the defense of Roanoke Island was left
entirely to the local officers, and, although prosecuted with
vigor, for the want of hands and implements, progressed
very slowly. Nor were either guns, munitions or troops
supplied. It was known that forces and transports were
gathering at Hampton Roads, and apprehensions were felt
lest the North Carolina coast was to be the objective point.

General Henry A. Wise was informed by the War De¬
partment that he would have command of the Albemarle
region, so he visited Roanoke Island and was impressed with
its defenseless condition; but it was not until January ti
that his assignment was announced by General Huger,
the Department Commander. General Wise had been Gov-

FEDERAL FLEET AT HATTERAS

6 73

ernor of Virginia and had early raised a legion of infantry
and artillery, which had seen service at the west, and he
expected his legion to accompany him, but it was then
scattered and only a part came. He took a very intelligent
view of the situation and earnestly urged that reinforce¬
ments and additional supplies be sent him. Acknowledg¬
ing his requisitions, the Secretary of War replied, “Our
supply of cannon powder is very limited. At the first in¬
dication of an attack, a supply will be sent you.” General
Wise insisted that at least three thousand men were needed
on the Island, and, especially, he represented that there
were no artillerymen at the batteries, and he asked that a
company be sent.

After long and great preparation the threatened expedi¬
tion, composed of eighty vessels, carrying fifteen thousand
troops, the most formidable array ever collected in America,
on the nth of January, set sail from Fortress Monroe under
the command of General Burnside, and arrived at Hatteras
the next day. Now there was no further doubt of its des¬
tination, and three days later General Wise reported that
inside of Hatteras were twenty-four vessels, eight of which
were gunboats, ready to attack five small gunboats and four
small batteries, wholly inefficient. That force he urged is
amply sufficient to capture or to pass Roanoke Island in any
twelve hours. “If we are to await a supply of powder until
we are attacked, the attack will be our capture and our de¬
feat will precede our supply of ammunition.” The next
day in special orders he announced that an attack was
hourly expected, and he enjoined every effort to withstand
it. Colonel Henningson of the Wise legion was dispatched
on a mission to Governor Clark, urging aid. General Wise
was of opinion that there should have been marsh batteries
to prevent the enemy from landing on the southern part of
the island, but the marshes and shallows had been relied on
as sufficiently protecting the southern part, and batteries had
been erected early in the northern part of the island. The
channel between the island and the mainland had been ob¬
structed by pilings and sunken vessels, and there lay the
little Confederate fleet carrying seven guns.

The fleet
sails

The attack
expected

674

FALL OF ROANOKE ISLAND

The batteries

The most southern battery, more than half way up the
island, was a sand redoubt, mounting several 32-pounders
and one rifled cannon, pretentiously named Fort Bartow ;
while two miles higher up was Fort Blanchard, of similar
construction; and a mile away was Fort Huger. On the
mainland opposite a naval battery was in progress.

Through the center of the island, where the dry land
was confined by swamps and morasses on either side, there
was a road from the north to the south, and across this,
two miles from Fort Bartow, were some intrenchments, a
hundred feet long, strengthened by three old guns. There
was no artillery company on the island, but Maj. Gabriel
H. Hill, a Wilmingtonian, who had been appointed to the
United States Army in 1855, was in command at Fort Bar¬
tow and had trained two companies of the Seventeenth
Regiment that had not been captured at Hatteras. Major
Hill was assisted by Lieut. B. P. Loyall, of the Navy, and
Lieut. T. M. R. Talcott; while Capt. John S. Taylor, also
an officer of experience, had charge of the other batteries ;
these officers having been sent to Colonel Shaw by General
Huger in January.

As the days passed every one was impressed by the
gravity of the situation and preparations for the expected
attack were hastened, while both Commodore Lynch and
General Wise redoubled their efforts to obtain reinforce¬
ments and supplies, and especially they asked for men
trained to serve the cannon. But General Huger was slow
in responding. There was ample time, for the water at
the bar at Hatteras was too shallow to admit the larger
vessels and the weather was bad. Three weeks elapsed
before General Burnside was ready to proceed, and it was
not until the morning of February 6 that the Federal flotilla
was seen approaching the island.

Unfortunately General Wise was then confined by serious
illness at Nags Head, where he had established his head¬
quarters, and so the full responsibility rested on Colonel
Shaw, who, however, knew the details of the situation thor¬
oughly. Outside of the small garrison in the batteries,
there were on the island only 824 effective men, being the

FEDERALS EFFECT LANDING

675

Eighth and Thirty-first North Carolina troops. A detach¬
ment with a field piece had been stationed at Ashby’s Land¬
ing, two miles south of Fort Bartow, and Colonel Jordan
was at that point. All were in a state of expectancy on the
morning of the 7th, when thirty gunboats were seen ad¬
vancing in tw'o divisions, the rear one having in tow the
transports carrying the troops.

About 11 o’clock the first division subdivided, one part
engaging the Confederate vessels and the other attacking
Fort Bartow, using large guns, 10 and 11-inch, and rifled
cannon. Commodore Lynch sustained the conflict gal¬
lantly all through the day, losing the Curlew and the Forest,
and he retired only at night when his ammunition had been
expended. Fort Bartow likewise made a notable defense,
replying gun for gun, and firing so effectively that soon the
vessels sought such a position that only three guns could
be brought to bear upon them. All through the day the
bombardment continued, much damage being sustained
by the fleet, and the fort suffering also, the quarters being
destroyed by fire; but Major Hill worked all night, making
such repairs that he was ready to resume the battle the
next morning.

During the progress of this bombardment, in the after¬
noon, steamers having in tow boats filled with troops under
the protection of gunboats, effected a landing at Ham¬
mond’s, south of Fort Bartow, but above Ashby’s. They
landed about dark, and in less than twenty minutes 4,000
Federal troops had established themselves on the dry land;
and during the night three brigades, in all fifteen thousand
men, under Generals Foster, Reno and Parke, were landed.

Colonel Jordan, finding that a landing had been made
north of his station, withdrew his detachment and took
post at the intrenchments, and here Colonel Shaw concen¬
trated his available force. On the next morning Fort Bar¬
tow again engaged the fleet, maintaining the contest until
noon, when the vessels pulled off; but later, when Major
Hill learned that the Federal troops were in his rear, he
withdrew, and Captain Tavlor likewise abandoned the other
forts. On the evening of the 7th General Wise had sent

Feb. 7, 1862
The attack

Hill’s de¬
fense

The troops
landed

Wise’s Rich¬
mond Blues

6j6

FALL OF ROANOKE ISLAND

The battle

from Nags Head about 400 men of the Fifty-ninth Vir¬
ginia under Colonel Anderson and also the Richmond
Blues, Capt. O. Jennings Wise, commanding; and these
were the only reinforcements that arrived in time to, par¬
ticipate in the defense..

Colonel Shaw placed the three cannon at the intrench-
ments under Captain Schermerhorn, Lieutenant Kinsey and
Lieutenant Seldon, and had Colonel Anderson to throw
three companies of the Virginians on either side to prevent
any approach through the swamps, and. as the intrench-
ments could hold only about two hundred men, the others
were retired a short distance to the rear in reserve.

The companies within the breastworks were Company B,
Eighth North Carolina, Captain Watson ; Company B,
Thirty-first North Carolina, Captain Liles ; Company F,
Thirty-first, Captain Knight; Company E, Fifty-ninth Vir¬
ginia, and Company E, Eighth North Carolina, Lieutenant
Murchison. Some of these served the cannon, and others
stood guard at the parapet. It was about seven o’clock
when the Federal column, under General Foster, with seven
howitzers in the advance, made a turn in the road and saw
the intrenchments some seven hundred yards in their front.
The road now was a mere causeway, flanked with swamps,
and the wood had been removed so as to give the cannon
at the intrenchments full sweep. General Foster quickly
placed his battery in position, and supporting it with two
regiments, dispatched two other regiments to the eastern
swamp to approach from that side. When General Reno
came up he led his brigade to the left to turn the Confed¬
erate right. General Parke followed Foster’s regiment into
the eastern swamp. In the meantime the engagement was
in hot progress. The Federal battery fired rapidly, and the
cannon at the intrenchments were effectively served by the
brave officers who had them in charge. On the right and
left the infantry were active and efficient.

General Reno said in his report : “We were soon hotly
engaged, but I kept moving by the flank toward the left.
Finally, after the lapse of two hours, we succeeded in turn¬
ing their right.” It was the Twenty-first Massachusetts

AMMUNITION EXHAUSTED

6 77

r'V

that, passing farthest to the west, got through the deep
swamp. Colonel Maggi, of that regiment, says: “We had
seen in front the infantry that supported the right flank of
the battery. It was then that the fire began to be really hot,
and I had many men put hors du combat. But we steadily
kept firing for more than two hours, advancing towards the
front and left at the same time. I was at the moment at
the edge of the swamp, and in front of. me was an exposed
ground of a hundred yards. The regiment once in line, I
commanded a general fire. The battery was already flanked.
General Reno directed a charge.”

General Reno says that the charge was most gallantly
executed by the Fifty-first New York and the Ninth New
Jersey, as well as. the Massachusetts regiment; that Foster's
brigade attacked in front, and General Parke' was in the
act of turning the left when his brigade charged and took
the battery. Colonel Shaw mentions in glowing terms the
conduct of the men serving the artillery, which was handled
so as to produce immense havoc in the enemy’s ranks.
Especially he mentioned Lieutenant Seldon, “whose conduct
elicited the unbounded admiration of all who witnessed it.
In the meantime the fire of the musketry had been kept up
from the commencement of the action with vigor. At about
half past twelve the artillery ammunition was exhausted,
and the right flank was turned by an overwhelming force
of the enemy, I was compelled to yield the place.”

Among the killed were Captain Wise and Captain Coles
and Lieutenant Seldon of Virginia, all deeply lamented.
The Virginians lost 6 killed and 28 wounded : and the
North Carolinians 16 killed and 30 wounded. The loss of
the Federals was officially reported at 37 killed and 214
wounded.

Colonel Shaw withdrew his troops to their camp at the
northern end of the island, not being closely pursued, but
desultory firing continued all through the night. Had there
been means of transportation the entire force could have
been transferred to Nags Head, but intelligent direction
was sadly lacking at General Wise’s headquarters, and no
transportation had been provided. In the evening, after the

Shaw retires

6;8

FALL OF ROANOKE ISLAND

Colonel

Green

Fowle

Wise leaves

Official
Records,
Series I,

Yol. IX, 624

Lynch’s fleet

battle, Col. Wharton Green and Major Fry arrived on the
island with their commands numbering some 450 men.
The next morning as Colonel Green was moving to an ad¬
vanced position, in obedience to orders, he met the Twenty-
first Massachusetts, and, after a short conflict, he retired
to the camp of the Thirty-first North Carolina. The Fed-
erals also fell back. General Foster had advanced in force ;
and on consultation, * Colonel Shaw found it necessary to
surrender. Lieut. Col. D. G. Fowle bore a flag of truce
asking terms, but unconditional surrender was required.

A small number of men being acquainted with the island,
succeeded in making their escape before and after the sur¬
render. About 150 reached Nags Head. General Wise at
once burnt the houses at Nags Head where his troops had
been stationed, and with three companies and those who had
escaped from the island, hurried to Poplar Branch in Cur¬
rituck, and set to work to obstruct the canal.

Elizabeth City

Colonel Henningson, of the Wise legion, being in the
vicinity of Elizabeth City with a light battery, was directed
by General Wise to do what was possible for the defense of
that place. There was an incompleted four-gun battery on
the river, two miles from the town, but no men to serve
the guns. There were no cartridges, but 300 pounds of
blasting powder was found, and such preparations as could
be made were undertaken. The Confederate fleet now con¬
sisted of six small steamers and one schooner ; the Federals
had thirty gunboats, each armed with a heavy gun. On
the night of the 7th Commodore Lynch’s fleet, having ex¬
hausted its ammunition, left Roanoke Island and made its
way to Elizabeth City, and sent the Raleigh, commanded
by Lieut. Joseph W. Alexander of Lincoln County, and the
Beaufort, commanded by Lieut. W. H. Parker, up the canal
to Norfolk ; having to some extent supplied the Sea Bird and
Appomattox, Commodore Lynch started on the 9th to return
to the island. However, he had not proceeded far before he
met a boat bringing the news of the surrender of the
island, and soon after he saw the Federal fleet approaching.

ELIZABETH CITY TAKEN

679

He at once returned and formed a line of battle across the
river, near the battery, of which he took personal command,
manning three guns with the crew of one of his vessels. The Federal
The Federal fleet, however, paid slight attention to the fleet
battery, but quickly passed it, and engaged the Confederate
vessels that had few men and little ammunition. The Ellis
was commanded by Lieut.-Commander James' W. Cooke
of Beaufort who had shortly before replaced Commander
W. T. Muse of Pasquotank County, transferred to a higher
command. Cooke had entered the naval service in 1828
and was an accomplished officer, as indeed were the others,
especially Alexander, who had been a greater prodigy at
the Naval Academy even than Pettigrew had been at the
University. Boats from two Federal vessels came to board
the Ellis. Cooke had been badly wounded and saw that the
fight was hopeless. He ordered the Ellis to be blown up.
but the Federals prevented. He then ordered the men to
escape in boats ; some did so. Severely wounded, he re¬
mained, but fighting to the last. The Ellis was taken. The
Sea Bird was sunk and the Fanny burned. The Appomat¬
tox escaped up the canal. Then the Federal fleet steamed
up to the town. Colonel Henningson had two pieces of Official
artillery below the town, but as the gunboats approached, series i,’
he retired and retreated on the road to Edenton. Colonel Vo1' VI’ 594
Starke and some other citizens were so determined in their
purpose to resist that they proposed to burn the town, and
at their request, Colonel Henningson detailed Lieutenant
Scruggs and some men to assist in that work. But the
seamen from the gunboats were quickly ashore, and see¬
ing the effort to destroy the town, they arrested Scruggs ke tries
and stopped the proceedings. However, Commander to bum the
Rowan, fearing that his men would be charged with the town
wanton destruction of the place, ordered all his men to
return to their vessels.

On the nth Commander Rowan dispatched an expedi¬
tion of several vessels to Edenton with directions to pro¬
ceed and destroy the canal. They found part of a light At Edenton
battery at Edenton which retired without offering any re¬
sistance, and they carried away some wheat and cotton.

68o

FALL OF ROANOKE ISLAND

Feb. 13,
1862

Tales of My
Grandfather

Official
Records,
Series I,

Yol. IX, 639

The procla¬
mation

On the 13th three vessels approached the mouth of the
canal, but finding it obstructed, they returned. General
Wise was there with three companies, but withdrew.

The fall of Roanoke Island created the greatest con-
sternation throughout the Albemarle section. The action
of the inhabitants of Elizabeth City was but a manifesta¬
tion of the general alarm that seized the people. “Finish¬
ing our hasty breakfast/’ wrote Colonel Creecy, “we
mounted our horses and set out for town, and our eyes
opened on a sight we hope never to see again. All the
people of the town were on the road, most of them afoot,
shoe-top deep in mud and slush, muddy, bedraggled, un¬
happy, wretched. They were looking for an asylum of safety
among country friends. We met several of our friends
forlorn and miserable. We asked for others, and they
told us the town was on fire and was deserted, and that a
naval engagement was raging in the harbor. We soon
met Colonel Henningson on the road, flying before an un¬
seen enemy. We met some ladies afoot, unhappy, looking
for an asylum. We met the Piedmonts in Little Billie's
three-mule cart, looking for our house. They told us of
the distress; that it was as dead as a graveyard; that all
had left, some never to return. We asked after our friends.
They said that some had set fire to their houses and made
tracks for Currituck ; that others had done the same and that
the whole town was then on fire to spite the Yankees: that
the Elliotts had started on foot for Oxford, that the Martins
were in a buggy flying for Oxford, that Rev. E. M. Forbes
was staying in town to meet the Yankees when they landed,
surrender the town and ask protection ; that Mr. Forbes,
when they left, was putting on his ecclesiastical vestments
in order that they might respect his sacred office. It was
a grand, gloomy and peculiar time.”

Indeed- to those who were devoted to the South, it was
harrowing. But all through that part of the State there
were some who were not attached to the Southern cause.
This was well known to the Federal commanders, from in¬
formation received at Hatteras, and they sought to draw
the people to the L'nion side by skillfully written procla-

BRILLIANT AND GALLANT ACTION

68 1

mations. “We are Christians,” said General Burnside and
Commander Rowan, “as well as yourselves, and we profess
to know full well and to feel profoundly the sacred obli¬
gations of the character. These men are your worst ene¬
mies. They in truth have drawn you into your present
condition, and are the real disturbers of your peace and the
happiness of your firesides. We invite you to separate JJecorlL
yourselves at once from their malign influence. The gov- yS^ix’ 364
ernment in no manner or way desires to interfere with your
laws, your institutions, your property or your usages in
any respect.” And certainly their words fell on some will¬
ing ears.

The defense approved

Although the officers in command at Roanoke Island had
made representations without ceasing of its defenseless con¬
dition, when the disaster came it was followed by a wave of
indignation. General Huger1 substantially asked that Gen¬
eral Wise should be removed out of his department, and
both Colonel Shaw and Colonel Jordan were severely crit¬
icized. General Wise was not content, and would bear no
adverse comment. He asked for a court of inquiry as to his
conduct and also as to that of General Huger. A Con¬
gressional committee found that the defense was one of the
most brilliant and gallant actions of the war, and “both
officers and men fought firmly, coolly, efficiently and as
long as humanity would allow. The committee are satis¬
fied that the whole command did their duty; that Colonel
Shaw commanded in person, sharing the dangers of his
men for more than five hours with a firmness, coolness, and
bravery worthy of the position he occupied ; that the officers
and men at Fort Bartow displayed great coolness and cour¬
age and persevering efforts to sustain their position.” And
the committee reported that whatever blame there was
should attach to Major General Huger and to the late Sec¬
retary of War, J. P. Benjamin. Certainly both of those
officials had been derelict since neither had manifested any
particular interest in the defense of such an important posi¬
tion : but the Department was hampered by a dearth of all

Ibid., 187

Ibid., 191

Huger’s

delinquency

682

FALL OF ROANOKE ISLAND

Official
Records,
Series I,

Yol. IX, 426

Feb. 18

Moore, II,
158

Official
Records,
Series I,

Yol. XI, 196

munitions needed for defense. On February 3, the Secre¬
tary of War wrote to Governor Clark: “I have just or¬
dered two batteries of artillery to your aid and have in¬
structed General Huger to see in person to the defense at
Roanoke. He will also send 2,000 or 3,000 men, perhaps
more, that can be spared from Norfolk. I am sure I could
organize the defense of our country, wherever attacked, if
I only had munitions.” But Huger did not act.

The destruction of Winton

Under orders from General Parke on the 18th, Colonel
Rush with the Ninth New York embarked in several gun¬
boats to proceed up the Black water and Nottaway rivers and
destroy the bridges of the Seaboard Railway. As the
leading vessel, the Delaware , approached Winton, Lt. Col.
W. T. Williams of Nash, with a battalion of six companies
raised in Nash, and Nichols’s Light Battery from Peters¬
burg, sought to defend the town, and kept up a constant
fire until that vessel had passed out of range. The Perry
then came into action and a rapid bombardment was begun
by those vessels. The gunboats, however, retired down the
river about seven miles ; but on consultation it was deter¬
mined to return the next morning, and, if the town should
then be occupied by the Confederates, to burn it. At noon
on the 20th the gunboats returned and, having taken posi¬
tion opened fire, and without resistance the Ninth New
York landed and waited an attack. But Colonel Williams
had withdrawn his battalion to Murfreesboro, and not¬
withstanding the peaceable occupancy, Colonel Hawkins or¬
dered every building that had Confederate stores in it or
had been occupied by the Confederates to he burnt. The
hotel and nearly every private building in the village were
destroyed. Having accomplished that much, Colonel Haw¬
kins decided that it would be impossible to destroy the
bridges, the particular object of his expedition, and so he
returned to Roanoke.

Under an agreement entered into by General Burnside and
General Huger all the prisoners taken in this expedition
were at once paroled.

CHAPTER XLIII

Fall of New Bern and Fort Macon

Consternation at the invasion. — Preparations at New Bern. —
General Branch in command. — The Federals land. — The troops
concentrate at Fort Thompson. — The .attack March 14. — The
Federals penetrate the line. — The Confederates driven off. —
Haywood’s final stand. — The retreat. — General Branch holds the
road open for retreat. — Retires to Kinston. — The bridge burnt. —
Hoke and Vance cross Bryce Creek and reach Trenton. — The
inhabitants leave New Bern. — General Parke invests Fort Macon.
— Washington visited.— General Gatlin relieved. — Delayed action
now taken. — Lee in command of the entire department. — Holmes
in command of the State. — Robert Ransom of the Pamlico Dis¬
trict. — Branch’s brigade formed. — The Governor calls for volun¬
teers from the militia. — The rush to the camps. — The dearth of
arms. — General Lee directs Major Ashe to collect arms from
the people. — Mrs. Blalock. — General Parke reaches Fort Macon. —
Colonel White in command. — The attack. — The resolute battle.
The surrender. — The garrison paroled. — Boothe near Newport. —
Egloffstein and Robinson at Gillett’s farm. — Robinson’s fine
conduct.

The capture of Roanoke Island and the domination of the
eastern counties bv the Federal forces and their command

of the rivers in that region produced a profound depression
throughout the State. The Convention was in session when
the news reached Raleigh, and, says Dr. Battle, “Many dele¬
gates lost their heads. There was almost a panic for a few
minutes. A few advocated immediate adjournment. Some
looked and acted as if there was immediate danger of Burn¬
side’s cavalry making a dash on Raleigh.” At the in¬
stance of Judge Badger the Governor was asked to com¬
municate all correspondence with the War Department
relating to the coast defense, and then the Convention
went into secret session and passed resolutions for the
return of North Carolina regiments to the State, which
were telegraphed to the President. With the consternation
there was not unmingled indignation among many who
were sincere supporters of the Confederate cause, while
the disaster strengthened those not in sympathy with the
Confederacy and gave point to their criticism of the admin¬
istration. Governor Clark became still more urgent than

March, 1862

Proceedings
of Conven¬
tion, 128

684

FALL OF NEW BERN AND FORT MACON

General

Branch

ever in his demands on the War Department, and, indeed,
being from Edgecombe County, he knew the importance of
that region to the Confederacy and fully realized the peril
to the vital railroad connection between the South and Vir¬
ginia. Nor were the Confederate authorities slow to see
the danger, and regiment after regiment was now hurried
to protect the railroad between Weldon and Norfolk.

When it became known that the Burnside expedition was
destined to attack the sounds Colonel Branch of the Thirty-
third regiment was promoted and assigned to the command
of the District of Pamlico, which embraced New Bern, and
General Branch made his headquarters at that point.
General Branch had exhibited fine capacity and adminis¬
trative ability. His career in Congress had made him
popular. He had made an excellent colonel. He had many
ties in the Pamlico section, and his appointment was based,
among other things, on the consideration that he could do
more than any one else to stimulate the patriotism of the
people in that region. He was advised by General Gatlin
to proceed zealously in his preparations, but with delibera¬
tion, for the Federal force would hardly leave Roanoke
Island in their rear. The defenses planned for New Bern
and partially completed were extensive, beginning at Otter
Creek, ten miles below, and consisting of a breastwork
nearly a mile long between the Neuse and an impassable
swamp, and readily held against infantry assaults ; but for
a distance of six miles there were no batteries to prevent
a landing in the rear. Then came Fort Thompson, four
miles from the city, and some incomplete breastworks ex¬
tending to the south, with redoubts well located here and
there.

General Branch, on taking charge, wisely determined not
to rely on the Otter Creek defenses as they could be taken
in the rear, but to complete those at Fort Thompson. He
had not, however, fully accomplished his purpose when the
enemy approached.

The Burnside expedition was designed not merely to take
possession of the sound, but to penetrate into the interior.
Indeed, it was contemplated that after capturing the towns

BATTLE BEFORE NEW BERN

685

accessible to his fleet, General Burnside would destroy the
Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, and even take Raleigh
and, later, Wilmington. For these extensive operations am¬
ple preparation had been made in men, material and muni¬
tions, and adequate transportation had been provided in ves¬
sels of light draught. Pursuant to his orders, on the 12th
of March, all being in readiness, Burnside’s entire force
embarked for the attack on New Bern, and landed at Slo-
cumb’s Creek the next morning.

Tlie battle

On the approach of the vessels, on the evening of the
1 2th, General Branch sent the Thirty-fifth North Carolina,
Colonel Sinclair, to a landing near the mouth of Otter
Creek to resist any attempt to land, and other regiments were
stationed to protect the shore : but on learning that the
enemy had landed still farther below, the troops occupied the
breastworks. The gunboats, however, drove off Sinclair’s
regiment and landed troops in the rear of these advanced
works, and Colonel Campbell, thereupon directed that all
the regiments should retire to Fort Thompson. Every
effort was now made to strengthen and complete that line
of defense, but at the point where the railroad crossed it
there was a portion unfinished, although a brickkiln afforded
some protection.

The Thirty-seventh North Carolina, Lieutenant Colonel
Barbour, and the Twenty-seventh, Major Gilmer, were
posted from the fort to the county road, Colonel Lee being
in command of that wing. The Seventh, Colonel Haywood,
the Thirty-fifth, Colonel Sinclair, and the Craven County
Militia, Colonel Clark, were stationed between the two
roads, Colonel Campbell being in command there.

On the extreme right, beyond the railroad, were placed
the Twenty-sixth, Colonel Vance, along with two dismounted
'companies of the Second Cavalry, Colonel Spruill, one un¬
attached company, and two pieces of Brem’s Battery, the dis¬
tance covered being a mile and a half. At the brick yard,
where there was a break in the line, an artillery company
was stationed to man guns that, however, had not been

Burnside’s

plans

Official
Records,
Series I,

Vol. IX, 198

March 12

686

FALL OF NEW BERN AND FORT MACON

1862

March 14

The repulse

Official
Records,
Series I,

Vol. IX, 225

The line
broken

The Thirty-
third

Another

inroad

mounted, because the advance of the enemy had interrupted
the work. Back of the line and resting on the railroad,
the Thirty-third, Branch’s old regiment, now under Colonel
Avery, was held in reserve. With these dispositions, on
the morning of the 14th General Branch awaited the attack.

At y 130 the Federal column approached. Foster’s bri¬
gade, on the county road, assailed the Confederate left,
making a warm attack; but Latham’s Battery held them
in check, Latham himself continuing to serve one piece
effectively even after all his men but three had been either
killed or wounded. Meeting with this resistance, the Fed-
erals changed their ground and attacked the lines near the
fort itself. Here, likewise, they were repulsed. The former
navy officer, Colonel Crossan, in command, opened on them
with canister and grape with such great effect that no
further assault was made there, although the Federals
maintained a constant fire, while the exposed garrison suf¬
fered severely from the cannonade of the gunboats. In
the meantime, General Reno, advancing on the railroad,
attacked the Confederate right. The break in the line of
breastworks at the railroad now proved fatal to the de¬
fense. The Twenty-first Massachusetts, despite the re¬
sistance of the artillery company stationed there, found but
little difficulty in penetrating at that point, and soon were
on the flank of the militia holding the intrenchments. See¬
ing themselves taken in the rear, the militia fled : and thus,
at 10 o’clock, the flank of the Thirty-fifth also became ex¬
posed, and they too retired. The Thirty-third, Colonel
Avery, responded with alacrity and, gallantly pressing for¬
ward, with a volley hurled back the Massachusetts regiment
and took post along the breastworks on the right of the rail¬
road ; Major Lewis on the left; Colonel Avery, with the
center companies, some distance to the right, and Lieutenant
Colonel Hoke still farther towards Vance, but separated
from him by a quarter of a mile.

The space made vacant by the withdrawal of the Thirty-
fifth had not been filled when General Parke’s regiments
hurried to seize the intrenchments, and a part of the Twenty-
first Massachusetts reforming, advanced, capturing a sec-

1. Robert F. Hoke
4. Daniel H. Hill

3. Charles F. Fisher

William D. Pender
J. Johnston Pettigrew

BATTLE LOST

687

tion of Brem’s Battery at that point and gained the flank
of the Seventh Regiment. By direction of Colonel Camp¬
bell, Colonel Haywood, abandoning his breastworks, charged
this flanking force with the bayonet and drove them before
him over the intrenchment. It was about 12 o’clock when
Parke’s regiments were pressing at this point, and at the
same time the Federals were active everywhere along the
entire front of more than two miles. Haywood, Lewis,
Avery and Hoke were all in detached positions, while Vance
was engaged still farther to the right. Each of these was
firmly holding his ground at the front, but presently several
Federal regiments succeeded in passing through the center
and gaining their rear.

When Colonel Campbell saw the enemy in the rear of his
right flank, he drew his companies off, and Colonel Lee, af¬
ter sending a part of the Thirty-seventh to the aid of Camp¬
bell, likewise withdrew his regiment. Up to that time these
troops on the left had not been closely engaged and had suf¬
fered but little. Haywood, discovering that Campbell had
retired and that several Federal regiments were in his rear,
likewise withdrew, but towards Vance’s camp farther to
the right, and there he maintained his organization, and
stood his ground until, realizing that the battle was lost,
he followed on to New Bern.

While these movements were being made, General Foster
had penetrated to the rear of Lewis and Avery; and Avery,
being surrounded by a much superior force, after a gal¬
lant resistance, found it necessary to surrender his regi¬
ment, now much reduced. Hoke, still farther to the right,
observing that while he was hotly engaged in front, Federal
flags had been erected on the breastworks to his left, and
that Avery was no longer on his left, undertook to retire.
But on seeing several Federal regiments in that part of the
field he withdrew farther to the right, and sought to retire
to New Bern.

Vance, confronted by Reno’s brigade, now saw that a
large force had penetrated to his rear, had pillaged his
camp, and were taking his left in reverse, and were between
him and New Bern, and that the other regiments had re-

HayAvood’s

charge

Federals
pass the
center

Confederates
forced to
withdraw

Hoke retires

In Vance’s
rear

688

FALL OF NEW BERN AND FORT MACON

The line of
escape

tired. He therefore abandoned the breastworks he had so
successfully held, led his regiment into the wood, and struck
out for the Weathersby road and Bryce Creek with the in¬
tention of gaining the Pollocksville road. At the creek, he
could procure only four small boats, and he was four hours
in getting his men across. After he had crossed, he was
joined by Colonel Hoke with his companies of the Thirty-
third, for Hoke had found the bridge at New Bern on fire,
and had likewise sought to escape by Bryce Creek. To¬
gether they took the road to Trenton, and reached Kinston
on the morning of the 16th.

When General Branch saw that the battle was lost he
dispatched couriers to Avery and Vance to fall back, and
he established himself at the intersection of the railroad and
county road to rally the troops. There he found a train of
cars and the Twenty-eighth regiment, Colonel Lowe, which
he formed to hold the enemy in check. He remained there
until all in view had passed. Thus ended the battle.

The staff is the eyes and ears of a general, and it was
unfortunate that General Branch was not informed of the
imperfect conditions at the brickkiln : and it was unfor¬
tunate that in the disposition of the troops the militia
should have been placed at the weakest point in the line and
where an attack in force was most probable. It was also
unfortunate that the Twenty-eighth regiment arrived an
hour too late to participate in the engagement, for had that
regiment been at the brickkiln in time the entire line might
have been held unbroken. The successful irruption of the
Federal regiments at that point was, under the conditions,
easily accomplished. The conduct of General Branch, Colo¬
nels Campbell, Lee and Vance, of Major Gilmer, and in¬
deed of all the officers participating was fine and worthy of
the high fame the State had won at Bethel. While all of
the troops, except the militia and a part of the Thirty-fifth
Regiment, stood up well to their work, their resolute action
in this first experience of the roar of cannon and deadly
musketry being admirable, it fell to the lot of the Seventh
and the Thirty-third to play the most heroic role in the
drama. The finest picture in the battle scene was Colonel

AVERY AND LEWIS RETIRE

689

Haywood with a part of the Seventh driving the Twenty-
first Massachusetts out of the intrenchments at the point
of the bayonet. Of Major Lewis and the left wing of the
Thirty-third, the modest Col. R. F. Hoke officially said :
“Major Lewis then moved immediately to the right of the
railroad with several companies and engaged the enemy
from that time until after 12 o’clock. He behaved most
gallantly ; was in the hottest part of the whole battlefield.
He repulsed the enemy time and again, and twice charged
them with detachments of companies, and each time made
them flee. Our loss was greater at that point than any other
as he had to fight to his front, right and left, but he still
maintained his position, fighting against greater numbers.
No one could have behaved with more coolness, bravery and
determination than he, and he deserves the praise of every
true countryman for his actions.”

Of Colonel Avery, Colonel Hoke reports: “He was in
command at the center on top of the second hill from the
railroad, encouraging his men both by actions and words.
He was perfectly cool, and never did any man act better on
the battlefield than he. His fire was very destructive.”
Continuing, Colonel Hoke said : “I was immediately at his
right and, finding the enemy were getting in strong force
on our right and were going to turn our right flank, I
moved quickly. I ordered the whole line to fire, which it
did with great execution, as the enemy fell and fled, but soon
appeared again ; and again we drove them back, but they
soon appeared in strong force and engaged us, which con¬
tinued until 12:30 o’clock. At 12 o’clock I saw the
United States flag flying upon one of our works, but saw
Colonel Avery still fighting, and I, being very busily en¬
gaged with the enemy, did not know that Colonel Avery
and Major Lewis had fallen back until I saw the enemy
upon my left with several regiments.”

Colonel Upton, of the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts, gives
this account of the surrender of Avery : “Having passed
the enemy’s camp, we filed to the left of the road, flanking.
General Parke’s brigade was expected to be on our left and
front, and General Reno to be turning the enemy’s right.

Official
Records,
Series I,

Vol. IX, 260

(>90

FALL OF NEW BERN AND FORT MACON

Official
Records,
Series I,

Yol. IX, 210

The Federals
enter

Branch at
Kinston

The regiment advanced slowly, receiving the fire of a body
of the enemy and opened fire upon them. The regiment ad¬
vanced and the enemy, to the number of about 150, surren¬
dered to General Foster.”

The Confederate loss was 64 killed, 101 wounded, and
413 missing, of whom a considerable number later came in.
On the Federal side General Burnside reported, 91 killed,
466 wounded, many mortally. To secure his retreat Gen¬
eral Branch had ordered Colonel Lee into the town, Colonel
Campbell to take charge at the bridge, and Colonel Lewis
to hold the approaches until all the troops had passed. The
bridges were soon in flames, and the gunboats passed on and
commanded the town and threw shell into it. In the mean¬
time a Confederate detail sought to burn the cotton in the
town, while others removed the government stores. As
the bridges had been fired the Federal forces in pursuit
were halted at the river, but a Federal brigade was con¬
veyed in vessels and landed at the fair grounds, where they
deployed as the Confederates withdrew. On the retreat a
rumor spread that 700 cavalry were in pursuit, and for a
time a panic prevailed among some of the men, which, how¬
ever, was soon arrested. General Branch established his
headquarters at Kinston and quickly reorganized his army.

The inhabitants leave

The occupation of the town by the Federals precipitated
the flight of those inhabitants who could abandon their
homes. Col. J. D. Whitford, the president of the railroad,
held a train in readiness, and with every description of cars
available, loaded to their full capacity with soldiers, women
and children, the train moved slowly out. The gunboats
soon began firing at the train — and as long as it was in
range the cannonade continued, but without arresting its
progress. The families settled all through the central coun¬
ties, where they remained during the continuance of the
war.

General Burnside found that the negroes in the city were
wild with delight and excitement. Nine-tenths of the dep¬
redations after the Confederate troops and citizens fled

ANDERSON SUCCEEDS GATLIN

691

were ascribed to the negroes, who became a source of great
anxiety to him, and he appointed General Foster military
governor to maintain order. He at once sent General Parke
to invest Fort Macon, and dispatched the Twenty-fourth
Massachusetts to Washington. Colonel Stevenson landed
two companies in that town on the 21st, and marched to
the courthouse, where he raised the United States flag, the
band playing national airs and the men cheering. He re¬
ported a considerable Union sentiment among the inhab¬
itants, a number of whom expressed a wish that sufficient
force could be sent there to protect them against the
Confederates.

On March 15th General Gatlin was relieved from duty,
and Gen. J. R. Anderson succeeded him in command of the
department, while General S. C. French was ordered to
take the place of Anderson at Wilmington. Every effort
had been made by General Gatlin and others to obtain
timely aid for the defense of New Bern, but without avail ;
now, the Secretary of War telegraphed Governor Clark :
“Large reinforcements are immediately requisite for the de¬
fense of your State. Call on your people to arm in defense
of their homes. ”

The victories that attended the Burnside expedition, his
great force aided by the Federal fleet being most formida¬
ble, aroused the people of the State and caused intense ex¬
citement. The Committee of Safety at Wilmington dis¬
patched a committee to confer with Governor Clark and with
President Davis, and renewed endeavors were made to per¬
fect the defenses. Nor was the Government indifferent.
General Lee was hastily brought to Richmond from South
Carolina and, while still in command of the Southern De¬
partment, became the military adviser of the President.
Gen. Robert Ransom was ordered to the State and was as¬
signed to the Pamlico District ; Gen. T. H. Holmes, in
whose experience and capacity President Davis had the
highest confidence, was given command of the Department
of North Carolina and many regiments were hurried to
Goldsboro. It was at this time that the Eighteenth, Twenty-
fifth, Twenty-eighth, Thirty-third, and Thirty-seventh regi-

At Washing¬
ton

Changes in
officers

The people
aroused

Lee in
command

6g 2

Branch’s

brigade

The railroad
threatened

The want
of arms

Reg. Hist.,

I, 9

FALL OF NEW BERN AND FORT MACON

ments were thrown into a brigade under General Branch,
and, associated in this brigade, these regiments, during the
years of the war, won imperishable renown. The President,
anxious for the safety of the railroad connection, tele¬
graphed Governor Clark: '‘Call on every man in your State
that can come with arms to rally with the utmost dispatch
to defend your line of railroad.” The great need was arms.
There were men, but no arms. Indeed, at that period the
affairs of the Confederacy were in a critical condition for
the want of munitions and arms. The North suffered
nothing in these respects; the South, cut off from foreign
supplies, had no military resources. Arms had been so
scarce that they had not been supplied to any twelve-months
men. Some arms sent to General Holmes were seized by
the Governor for the use of some regiments organized at
Raleigh. At the end of March, General Holmes reported
present for duty in his department, 24,030 troops.

In the meantime Governor Clark, who had theretofore
declined to call out the militia, allowed Adjutant General
Martin to order the militia captains to detail one-third of
their companies for service, the men so drafted to be al¬
lowed to volunteer for the war. The order was in har¬
mony with a wave of patriotism then sweeping through the
State, and prominent men in every county vied with each
other in raising troops. Instead of one-third, it was be¬
lieved, fully two-thirds of those liable to service at once
volunteered, aggregating twenty-eight regiments and several
battalions.

Arms to be collected

General Holmes, being in immediate command, on April
9th General Lee wrote to General Holmes that he had
"directed some Georgia regiments to be sent to you at
once, and as soon as they arrive you will do everything in
your power to arm and prepare them for service. I am
informed by Major Ashe of North Carolina that large
numbers of country rifles and other arms can be collected
in that State ; and I have directed him to get all he can.
You will do everything in your power to collect arms for

• WOMAN IN THE RANKS

693

the troops that you will receive. After arming the Georgia
troops, those from North Carolina that are unprovided
with arms can be supplied with such as remain from what
Major Ashe or yourself may collect.”

The needs of the Confederacy were pressing.

A woman soddier

It is narrated that after the battle of New Bern, Company
F, Twenty-sixth Regiment received many recruits, among
them L. M. Blalock and Samuel Blalock, the latter described
as a good-looking boy, sixteen years of age, weighing 130
pounds, five feet and four inches high. In fact she was the
wife of L. M. Blalock. Her disguise was never penetrated.
She did the duties of a soldier well and was adept at the
manual and drill. After some two months of service, her
husband became incapacitated and was discharged. She
then revealed her sex to Colonel Vance, and was likewise
discharged.

Fort Macon

On March 23 General Parke moved his regiments from
Slocumb’s Landing and reached Carolina City, and, taking
possession of Morehead and Beaufort, he demanded the
surrender of Fort Macon, a proposition which the Confed¬
erate commander, Col. Moses A. White, promptly refused
to entertain. The armament of the fort consisted of 44
guns, but the fortification was constructed with particular
reference to defending the harbor, and only a few old guns,
two columbiads and one rifled cannon, could be brought to
bear on the land approach. Realizing that a siege had to
be met, Colonel White now made every effort to be pre¬
pared. All outside buildings were destroyed : sand bags
were filled and placed to protect the guns and parapets; am¬
munition was got in readiness, and “cheerfulness and
activity prevailed.” The garrison consisted of four com¬
panies of the Tenth Regiment, Company B, Capt. Henry T.
Guion ; Company F, Capt. W. S. G. Andrews ; Company G,
Lieut. James S. Manney; Company H, Capt. Stephen D.

Colonel
White in
command

694

FALL OF NEW BERN AND FORT MACON

April 11,
1863

The attack

Reg. Hist.,
Y, 508

Pool; and Company F, Fortieth Regiment, Capt. Richard
Blount. There were about 300 men effective for duty, and
of these a considerable number were on picket, watching for
the landing of a Federal force on the banks.

On April 11 General Parke began to throw his force
across the sound, and promptly a sortie of two companies
was made ; but the Federals were too strong, and the Con¬
federates were driven back. The next day began the oper¬
ations of the siege, the construction of trenches, mortar
batteries and rifle pits, and a gradual approach was in prog¬
ress. On the 24th all dispositions had been made, and Gen¬
eral Burnside himself came to Morehead and sought to ob¬
tain a peaceful surrender, but in vain. At daylight the next
day fire was opened by General Parke, the guns of the fort
replying promptly and rapidly. Every gun that could be
brought to bear was served skillfully. The roar of Guion’s,
Pool’s, Manney’s, and Blount’s guns was incessant, and
the Federal fire was hot. Soon the booming of cannon from
the seaward announced another foe. The blockading squad¬
ron had run in and opened a cannonade. The heavy guns
of Guion and Pool now changed their direction and engaged
the fleet, and so accurate was the aim of the North Carolina
artillerymen that in less than an hour the vessels were driven
off, one disabled and two others badly damaged. The at¬
tack from the land was, however, kept up with increased
vigor. The fort continued to reply with spirit, the guns
being well managed ; but they were not able to do any con¬
siderable damage to mortar batteries and siege guns well
protected. As the battle progressed, General Parke main¬
tained a constant and accurate fire from rifled guns and
mortars, disabling the guns of the fort, wounding men and
doing much damage. At length, after twelve hours of se¬
vere bombardment, Colonel White realized the futility of
further resistance and, believing that he had saved the
honor of his flag and of his garrison, on the morning of the
26th he met General Burnside on Shackleford Banks and
agreed on terms — that his men should be paroled until
exchanged.

BRAVE AND HEROIC BEARING

695

The Confederate loss was seven killed and 18 wounded.
Of Colonel White’s conduct it has been said that he excited
admiration by his soldierly bearing, his utter disregard of
all personal danger, his careful supervision of all the de¬
tails of the fight, and his cheerfulness in every part where
his presence seemed most needed. The same might, with
equal certainty, be said of all officers and men engaged. In
this, their first experience in terrible battle, of bursting shells,
incessantly subjecting them to imminent peril, resolute in
the face of adversity, as their companions fell around them,
they bore themselves as brave and heroic North Carolinians,
and, even in defeat, brought honor to their flag.

The reports of the Federal officers contained evidence of
how well the fort was fought. “Six 32-pounder shot passed
through my embrasure, one of which struck the Parrot gun.
. . . 1,150 shots were fired from our three batteries.

About 500 took effect within the works of the fort, not
counting the shell that were exploded overhead.” While the
fall of the fort was inevitable, Colonel White made a gal¬
lant fight, and by holding out .caused some delay in Federal
operations that was of advantage to the Confederates. The
captured garrison being paroled, some went inland to their
homes, and others were transported to Wilmington.

Spruill’s Regiment of cavalry was stationed at Wise’s
Fork in front of Kinston and did picket duty. It was poorly
armed and had never been brought together before. The
companies had not had the advantage of close association,
and all lacked discipline. There was another cavalry at
Swansboro and, together, they patrolled the country south
of New Bern. Similarly, Burnside threw out parties that
held the roads and burnt bridges. There were clashes such
as that of Captain Strange’s company with the Federal out¬
post near “Ten Mile” house, that by Captain Andrews’s com¬
pany at Tuscarora, and one near Newport. Of this Cap¬
tain John Boothe reports that, being joined by Captain Hill
and fifty men, and Lieut. Lot Humphrey with thirty men,
on the evening of April 7, he approached Newport and at¬
tacked the Federal picket, killing one and capturing nine.
Captain Boothe had his horse killed under him, and behaved

Reg. Hist.,
V, 506

The cavalry

Reg. Hist.,
II, 82

696

FALL OF NEW BERN AND FORT MACON

Gillett’s

farm.

April 13

Turner

wounded

with intrepidity. His men likewise bore themselves admi¬
rably. Especially, he reported : “All praise is due to Lieu¬
tenant Mills Eure and Orderly Jordan, who led the charge."

On April 5 Baron Egloffstein, Colonel of the One Hun¬
dred and Third New York, an old soldier, with quite a
number of foreign volunteers, moved out to Jones’s farm,
with instructions to make a . detour and to proceed to the
coast and join Parke in front of Fort Macon. After sev¬
eral minor encounters, on the night of the 13th the Baron
reached Gillett’s farm on White Oak, and Colonel Robinson
with 200 of the Nineteenth approached to dislodge him.
A plan of attack was agreed on by Robinson and his cap¬
tains and an attempt was made to carry it into execution,
but the men, for want of experience, did not stand up to
their work. Like many a night attack, it miscarried, the
men not knowing each other and not having been trained
to obey directions. As agreed on, Colonel Robinson with
about thirty men, among them Captain Strange and Captain
Bryan, charged the rear of the house ; but other parts of
the plan failed. Colonel Robinson was wounded, fell from
his horse and was taken. Capt. Josiah Turner, also, was
wounded and fell from his horse, but escaped. Two privates
were killed, five wounded and five others captured. Baron
Eglofifstein reported : “The enclosures of Gillett’s farm
were simultaneously attacked by 300 men. Gallant conduct
was shown on the part of our officers and men. Three
charges were repulsed with the greatest firmness, after which
the enemy fled in confusion. Colonel William G. Robinson
exhibited much boldness, and deserved being better sus¬
tained by his followers. He was wounded in the thigh,
heading the third attack in person. . . . Two of our

elites, Captain Lagner of the Prussian Artillery, and Lieu¬
tenant Martinez, Adjutant to General Garibaldi, wrested the
Colonel from his command.” The Baron, notwithstanding
this success,, determined to avoid another engagement and
withdrew to Newport.

CHAPTER XLIV

Eastern Carolina and the Peninsula

Burnside sends expedition to destroy the canal to Norfolk. —
Colonel Wright holds South Mills. — Sawyer’s Lane. — The Fed¬
erate foiled. — The disorderly retreat. — Burnside’s plan of oper¬
ation. — Holmes’s preparation of defense. — Dearth of arms. —
Ashe calls for private arms. — Lee offers pikes. — The first arrival
of arms from abroad. — Williamsburg. — The fifth North Carolina. —
Johnston retires.— Burnside active. — The deplorable condition of
the people. — Stanly Governor. — His conflict with the Abolition¬
ists and lawless soldiers. — His attitude. — Badger writes “no Union
feeling in the State.” — Stanly resigns. — The depression in the
eastern counties. — Blockade running. — The vessels. — The Modern
Greece. — The Whitfvorth guns.

Expedition to destroy the canal

While Burnside was seeking to reduce Fort Macon, early
in April, he dispatched a force of 600 men from Roanoke
Island to Elizabeth City, but did not retain possession. A
few days later a larger force under General Reno was di¬
rected to return to Elizabeth City and blow up the locks
of the canal at South Mills, and then to destroy the canal
through Currituck, cutting off communication with Norfolk.
At midnight of the 19th General Hawkins disembarked
his brigade of three regiments, while Reno followed with
two other regiments and took the road to South Mills.

Col. A. R. Wright, with some companies of the Third
Georgia, and some drafted Camden militia under Colonel
Ferebee, McComas’s Battery and one company of cavalry,
held South Mills. On learning of this Federal movement,
Colonel Wright marched forward to meet the advancing
enemy, and took post at Sawyer’s Lane, three miles from
South Mills. At that point the road emerged from the
woods into a field, with woods and swamps on either side,
about 175 yards distant. On the edge of the woods, on
both sides of the road and perpendicular to it, were a ditch
and rail fence. Three hundred yards in advance was a large
ditch; and farther on were houses, which Colonel Wright

Sawyer’s

Lane

698 EASTERN CAROTIN A AND THE PENINSULA

The

encounter

Official
Records,
Series I,

Vol. IX, 328

caused to be burned, and he made other dispositions with
great good judgment. The road admitted only two pieces
of artillery, and he placed these where the road entered
the woods, commanding about a mile down the lane.

At eleven o’clock Colonel Wright was joined by Colonel
Reid and the remaining companies of the Third Georgia.
Two of these he stationed at River Bridge to protect that
road ; and he sent three to the rear in reserve. The other
companies he deployed on the right and left of the artillery.
As the Federals approached, the smoke of the burning
buildings rolled down on the advancing column and masked
the Confederate position. But in a few moments the head
of the column was seen, and the artillery opened on it.

Up to three o’clock, thrice had the Federals been driven
back. Then General Reno dispatched the Fifty-first Pennsyl¬
vania and the Twenty-first Massachusetts to enter the woods
on his right and turn the Confederate left, and sent the Ninth
and Eighty-ninth New York to their aid, while the Sixth
New Hampshire supported his four pieces of artillery. The
Thirty-first Pennsylvania and Twenty-first Massachusetts at¬
tacked as ordered, and the Ninth New York gallantly charged
the artillery, only to be driven back by grape, canister and
musketry. Soon, however, the other advanced regiments
rushed forward, and the battle became general along the line.
Just then Captain McComas was killed, and his men, who
had fought for four hours with great courage, became panic-
stricken, and left the field, carrying their pieces with them.
Colonel Wright, however, succeeded in rallying them and
again getting their pieces in position, and as the enemy ap¬
proached drove them back once more ; but the ammunition
in the limbers was exhausted and the artillery again retired.
The enemy now made a last charge and were repelled by
musketry. But, realizing that his position had been turned,
Colonel Wright, taking advantage of the situation, fell
back in good order to his intrenchments on Joy Creek,
two miles in his rear. General Reno says, “The Sixth New
Hampshire when within two hundred yards poured in a
most deadly fire which demoralized - the Confederates and
finished the battle ; but that his men were so completely

DISORDERLY FEDERAL RETREAT

699

fagged out that they could not pursue; and after resting
under arms in line of battle until about ten o’clock, they
were ordered to return to their boats.”

Colonel Wright that night likewise fell back to the north¬
west lock. He reported his loss as 6 killed, 19 wounded
and 3 taken prisoners. The Federal loss was 13 killed, 101
wounded and 13 missing.

Four days after the battle General Hawkins wrote to
General Burnside: “Doubtless the unfortunate occurrence
of the 19th has been brought to your notice. No one can
regret the result more than myself. First, because of the
loss of life; second, the object of the expedition not being
accomplished after all the obstacles had been removed.
It seems that both parties were badly frightened. “The
enemy ran like quarter horses to Norfolk, and we, as fast
as our weary legs would carry us, leaving quite a number
of our wounded, and destroying the bridges behind us.”
But if Colonel Wright did unnecessarily retire, he made a
good fight while the battle was on.

The Federal retreat was disorderly, and the road was
strewn with abandoned haversacks, muskets and canteens.
On the next day General Blanchard was at South Mills,
and reported that the Confederates were gathering many
guns which the Federals had thrown away, and he sent
i.ioo pounds of powder and many tools that they had left.
For the Confederates the battle was a victory.

Burnside’s purposes

The forces of Burnside were so formidable, and the objects
they could accomplish would be so disastrous to the Confed¬
eracy, that great attention was bestowed on their move¬
ments. Burnside was under the direction of General Mc¬
Clellan and his operations were primarily in aid of the
Federal campaign in Virginia. He threatened Norfolk from
the South ; likewise the railroad from Weldon to Norfolk,
and, also, the line from Wilmington to Weldon.

On assuming command, therefore, General Holmes real¬
ized the possible extent of the operations he had to guard
against, and he applied himself to his duties with zeal and

Official
Records,
Series I,

Vol. IX, 316

The Federal
retreat

The objec¬
tives

General

Holmes’s

action

700 EASTERN CAROLINA AND THE PENINSULA

No arms

Ashe calls
for private
arms

The watch¬
men. alarmed

discretion. At the outset he appealed so earnestly for ad¬
ditional troops that although they could be but ill spared,
several thousand men were sent him. He was in daily
communication with General Lee, in command of the
Southern Department, who, however, left him much to his
own judgment. Burnside kept in New Bern only a small
part of hjs force, and Holmes reported that he could take
the town, but that the Federal gunboats could shell it and
destroy the city, and that the movement was not desirable.
On April 19, outside of the District of Cape Fear, where
there were 3,600 effective men, including twenty companies
of heavy artillery and cavalry, he had some 17,000 men,
comprising sixteen North Carolina regiments and five
from other states. The pressure on the Confederate lines
in Virginia was so great that soon there was a demand
for the return of some of these regiments to the front.
There were men in the camp at Raleigh sufficient to re¬
place these, but they were unarmed. In this dire extremity,
General Lee wrote to General Holmes : “I have directed
Major Ashe to get all he can.’’ And he wrote to the State
authorities, “It is hoped that the State would succeed in col¬
lecting private arms for the new regiments and by this time
have them ready for the field.’’

But as the effort to collect guns had not brought as many
as desired, Major Ashe advertised that at the request of
President Davis he had undertaken to collect arms, and for
that purpose he had been invested with authority to borrow,
purchase or, if necessary, to impress them. “I am satis¬
fied,” said he, “that it will never be necessary to resort to
the use of the last named power. Patriots of North Carolina,
our soil is invaded ; and though we have men enough to
repel the invaders, our men are useless unless they have
arms. I will immediately appoint suitable agents empow¬
ered to borrow, purchase, or, if necessary, impress arms,
•but in the meantime let me entreat all true patriots to send
in all muskets, rifles, etc., to the sheriffs of the counties,
whom I hereby authorize to pay for good rifles and muskets
thirteen to twenty dollars each.” So vigilant were the
guardians of liberty on the watch-towers that they turned

PURCHASE OF PRIVATE ARMS

701

- i .

from the contemplation of the invading Federals and en¬
tered on an academic discussion of the rights to impress
arms, some declaring that this was a plan to disarm the
people of North Carolina so as to force them to obey the
Confederate Government. And so strenuous were the ob¬
jections that Governor Clark felt it his duty to issue a
formal proclamation, “that any attempt to seize the arms
of our citizens is at variance with the Constitution” ; but
he followed the lead of Major Ashe, and added: “I must
also enjoin on you in this emergency, as an act of the high¬
est patriotism and duty, that you should discover to the
State authorities all public arms and sell to the State all
arms that can be spared’’ ; and the colonels of militia were
directed to act as agents of the State. In the Convention
a resolution was offered by Judge Badger highly commend¬
ing the Governor’s proclamation.

Major Ashe paid no attention to their adverse criticisms,
but continued the purchase of arms. The Wilmington
Journal, however, temperately discussed the subject and
pointed out that the difference between the actions of the
Governor and of Major Ashe was that while the latter was
purchasing arms through the sheriffs, the other appointed
the militia colonels as agents. While there were gratifying-
responses to Ashe’s appeal, boxes of guns being sent to
Goldsboro from the interior as far west as Statesville, the
supply was inadequate. And it is to be observed that Gov¬
ernor Clark’s proclamation, while it tended to influence
dissatisfaction among those who were critical of the Con¬
federate Government, was commented on in the Northern
press as evidence that the people of the State were turning
away from the cause of independence.

Lee’s offer

In the extremity of the situation General Lee wrote to
General Holmes: “If you can use them and desire it, I can
order a number of pikes to be sent you. Owing to the
lack of firearms, some of these have been sent to nearly
every army in the field, and if well handled and wisely dis¬
tributed, will undoubtedly do good service.”

Clark’s proc¬
lamation

Official
Records,
Series I,

Vol. IX, 460

702 EASTERN CAROLINA AND THE PENINSULA

Official
Records,
Series I,

Vol. IX, 463

Ibid., 471

Martin and

Clingman

Brigadiers

The North

Carolina

regiments

The first arms from abroad

A week later, fortunately, a part of the first shipment of
arms from abroad reached Wilmington, and General Lee
directed 2,400 to be given to General Holmes, enjoining
that, “they be used to arm the flank companies of the regi¬
ments, the center companies having pikes or indifferent
guns.” One of the North Carolina brigades having been
ordered to Virginia, General Holmes wrote asking to re¬
tain it, saying, “As for the six regiments at Raleigh, it is
doubtful when I shall get them and still more doubtful
when they shall be armed. The military camp there is a
sort of hobby with the authorities.”

Indeed, General Martin desired that those regiments
should be formed into a division and be received by the
Confederacy as such, and he be appointed a major general
to command it.

But the President was not authorized by law to accept
troops in larger organizations than regiments, nor could
he appoint General Martin a major general, but ten days
later both Martin and Clingman were appointed brigadier
generals and ordered to report to General Holmes, their
brigades to be composed of North Carolina troops.

Williamsburg

In the meantime important movements were in progress
in Virginia. On April 4 McClellan began to press Magruder
on the peninsula, and the Confederate troops slowly retired.
On the 1 6th a clash occurred at Lee’s Mills, in which the
Fifteenth North Carolina was engaged and behaved well,
but unfortunately lost among others its gallant colonel,
R. M. McKinney. By May 4 the retiring Confederates
reached Williamsburg and, being hard pressed there, a
battle ensued in which the Thirteenth, the brave and effi¬
cient A. M. Scales, Colonel, and the Fourteenth, P. W.
Roberts, Colonel, and Manly’s Battery participated ; and
the Fifth North Carolina, under the gallant and daring
Colonel D. K. McRae, made a charge that brought great
fame to the regiment. General Hancock, speaking of the

REGIMENTS OF IMMORTALS

7 03

Fifth North Carolina Regiment and of the Twenty-fourth
Virginia, said in a burst of enthusiasm, “Those two regi¬
ments deserve to have ‘immortal’ inscribed on their banners.”
Of 415 men led into the battle by Colonel McRae, 290 fell
on the field, and only four commissioned officers out of
twenty-four escaped unhurt. Three days later Reilley’s
Battery and the Sixth North Carolina, Colonel Pender,
were under fire, but not seriously engaged. McClellan con¬
tinued to press forward, and the Confederates, not equal
to a general engagement, constantly retired before him.
In May Norfolk was evacuated by the Confederates.

In North Carolina active operations continued in the
front of General Holmes. From New Bern as a center
there were constant excursions by the Federal forces. On
the evening of the 26th of April Baron Egloffstein with
cavalry and infantry encountered a detachment of cavalry
near Pollocksville, and after a stiff fight drove them off.
Three days later the Confederates attacked the Federal
picket near Batchelders Creek, killing and wounding sev¬
eral. This was followed by another attack at Deep Gully
on the Trenton road three days later with the same success.

The inhabitants of the east

Indeed the situation within the eastern counties had be¬
come so alarming that many families that were able to do
so left their homes and sought refuge in the interior, and
in some communities the social conditions were materially
affected by their withdrawal. Some of those who remained
became more amenable to Federal influence, and here and
there Union sentiments were fostered by men of local prom¬
inence, who had ever been devoted to the Union. When
the Federal expedition reached Washington the mayor of
the town and other respectable citizens met the vessels some
distance below and conducted them up and friendly greet¬
ings were extended to the officers and men. A banner
bearing the inscription, “The Union and the Constitution,”
was stretched across the main street and the music of the
Federal band was vociferously cheered. Elsewhere a sim¬
ilar spirit was indicated, and, somewhat later, a delegation

Hancock’s

tribute

Pollocksville

Deep Gully

At Washing¬
ton

Official
Records,
Series I,

Vol. IX, 466

704

EASTERN CAROLINA AND THE PENINSULA

Cotton to be
removed

Trenton

Young’s
Cross Roads

Official
Records,
Series I,
Vol. IX,
336, 339

of eight citizens left Washington County and requested that
a Federal force should be sent to Plymouth.

As the North needed greatly cotton, tobacco and naval
stores, and the presence of these commodities induced raids
into the interior, the Secretary of War directed that all
these articles should be removed west of the railroad, or they
would be burnt to prevent their falling into the hands of the
Federal troops. These measures, the demoralization of the
negroes, and the growing Union sentiment among those
who were not slaveholders, and the constant movements of
Federal detachments greatly disturbed the inhabitants and
kept them in a state of alarm.

On the night of the 13th of May Colonel Amerv with the
Third New York Cavalry, the Seventeenth and Twenty*
fifth Massachusetts and two pieces of artillery started on
an extensive reconnaissance, and when about five miles
from Trenton was attacked and the column retired. The
Second Maryland had been sent to Pollocksville in aid of
this expedition, and it was attacked by Confederate cavalry
at Young’s Cross Roads. The next day the fight was re¬
newed, but the Federal force received orders to withdraw.
Near Merritt’s house the Third New York Cavalry had an
encounter with a squadron of cavalry on the 15th, but under
orders it too returned to New Bern that afternoon.

Stanly the Federal Governor

Although Taylor and Foster were not recognized by Con¬
gress, vet on the sand dunes of Platteras they sported their
empty honors with zeal and high resolve. However, six
months later, when Burnside was in possession of New
Bern, President Lincoln, in pursuance of the policy he had
mapped out for the reestablishment of Federal authority in
such territory as was occupied bv his troops, appointed a
military governor of North Carolina. For this purpose he
selected Edward Stanly, who, sprung from a long-estab¬
lished local family, in earlier life had been a distinguished
resident of the New Bern section, and had served with
distinction in the North Carolina Assembly and in Congress.
Tn 1853, however, he was defeated for Congress, and was

STANLY AS FEDERAL GOVERNOR

7 05

wooed by the call of the West. He had had a duel with
Inge, a Democrat from Alabama, and it so happened that
both of them moved to California. There Stanly followed
the bent of many of the Northern Whigs and allied him¬
self with “the freesoil party,” and was so prominent that
he became the Republican candidate for governor of that
state. Misunderstanding the people of North Carolina,
he undertook to lead them back into the Union. The Presi¬
dent himself was under equal misapprehension, and seemed
to have considered the secession movement as merely a
slaveholders’ rebellion and without any strength or support
from the nonslaveholders of the South.

Appointed Military Governor with the rank of Brigadier
General, Stanly arrived at his old home in New Bern on
the 26th of May, and entered on his duties with a flourish
of trumpets. But he found that his former social friends
had fled from their homes and that the marauding activi¬
ties of the Federal forces had caused a reign of terror, and
that numbers of negroes had been taken from the plantations
and brought to New Bern. His own view was to maintain
the laws of the State and merely reestablish the authority
of the Federal government as it was of old. He felt out¬
raged by the lawlessness of the soldiers who robbed the
inhabitants of their property and even desecrated grave¬
yards in their search for plunder ; and he soon was in con¬
flict with those who in defiance of North Carolina law were
treating the negro slaves as free men. H. H. Helper, the
author of The Impending Crisis, was among those who had
gathered at New Bern. His speeches to the soldiers and
negroes were so out of tune with Stanly’s purposes that he
requested Helper to leave. Indeed Stanly’s attitude was
such that each house of Congress asked President Lincoln
for information in regard to him. In reply, Stanly stood
his ground, saying that the object of the war was to re¬
store the Union. But he found that many Union men
sincerely believed that the President proposed the entire
destruction and total desolation of the South, with unlimited
emancipation and ruin.

May, 1862

Stanly’s

awkward

situation

Helper

yo6 EASTERN CAROLINA AND THE PENINSULA

Badger’s

view

Official
Records,
Series I,

Yol. IX, 402

Stanly

resigns

Hon. John S. Ely had written a letter to Stanly con¬
gratulating him on his appointment as being a suitable
person to lead the people back into the ETnion. A copy of
this letter was conveyed to Mrs. Badger, at Raleigh. There¬
upon Judge Badger wrote a letter to Mr. Ely, which was
sent to Mr. Stanly. In it, Judge Badger affirmed: “There
is no Union feeling in North Carolina. . . . There was

a very strong Union feeling, but as soon as Mr. Lincoln’s
proclamation of April, 1861, appeared, our position was
taken without a moment's hesitation. From that moment,
however though we may have differed in other things, there
had not been, and there is not, any difference ; hence our
people with one heart sprang to arms.” This letter was
made public and printed in the newspapers of the State.

Stanly sought by all means in his power to instill Union
sentiments among the people of the eastern counties,- and
without doubt he was to some extent successful.

In the election for Governor of the State, his influence
was given to Vance, as the candidate of the Standard. In
some of the counties within the Federal lines no election
was held ; and in others, while but few votes were cast,
Johnston received relatively none. Although Stanly was
Governor, necessarily Burnside’s orders took precedence,
much to his discomfiture. Besides, he was ignored by both
the State and the Confederate military authorities, neither
of which would communicate with him. Still he sought to
carry out his purposes, and in December he held an election
for a representative in Congress, Jennings Pigott, his
private secretary, being chosen : but Pigott met the fate
of Foster and was denied a seat in Congress. A month
later, Stanly resigned and returned to California, and the
farce of having a Federal Governor of the State ceased.

The eastern counties

The invasion of the eastern counties, and the ease with
which the Federals gained possession, the confusion that
resulted from their occupancy, and the damages sustained by
the inhabitants, many of whom sought to remove their
families, negroes and other property out of the reach of

RUNNING THE BLOCKADE

707

the enemy, all had an influence in increasing the depression.
And to this was. added the deprivation that attended separa¬
tion from all the marts of commerce. The war coming on
suddenly, no unusual stock of supplies had been accu¬
mulated either for the use of the government or for the
inhabitants ; and, for a period, there was an entire cessation
of imports. The necessary articles not produced at home
soon became scarce, and, while such substitutes as could
be devised were brought into use, every family severely felt
the deprivation. But the suffering was a common dispensa¬
tion and, generally, it was cheerfully borne in a spirit of
patriotism and sacrifice. Thoughts chiefly were for the com¬
fort and welfare of the fathers, husbands, sons and brothers
who were in the fields battling for their firesides, their fami¬
lies and their country.

Blockade runners

While a blockade of the Southern ports was ordained in
April, 1861, the Federals were tardy in enforcing it; so
that for some months sailing vessels as well as steamers
were still engaged in commerce. In July, however, a United
States steamship was stationed off the month of the Cape
Fear as a blockader, but her presence availed but little for
in the three months — June, July and August — no less than
forty-two vessels entered Wilmington. Indeed, the river,
having two mouths, each lined with sand bars and shoals,
and well protected by Forts Caswell and Fisher and their
subsidiary batteries, it was difficult to arrest this commerce,
which daily became more profitable as the value of cotton and
produce rose, and the necessity for imported goods in¬
creased. The Confederate Government, however, had not
acted with far-sighted intelligence in providing for the ex¬
igencies of the war, and while the State of North Carolina
had not made the same mistake, yet the authorities had not
fully measured up to the requirements of the situation.
Indeed, at first there was an indisposition to consider that
the war was to be to the knife and the hilt, and that, like
other great conflicts, its final outcome was measurably to
depend on the respective resources of the contestants. Of

708 EASTERN CAROLINA AND THE PENINSULA

The vessels

Confederate

government

ship

British

adventurers

Martin’s

idea

all the Southern States North Carolina seemed to be alone
in making provision for meeting the exigencies. The Leg¬
islature early made large appropriations for the purchase
of supplies.

However, the great commercial firm of John Fraser & Co.
of Charleston, owning several steamers that had been used
between Charleston and Savannah and other points on the
coast, turned over the Cecile to the Confederate Govern¬
ment, and Capt. J. N. Maffitt, on January 7, 1862, was
ordered to take her out and bring in arms and ammunition.

O11 February 5, the North Carolina , under the new name
of Annie Childs, so called for the wife of Col. F. L. Childs
who had been chief of artillery, loaded with cotton, corn
and tobacco, arrived at Queenstown. Early in March she
changed her name to Victory and made many voyages.

The old Governor Dudley, that had plied between Wil¬
mington and Charleston, carried from Charleston 400 bales
of cotton, and arrived at Nassau on February 11, and there,
changing her name to the Nellie , entered on the career of
importing goods. It took several weeks to make a trip to
Nassau and back. With the beginning of 1862 the Con¬
federate Government became active. The Carolina, now
named the Kate, commanded by Captain Therman J. Lock-
wood, of the Cape Fear, was employed by the Confederate
Government in bringing in supplies, and the Cecile was lost
on the Florida coast bringing in arms for Tohnston at
Shiloh.

At first the private ventures were by the merchants and
others of the South ; but British adventurers became en¬
gaged in this commerce, and the fast vessels of the Clyde
were found particularly suited for it. It attained consider¬
able proportions in 1862, and the State of North Carolina
then engaged in it.

During the Revolutionary War the State made heavy
importations that went far towards the general success of
the struggle for independence, and early in 1861 that prec¬
edent was again recommended, especially by General Martin,
the Adjutant General of the State, and ample funds were
provided. But as there was no particular authorization to

BEACHED TO AVOID CAPTURE

7 09

buy a vessel, the matter lay dormant, pending the term of
Governor Clark, who, expecting to retire in September, left
such measures open for the new administration.

The Modern Greece

While many successful voyages were made by the vessels
running the blockade, some came to grief, and among the
earlier misfortunes that was particularly lamented was the
loss of the Modern Greece, a British propeller of about
1,000 tons register, one of the largest vessels engaged in
this hazardous commerce. On the night of June 26, 1862,
the Modern Greece approached her destination and by four
o’clock the next morning, having evaded many cruisers, she
was within three miles of Fort Fisher, and all seemed well.
But suddenly in the early morning the Cambridge, one of
the blockading fleet, saw her and opened fire, and the Stars
and Stripes, another on the watch, joined in the chase. Her
position was such that escape was hopeless, and she was
beached to avoid capture. Fort Fisher opened on the gun¬
boats and drove them off ; but the Modern Greece was a
total wreck. Much of the valuable cargo, however, was
saved, a thousand tons of powder, spirits, clothing, 650
small rifles, and 4 Whitworth rifles, 12-pound caliber. The
bore of the Whitworths was not round, but octagonal, hav¬
ing a twist throughout the length of the gun, and these
guns had a range of five miles and carried with remark¬
able precision. As soon as these guns were installed Colonel
Lamb at Fort Fisher made the blockaders remove their
anchorage five miles from the shore. And so many vessels
were saved by these guns that they soon had such a reputa¬
tion that the War Department ordered two of them to
Virginia and a third to the South. The remaining one,
unfortunately, fell into the hands of the enemy in August,
1863.

Whitworth

guns

CHAPTER XLV

Conscription — Seven Pines

The end of the Convention. — The arrest of Respass. — The Con¬
vention unpopular. — The Piedmont Railroad. — Adjourns. — The
candidacy for Governor. — Johnston. — The attitude of the press, —
Holden. — Merrimon suggests Vance. — Johnston and Vance. — The
campaign. — Northern views. — Mistaken views. — The military
emergency leads to conscription. — The exemptions. — General
Johnston retires. — McClellan advances. — Seven Pines. — Hill’s fine
work. — Davis and Lee on the ground. — Johnston wounded. — Petti¬
grew wounded. — Pender promoted. — E. A. Osborne. — A Confed¬
erate victory. — Holmes sent beyond the Mississippi. — Hill. —
Martin. — Pettigrew. — Account of his capture. — Hanover Court
House. — Branch commended. — The heroism of the brigade.

The end of the convention

Originally the majority of the convention had been Seces¬
sionists rather that Union men, but through changes in
membership it had become a “Conservative” body under
the leadership of old Whigs who were out of sympathy
with the Democrats. That a spirit of patriotism pervaded
the body was manifested in much of its action — in its finan¬
cial measures, in its bounties to those soldiers who should
enlist for three years, and in its additions to the military
forces of the State, but that it was animated by a party
spirit is likewise apparent. That it should have refused
to impose a test oath might be a subject of remark, for
such a measure might have been molded to avoid objections,
and that it refused after months of consideration to adopt
some measure punishing conduct inimical to the cause
of the State was more remarkable still. A proposed ordi¬
nance making punishable any attempt to convey intelligence
to the enemy, endeavoring to incite insurrection, persuad¬
ing the people to return to dependence on the government
of the United States, was voted down, as, if those acts
should be held permissible, the lives of soldiers might be
imperiled, military operations might be defeated, and dis¬
aster might be wrought to the cause in which so much blood

BUFFALO ACTIVITIES

711

had been shed and so many lives sacrificed; but the Con¬
vention refused to enact preventive legislation. The Mayor
of Washington was charged with conveying intelligence to
the enemy ; some of the soldiers, men of that town, went
into the town and arrested him. General Ransom was in
command, and he sent him on to Richmond. Mayor Respass
had made a visit to the Federals at Beaufort, and there was
a strong sentiment against him. But quickly after he was
carried to Richmond he was brought before a court martial
and, after an examination into the facts, without argument
he was acquitted, the complaints against him having been
made by persons at enmity with him and being shown to
be groundless. But in the Convention Mr. Badger intro¬
duced a resolution requesting Governor Clark to demand
his return to the State, and a fierce debate was in progress
until it was quieted by the information that he had been
discharged. At the time, the son of the culprit, Colonel
Respass, had been appointed by General Burnside Lieutenant
Colonel of the first regiment of Union soldiers raised in
North Carolina and was engaged in enlisting men for his
command. Later Colonel Respass resigned his Federal
commission and became a neutral during the war.

In time, the Convention had been unpopular. Called for
the specific purpose of seceding from the Union, it was no
longer in harmony with the Secessionists, and, although its
work had been accomplished, it perpetuated itself for other
purposes. It lost the respect of the people. The Wilming¬
ton Journal, generally guarded and parliamentary, said, ‘Tt
has no right to live longer, but, like a mule, it refuses to
die. We call on all the members who are tired of the
farcical tragedy or tragical farce to leave Raleigh, and leave
the would-be governors and senators in their glory. Let
the office seekers sit alone, and the State will know them.”
Eventually it did adjourn, on May 13, 1862, but with the
expectation of being reconvened by its president, for there
was much unfinished business on its calendar and it con¬
templated a complete revision of the Constitution. It had
acted on the basis that it represented the people in their
sovereign capacity, and it exercised all the powers of gov-

The arrest
of Respass

Journal,
Feb. 8

May 13,
1862

Convention

adjourns

712

CONSCRIPTION— SEVEN PINES

The Pied¬
mont road

Messages of
the Confed¬
eracy, I, 151

1861

1862

eminent, wielding both the purse and the sword. It had
passed ordinances that it declared to be irrepealable, and
had spent months discussing proposed alterations in the
Constitution that were to be submitted to the people, but
never were. Among its ordinances were those taxing slaves
as property, conferring suffrage on the Jewish citizens,
chartering the Chatham Railroad Company and other cor¬
porations, particularly the Piedmont road. Major Ashe
had theretofore prevented this charter ; but now conditions
demanded it, and he, being in charge of all the Confederate
transportation from the Mississippi River to Richmond,
urged the necessity of its construction. There was still
some opposition, but a charter was granted under which the
road was constructed by the War Department. The Con¬
vention was never reconvened, and as soon as the members
returned home the canvass for Governor and for the new
Assembly began with great activity.

The election of governor

The right of Governor Clark to fill out the term for which
Ellis had been elected continued to be discussed, and the
effort made in the Legislature in August to declare the
office vacant was renewed in the Convention in December.
It was alleged that Holden, hoping to be chosen, instigated
the resolution introduced in the Convention for that body
to proceed to the election of a governor ; but while a ma¬
jority of the members held that Governor Clark did not
succeed to Ellis’s term, they followed the Legislature in de¬
clining to elect. The farthest they would go was to fix
the date for the inauguration of the new governor on the
second Monday in September, leaving it to the people to
make their own choice at the regular election in August,
and, because of the necessity of the case, the Convention
extended the tenure of the acting governor after Clark’s
term as Senator from Edgecombe had expired.

While the Convention was still in session various move¬
ments were made to bring out suitable candidates for gov¬
ernor. In February, several papers had mentioned Col.

DIVIDED POLITICAL COUNSELS

7 13

William Johnston, a practical business man of Whig ante¬
cedents and a railroad president, who had built more miles
of railroad without State aid than any other man in the
whole South ; but, while a Union man, he had early ad¬
vocated State action as probably preventing war, and had
cooperated with the Democrats. About the middle of
March a meeting, held in Rutherford County, suggested
Col. Z. B. Vance, and almost contemporaneously a com¬
munication appeared in the Standard advocating Governor
Graham. The Standard, referring to the suggestion of
Johnston’s name, editorially declared that he ought not to
be supported as he was a Secessionist and had voted for
Edwards.

Other papers thought that as the people were now united
in a common effort for independence past differences ought
not to be regarded, and that a convention should be held to
select a nominee, who should be accepted by the whole State.
While the Fayetteville Observer and nearly the entire press
agreed to this, the Standard opposed it; nor did the Wil¬
mington Journal deem it practicable, and it was not acted
on. Later the Journal urged that the editors of the State
should meet in Raleigh on the 20th of May and select a
candidate whom they would all support. But this, too, was
ignored. In the diversity of sentiment and purposes there
was no middle ground on which all could stand together,
and indeed the Standard, feeling that a majority of the
people was with it, did not propose to promote unity, but
rather courted a trial of strength that would bring victory
to those in cooperation with it. The Standard, therefore,
while declaring that the Democrats would oppose any old
Union man whomsoever, looked around for a former Whig
for a candidate. The suggestion of Graham had been re¬
ceived with favor in the central and northwestern parts of
the State, where the papers quickly responded in his ad¬
vocacy, and on April 9, the Standard editorially advocated
his selection. Still, others were proposed, among them,
John Pool, who had been defeated by Ellis at the previous
election, and Patterson of Caldwell. But Governor Graham,
standing far highest in public esteem, was the favorite, and

Johnston
brought out

Battle Per.
Con.

Different

views

The

Standard

Other names

CONSCRIPTION— SEVEN PINES

1862

The press

Holden’s

campaign

Vance

lie, seeing that public opinion was turning towards him,
thought it proper to decline to allow his name to be con¬
sidered. Ten days later the Wilmington Journal remarked
that the papers at and west of Raleigh had been considering
the choice of a governor, but those at the east had their
thoughts fixed on other matters, and it urged unity and a
spirit of harmony. But the papers at Raleigh set the pace
for their friends in the counties, and at Raleigh there was
an irrepressible conflict. The Register and the Standard
were in a state of constant warfare, and party division was
inevitable; Assuming that all had a common purpose to
secure independence, the line of division would apparently
have been of no great consequence ; but the height to which
party spirit ran boded ill for that harmony which was in¬
dispensable for hearty cooperation in a common undertak¬
ing. And indeed Holden from the first seemed bent on
opposing 'his former Democratic friends who had denied
him the political honors that had been the object of his
ambition. The matter of a governor was again at sea.
Holden, the leading spirit in “opposition," offered a resolu¬
tion in the Convention thanking the ladies of the State for
their patriotic ardor and action in the war. At the moment
he was in accord with the entire Convention, and his resolu¬
tion was unanimously adopted. A week after the Convention
adjourned the Standard began its campaign. The Standard
declared that it was “a party war,” and that the war was
conducted by the Democrats as a “party war”; that “the
old Whigs were proscribed and only Secessionists were ap¬
pointed to office.” It was the old story of the wolf and the
lamb and the muddy stream. When Graham declined,
Holden “determined to fix on Vance,5' ’ who had likewise
developed strength at the west and had won laurels as a
soldier; and, indeed, he was particularly mentioned as an
example of Democratic proscription, the statement being
that while Branch, a Democrat, had been made a brigadier
general, Vance, a Union man, had been ignored. But, in fact,
Vance had been authorized to raise a legion. On May 24
Polk and Wilkes held a meeting advocating Vance, and
in the opening days of July, Alexander and Moore joined

HOLDEN OPPOSES VANCE

7 15

their voices, followed by Macon and reinforced by letters
in the Standard from Davie, Iredell, Cumberland and other
counties.

At Holden’s instance A. S. Merrimon of Buncombe came
to Raleigh and, after a conference, went to Fayetteville to
secure the cooperation of E. J. Hale, the editor of the
Observer , whose influence was potent with the Whig el¬
ement in the State. These preliminary steps having been
taken, the Standard announced “The People’s Ticket: Colo¬
nel Z. B. Vance.”

Vance had in September declined to allow his name to
be used for Congress, saying that should he now, after he
. had acquired sufficient military knowledge to begin to be use¬
ful, accept a civil appointment, he would be violating his
promise to the people ; and when the Standard published this
ticket the Register and other papers said that Holden was
only paving the way for his own candidacy by bringing out
men who would not accept. Vance, however, was per¬
suaded to accept, and in a letter to the Standard of June 15,
he said, “A true man should be content with the people’s
will.” But he “sincerely deprecated” the growing tendency
to party strife, which every patriot should shun in the
presence of common danger. I earnestly pray,” said he,
“for that unity of sentiment and fraternity of feeling which
alone can enable us to prosecute this war for liberty and
independence to a glorious and triumphant issue.” But
while that was Vance’s declaration, evidently Holden was
not in line with him, for Holden was intent on purposes
very divergent from those entertained by Vance. The con¬
test was now narrowed to Vance and Colonel Johnston,
whose name had been formerly presented by meetings in
Mecklenburg and Gaston, where his friends from several
counties gathered for the purpose.

In reply to appeals for unity and harmony, the Standard ,
especially with regard to members of the Assembly, pro¬
claimed “No compromise; no fusion — original Secessionists
are destructives, old Union men are conservatives”; and,
urging the conservatives to stand apart, it sought to draw
the sheep into one fold and to drive the goats into another.

Holden’s
Memoirs, 20

Dowd’s Life
of Vance, 68

Contest

narrows

The

Standard’s

challenge

CONSCRIPTION— SEVEN PINES

1862

The

campaign

May, 1862

"Have nothing to do with the destructive, take them down
. . . . If you have nature in you, fear it not. You have

the power, use it.'’ And presently the canvass, despite the
efforts of thoughtful men, became heated. The Wilming¬
ton Journal, deprecating any action that would inflame dif¬
ferences, urged that there should be no public speaking; but
Holden declared : “Honest men do not fear a public discus¬
sion, but only the selfish, the venal and the guilty.” The
Journal, however, said that it was a matter the people could
control, and urged the people to refuse to vote for any can¬
didate that entered into discussion.

Apart from a few speeches in the army by Vance, the
policy of the Journal prevailed ; but the columns of the pa¬
pers were open, and both Vance and Johnston were assailed
vigorously. “If Vance is the patriot and fine soldier claimed
for him,” said the Register, “why does he not remain in
the field?” “Ah!” replied the Standard, “If Colonel John¬
ston is the ardent Southerner he professes to be, why is it
he is not in the field?” “But here is Colonel Vance, in the
very pinch of the war, in the face of the foe, with his
sword drawn, ready for action. . . . Where is Colonel

Johnston? In his office at Columbia managing his rail¬
road.” And in some of the western papers the Johnston
ticket was printed “Johnston of South Carolina.” Of John¬
ston it was said, “he is a careful, prudent, efficient public
man, the very man to administer the affairs of state in these
trying times ; while Vance is an untried man in business, a
pleasant gentleman, good speaker and tells a joke well, and
perhaps he will make a good soldier.” Then again it was
said, “Johnston is not in the fighting line, Vance is the
patriotic, intrepid soldier.” And so Vance became the sol¬
diers’ candidate. But divergencies were not merely as to
the men. In its effort to promote dissension, the Standard
insisted that “party spirit destroyed the old government and
placed our liberties and property in peril.” On May 28:
“One class preferred to destroy the old government, some
of them from motives of unholy ambition ; and as a class
they are impetuous, hare-brained, reckless of consequences,
so their side is uppermost.”

STANDARD’S EDITORIALS QUOTED

717

Indeed the dissensions in North Carolina moved the Rich¬
mond Enquirer to counsel moderation. On June 18: “Has
the editor of the Standard seen the reproduction of his
articles in the New York Herald, has he seen a late number
of that sheet, containing extracts from the Raleigh Standard
headed in staring capitals, ‘The Southern Confederacy vir¬
tually repudiated in North Carolina’ ?” But the Standard
in reply insisted that it had acted strictly on the defensive.

“We have raised our voice in protest, remonstrance and
denunciation, and we have called on the people to come June, 1862
forward and reform their government and save their liber¬
ties from the encroachments of power, and from the pollut¬
ing poison of partyism and favoritism in the midst of war.”

But the impression conveyed by the course of the Standard
was one of unfriendliness to the Southern cause; and it
held up the Secessionists as “destructives,” as if the action
in “destroying the old government were matter of com¬
plaint” ; and so out of tune was it with the prevailing South¬
ern sentiment that on June 18, the Philadelphia Inquirer,
commenting on its editorials, said : “But here it comes out
square and full, and, in defiance of the Rebel powers, plants views
itself beside the old and honored Union. Who can doubt
that a state where such words are boldly uttered, at a
hundred miles distance from our armies, is ready to return,
is even now returning, from her prodigal and ruinous
career?”

It had been committed to Governor Stanly to promote and
develop Union sentiments, and the newspapers at New
Bern and Washington found in the attitude of the Standard
comfort and satisfaction, and the growth of Unionism in
North Carolina was heralded throughout the North. Indeed
the Herald was so far misled that it said, “The proclamation
of Governor Clark (in the matter of arms) and the demand
upon Jefif. Davis to liberate the Mayor of Washington, im¬
prisoned for alleged treason, and the caving in of the Rebel
government by quickly yielding him up, are facts that speak
volumes. . . . The proclamation of Mr. Lincoln in North
Carolina and Tennessee will give the finishing blow to the
Rebellion.”

7i8

CONSCRIPTION— SEVEN PINES

The war
spirit

Conscription

On the other hand Judge Badger had written a letter to
Mr. Ely of New York, which he sent through Governor
Stanly, declaring that “there was no Union sentiment in the
State.” But despite such assertions the actions of large
numbers of the inhabitants in those localities where the
Federals had penetrated sustained the view that North Caro¬
lina was all but ready to return to the Union.

Mistaken views

On the sudden outbreak of hostilities, it was almost in¬
conceivable that a long and desperate war would be waged
by the Northern people against the South ; and, on the other
hand, President Lincoln seems to have held the view that
the withdrawal of the Southern States from the Union was
a movement in the interest of a few slaveholders, and the
great bulk of the Southern whites, being nonslaveholding
and attached to the Union, would not be concerned in main¬
taining secession, so that the “slaveholders’ rebellion or in¬
surrection” would be speedily crushed. Thus on neither
side was the obstinacy of the struggle fully appreciated at
its inception. Mr. Lincoln’s first call for troops was for
75,000 men to serve for only three months. But quickly
the term of enlistment for North Carolina volunteers was
fixed at twelve months — and ten regiments were organized
to serve for the war.

It was much the same in other states. The men every¬
where volunteered so eagerly that there were not arms to
equip them, and in the spring of 1862 thousands were in
camps, awaiting arms. But as the first year drew to its
close McClellan was moving on Richmond and the Federals,
with vast armies, were threatening every section of the
Confederacy. Thus it was deemed of the first importance
that the defense should not be weakened by the disbanding
of the regiments that had been organized. It would have
been suicidal to uncover Richmond in the presence of such
a skillful general as McClellan, who proudly boasted that
his “army was the finest that had ever been on this planet.”

The emergency was great, and it could only be met by
preserving the Confederate force as it stood. So in April,

VOLUNTEERS AND CONSCRIPTS

719

1862, the Confederate Congress passed an act drafting into
the Confederate service all men within the Confederacy be¬
tween the ages of eighteen and thirty-five.

This act in its operation had several effects. While it
continued in the service the men within those ages who had
already volunteered it brought into the army others who
had not shared the perils, hardships and vicissitudes of the
military service. If those citizens who had taken up arms
at first were to be continued by law as soldiers; it was only
fair that all others should be put on the same footing. But
this provision subjecting those who had not volunteered
to military duty was regarded as a hardship by many who
did not desire to be in the Army. It tended to create dis¬
satisfaction at home, and its constitutionality was ques¬
tioned, and it was denounced as oppressive, tyrannous and
illegal. In North Carolina there was very much feeling
against it.

The companies and regiments were continued as entities
and organizations, but they were to be reorganized by a
new election of company and field officers. This was to be
effected within forty days under the direction of the gen¬
erals commanding. At these elections many officers were
replaced by new ones. So it happened that in April and
May, 1862, new company and field officers were elected by
all the North Carolina regiments, except the ten enlisted
for the war.

To soften the operation of the act all men within the
ages who had not enlisted were allowed to volunteer and
attach themselves to the companies of their choice. But this
privilege was to be exercised before they were enrolled
as conscripts. For the enrollment, each militia company
in every state was to have a muster, and every man found
liable to service was to report at a camp of instruction estab¬
lished for that state. Major Peter Mallett was the con¬
script officer for North Carolina and the camp was at
Raleigh. The enrollment was ordered for July 8 and by
the 15th of July every conscript was to report at the camp.
Farlier than that date there were no conscripts in the Con¬
federate Armv.

April, 1862

The effect

Reorgani¬

zation

Enrollment

ordered

720

CONSCRIPTION— SEVEN PINES

Unpopular

measures

May 31

Seven Pines

There were some exemptions provided in the act, among
them the necessary officers of the State, ministers, teachers,
persons engaged in foundries, cotton and woolen mills, etc.,
and one enrolled as a conscript could provide a substitute
who was not within the ages.

The standard infantry company was sixty-four men, and
as it was desirable to keep the strength of the several regi¬
ments and companies up to good efficiency, the conscripts
were to be assigned to companies according to the exigen¬
cies of the service. Many companies had become so de¬
pleted that they were mere squads, and to restore their
strength the conscripts were apportioned as needed. This
assignment of a man to a company not of his selection was
likewise unpopular and was deemed a hardship, and it
added to the opposition developed against the law. Later,
for prudential reasons, Congress extended the exemption
to one white man on a plantation working twenty negroes
and this was another cause of decrying the entire measure.

Johnston retires before McClellan

McClellan, advancing up the peninsula near the James,
by the end of May had reached Seven Pines, about seven
miles from Richmond. The Chickahominy, a wide, slug¬
gish stream, rising to the north of the city, runs southeast¬
ward, and then stretches out parallel with the James. Heavy
and wide morasses lay along its course, the principal one,
below Fair Oaks, being known as White Oak Swamp.
McClellan had established a base of supplies at the White
House on the Pamunkey, at the terminus of the York River
Railroad, and his forces occupied both sides of the Chicka¬
hominy. Johnston had fallen back as the Federals ad¬
vanced, not hazarding a general engagement. McClellan, a
skilled engineer, relying greatly on the efficiency of in-
trenchments, had from the first thoroughly intrenched his
positions, and his troops near Seven Pines were disposed in
three lines well fortified by intrenchments and redoubts.
At length, about the end of Mav, there being two Federal
corps south of the Chickahominy and one, Sumner’s on
the other side of that stream, Johnston concentrated his

LEE IN COMMAND

72 1

brigades, and a heavy rain having raised the waters, inter¬
fering with the passage of Sumner’s troops, Johnston deemed
it expedient to attack. He directed Gen. G. W. Smith, who
was next in command, to advance on his left, preventing
any reinforcement by Sumner’s corps. Huger was to pro¬
ceed on the extreme right and, turning McClellan’s left,
was to make a flank attack. When Huger had opened,
Longstreet was to make the main assault, directly in front.

The battle

These dispositions were to be made in the early morning
of May 31, but there was delay both by Huger and Smith,
the high water in the low grounds delaying their move¬
ments, and neither had opened his guns when at one o’clock,
Longstreet, not willing to wait longer, directed Gen. D. H.
Hill to make the front assault. Hill’s work was splendidly
done ; and, after an arduous conflict, bloody and well sus¬
tained, the Federals were driven from their first intrench-
ments back to their second line, and then routed and forced
to their third line, and finally driven from that with the loss
of eight pieces of artillery and 6,000 muskets.

Pressed on the left by Huger and in front by Hill, the
broken Federal regiments fell back toward Sumner, who
hurried reinforcements across the Chickahominy to them.
On the other side it was not until near five o’clock that
G. W. Smith came into action, and while the Confederate
right had been victorious, on the left the contest was un¬
decided when night put an end to the conflict.

President Davis and his military adviser, General Lee,
were on the field, and their presence added to the ardor
and enthusiasm of the victorious Confederates. Just at
nightfall General Johnston, in the hour of victory, fell
badly wounded. He was borne oflf the field on a limber
of one of Manly’s gun carriages. The President, while
deploring this misfortune, at once designated General Lee
to take command. The field had been hotly contested, the
Confederates fighting with the utmost courage and the
Federals stoutly withstanding them ; and the losses on each
side were heavy. McClellan states the Federal loss at 5,739 ;

1862

Plan of
attack

May 31

Hill’s fine
work

Davis
and Lee

Johnston

CONSCRIPTION— SEVEN PINES

The Fourth
North Caro¬
lina

Pettigrew

wounded

Pender

promoted

Osborne’s

feat

others at twice that number. The Confederate loss was
about 4,000.

The North Carolinians

Among the regiments engaged in the direct attack were
the Fourth, Fifth and Twenty-third North Carolina. Of
the Fourth, it is recorded that out of twenty-five officers
twenty-three were either killed or wounded, only Major
Bryan Grimes and one other officer escaping unhurt ; while
of 678 men of that regiment 74 were killed and 264 wounded
severely; the entire North Carolina loss being almost 160
killed and 600 wounded. Flow the North Carolinians fought
is well indicated by the statements made in a letter by John
A. Young when he returned to Governor Clark the flag of
the Fourth, asking for a new one : “You will perceive that
it has been pierced by thirty-seven balls, and the shaft shiv¬
ered in two places. Seven brave standard bearers were shot
down while charging the enemy’s fortifications, but their
places were so instantly supplied by another and another
that it can scarce be said to have fallen. Once it was seized
in its fall by the gallant Major Bryan Grimes, who com¬
manded the regiment, and borne onward amid the heaviest
of the enemy's fire, until Private Steele of Company B sprang
forward and asked permission to relieve him.”

The other North Carolina regiments engaged were the
Sixth, Sixteenth and Twenty-second, and fortunately these
did not suffer as heavilv.

General Pettigrew was badly wounded. It is related that
when assistance came to remove him from the field, feeling
that his wound was mortal, he directed that he he left, and
others moved. He thus fell into the hands of the enemy,
but fortunately he recovered.

The President, being an eye-witness to Colonel Pender’s
masterly conduct in battle, approached him, and addressed
him: “General Pender, I salute you” — promoting him on
the field. It happened that among the wounded on the field
that night lay Lieut. E. A. Osborne, and on the approach
of a Federal soldier prowling for spoils, Osborne took him
prisoner and forced him to carry him on his back into the

HOLMES SENT TO THE WEST

723

Confederate lines. Osborne afterwards became one of the
most famous of the North Carolina colonels. Years later
he was a minister, and he served as chaplain in the Spanish-
American War.

The next morning the Federals advanced and made a
furious assault; but presently they became quiet, and the
battle was not renewed. McClellan had lost an important
position. The Confederates had checked his advance. It
was their victory. As such the South hailed it, and the
spirit of the people was strengthened by the resulting en¬
thusiasm.

When making new dispositions, on June 21, General
Holmes’s department was extended to include Drewrys Bluff
on the James, with headquarters at Petersburg. His troops
were located south of the James, where he was joined by
the brigades of Martin and French, to prevent an attack on
the railroad. But soon General Holmes, in July, was as¬
signed to the command of the department west of the Mis¬
sissippi, and Maj. Gen. D. H. Hill succeeded him.

On August 12 General Martin was assigned to the com¬
mand of the troops in North Carolina and it was hoped
that as Adjutant General of the State he could protect the
State. General Martin had tendered his resignation -as
Adjutant General, and this order was made to obviate that
necessity. General Pettigrew, who had been exchanged,
was given command of Martin’s Brigade and was at
Petersburg.

General Pettigrew, after his return, exchanged, wrote to
Capt. John W. Hinsdale, the Adjutant General of his
brigade : “Major Lacy told me you were all disturbed at
not bringing me off the field. You could not possibly have
changed it. At the time I entered the wood none of the
staff were with me, all having been sent off. I did not expect
to be in the wood more than ten minutes, but I was unfor¬
tunately shot while attempting to ascertain the position of
the enemy. The ball entered the loiver part of the throat,
striking the windpipe, glanced to the right, passed under
the collar bone, struck the head of the shoulder and glanced
again upward, tearing the bones. It unfortunately cut an

Holmes sent
west

Official
Records,
Series I,

Vol. IX, 478

Other-

changes

Capture of
Pettigrew

CONSCRIPTION— SEVEN PINES

724

artery and I would have bled to death had it not been for
Colonel Bull. I became entirely unconscious. The same rea¬
sons which made me refuse to be carried off would have
held had you all been there, and I should have ordered you to
report to Colonel Thomas. I subsequently received another
shot in the left arm, and a bayonet in the right leg; spent
the night on the battlefield, and a little before day was car¬
ried to a Yankee camp. My right leg is still partially par¬
alyzed, but I am recovering the use of it.”

Hanover Court House

M 0? About the middle of May Branch’s brigade had been

1862 ’ ordered to join Jackson in the Valley, but for a time it was
detained and because of McClellan’s movement, it was di¬
rected to take post at Hanover Court House, where Ander¬
son’s Division was to join it in arresting the Federal ad¬
vance. But hardly had the North Carolina brigade reached
its position before Porter, with Morell’s Division and War¬
ren’s Brigade, fell on it to drive it off. Branch had only his
own six regiments, Wade’s Twelfth North Carolina and the
Forty-fifth Georgia. Holding the Georgia regiment and
the Seventh in reserve, Branch threw forward Lane’s Regi¬
ment and Latham’s Battery to support his pickets, and the
engagement at once began. Lane soon found himself in
conflict with Butterworth’s entire brigade, and, seeking the
protection of a convenient fence, he maintained the fight,
until, superior numbers separating him from the brigade, he
retired, and three days elapsed before he reached camp.

Reuben Campbell, Colonel of the Seventh, a graduate of

Campbell West Point, who had served with distinction in Mexico, had
practically converted the regiment into regulars. A part
of his regiment had been sent to charge a battery. Color
bearer after color bearer had fallen, when Campbell seized
the flag and, advancing, ordered his men to follow him. He
had nearly gained the battery when struck and was instantly
killed. Then Lieut. Duncan Haywood took the flag, but at
once fell, and the assault failed.

Branch early in the battle had engaged Martindale’s
Brigade, whose center had broken after an hour’s contest ;

RAW TROOPS FIGHT STUBBORNLY

725

but heavy Federal reinforcements coming up, he, too, had
no option but to retire. Soon, however, Anderson’s Division
arriving, Porter retired, and the battle was not renewed.
Branch’s loss was 73 killed, 192 wounded and 700 prisoners.

It was a stubborn fight, with virtually raw troops on both
sides, and while the disparity was great, Porter having about
three times as many men as Branch, the North Carolinians
stood up manfully, the Federal loss being 62 killed, 223
wounded and 70 missing. General Branch received the com¬
mendation of General Lee both for his own conduct and the
“gallant manner your troops opposed a very superior force” ;
and the result of the battle gave great satisfaction to North
Carolina.

This, the first encounter of Branch’s Brigade, immedi¬
ately after debarking from the cars, was only a prelude to
their heroic conduct 011 every other field.

Lee

commends

Branch

CHAPTER XLVI
The Battles Around Richmond

June, 1862

Stonewall Jackson. — General Lee in command. — McClellan’s
army. — Governor Clark’s activity. — Lee’s army. — The position. —
Lee’s plan. — A. P. Hill moves in at Mechanicsville. — Pender’s
charge. — The Pederals retire. — Gaines Mills. — The victory. — North
Carolina’s losses. — McClellan abandons York River. — Retreats to
the James. — Savage Station. — Frazier’s Farm. — Malvern Hill.- —
End of the conflict. — The losses. — Lee’s magnanimity. — Ransom’s
Brigade. — The North Carolina casualties. — Colonels Lee, Stokes
and Meares.

Stonewall Jackson

While Johnston was retiring in the front of McClellan
and Lee was under a cloud because of his unsuccessful cam-
paign in Western Virginia, Jackson, who had won the title
of Stonewall at Bull Run, appeared in another role. In the
Valley of Virginia he was no longer a mere ‘'stonewall,”
but, rather, an avenging angel on horseback — carrying a
flaming sword, and the destroyer of the Federal invaders.
His operations were rapid and his performances marvelous,
and his fame resounded throughout the South while his
achievements startled the North. Indeed, the Federal Ad¬
ministration feared lest his victorious columns should press
on and capture Washington.

His bold and rapid movements, always winning victory,
made him a hero ; while his habit of prayer and of private
communion for hours together with his Maker, his habitual
silence, his fearlessness, and apparent exemption from the
deadly perils of battle as if specially favored by a protect¬
ing Providence, invested him with higher attributes, and he
became sanctified in the hearts of the people.

On the 1 2th of June he had freed the V alley of the last
Federal column sent to suppress him, and, having closed
his wonderful campaign, he moved his victorious army to
Port Republic on the Potomac; and the road to Washing¬
ton seemed open to him. To meet this possible danger

TROOPS FOR STATE DEFENSE

727

President Lincoln hurried McDowell from Fredericksburg
to interpose in Jackson’s front. With Jackson, sharing in
the honors of the Valley Campaign, there was one North
Carolina regiment, the Twenty-first, Colonel Kirkland, and
Wharton’s Sharpshooters.

General Lee

President Davis, a man of unusual intelligence, large ex¬
perience, and possessing much information and knowledge
of the higher officers of the Confederate Army, had a de¬
cided judgment respecting them. Notwithstanding General
Lee’s failure in his first campaign, Mr. Davis lost no con¬
fidence in his superior excellence, and when McClellan be¬
gan his movement on Richmond he called Lee to his aid as
Military Adviser. Like Lee, McClellan was skilled in war,
and they both understood that victory inclined to the heav¬
iest battalions, and that in a contest of strength the decision
at last depended in large measure on relative numbers.
McClellan, therefore, was continually calling for reinforce¬
ments and additions to his already large army, anci, know¬
ing that the Confederates must attack him, he always
strengthened every position by thoroughly intrenching, put¬
ting the assailing party at a disadvantage.

Even while Johnston was still in command, the War De¬
partment had planned measures to increase the army of de¬
fense, and every effort was made to that end. The State of
North Carolina had raised a force of fifteen thousand men
purely for State defense, and these men were in camp, but
unarmed and not equipped. The Department confided to
Governor Clark its purposes and plans and the Governor
entered heart and soul into them. Despite the presence at
New Bern of Burnside and his army of invasion, as soon
as these North Carolina troops, who indeed were the only
ones in the whole Confederacy not in active service, could
be prepared, they were quickly transported to Richmond,
And, then General Lee further brought every available man
from the South — 5,000 from Georgia under Lawton ; 6,000
from South Carolina under Ripley, and, at the last moment,
6,000 from North Carolina under Holmes, leaving but a

McClellan

Governor

Clark

The North

Carolina

troops

Lee collects
his army

728

BATTLES AROUND RICHMOND

The relative
positions

Lee’s plan

A. P. Hill
moves

Pender

The battle
begins

regiment of cavalry and one of infantry and some batteries
in front of Burnside. In addition, he arranged for Stone¬
wall Jackson to join him with his victorious corps. Alto¬
gether, Lee was thus able to swell the Confederate num¬
bers to 81,000 men. But McClellan was still stronger, hav¬
ing 100,000 in front of Richmond, and 40,000 at Fredericks¬
burg under McDowell, which, however, toward the end of
June had been removed to Jackson’s front.

On taking command, Lee had himself intrenched, his line
running from Chapin’s Bluff on the James, in front of Seven
Pines and Fair Oaks, to the Chickahominy ; and, then, on
the south bank of that stream beyond the north of Rich¬
mond. McClellan was also well intrenched, especially at
chosen positions, for about nine miles on the north of the
Chickahominy up to Mechanicsville, which Reynolds occu¬
pied with 7,000 men, while Porter was at Gaines Mills some
five miles below, with 18,000 men. Some three weeks of
terrific weather put a stop to McClellan’s operations, and
Lee had time to perfect his arrangements. Lee was always
a fighter; he made his plans, took the initiative and sought
to effect his purpose. He arranged for Jackson to secretly
abandon the Valley and be near Mechanicsville on the morn¬
ing of June 26, and for Magruder, Huger and Holmes, with
30,000 men, to attack McClellan at Fair Oaks on that morn¬
ing. And Lee was none too soon, for McClellan himself was
now preparing to attack. Magruder attacked as planned ;
but Jackson failing to reach his position until late in the
afternoon, there was a delay in the movement at the north.
Finally, about five o’clock, A. P. Hill moved to attack
Reynolds, finding his advance intrenched at Ellison Mills,
half a mile from Mechanicsville and seven miles from Rich¬
mond. It was General Pender’s fortune to lead the columns
that opened the battle on that fateful day, to start the move¬
ment that was to eventuate in the greatest series of battles
ever known to American history, and to result in the de¬
struction of McClellan’s army, of which the proud boast had
been made that it was the finest army that had ever been on
the planet. Pender’s Brigade was composed of the Six¬
teenth, Colonel McElroy ; Twentieth, Colonel Conner; Thir¬
ty-fourth, Colonel Riddick, and Thirty-eighth, Col. W. J.

Map of Operations Around Richmond and in the Wilderness Campaign

BATTLE OF COLD HARBOR

729

Hoke, and these began the battle. Pender met with stub¬
born resistance, but his resolution and intrepidity were
shared by his officers and men, and despite terrible losses,
his regiments pressed on. Again President Davis was on
the field and, witnessing Pender’s conduct and the havoc of
his heroic charge, he directed Gen. D. H. Hill to send a
brigade to his assistance, and Ripley’s Brigade was put in,
carrying the First North Carolina, Colonel Stokes, and the
Thirtieth, Colonel Meares. Pender himself was wounded,
as well as Colonel McElroy and Conner, while Colonel
Stokes of the First was killed; but the Federals being driven
from the river, the way was open to Longstreet and D. H.
Hill to cross. The Federals retired at first to the intrench-
ments that had been prepared for them at Beaver Dam
and then during the night to Gaines Mills. Lee had now
on the north of the Chickahominy over forty thousand men,
while McClellan, not knowing of Jackson’s arrival, con¬
tented himself with adding fifteen thousand as a reinforce¬
ment to Porter.

Porter’s new position was one of immense strength. It
was a plateau ending on the northwest side in a bluff some
eighty feet in height, and bounded by a stream along its
base, ten feet wide and five or six feet deep, thus forming
a natural ditch. Three lines of breastworks, rising one
above the other, had been constructed on the base of the
bluff, and its crest was crowned with artillery. And, while
Federal artillery on the south of the stream enfiladed the
front, on his extreme right, at Cold Harbor, many batteries
were planted on a commanding eminence. The natural ad¬
vantages of the position were extraordinarily adapted for
defense, and art and skill had been exhausted in prepara¬
tion. Porter, having been reinforced, had about fifty thou¬
sand men and Lee about forty thousand. The battle known
as Cold Harbor or Gaines Mills was one of the most strenu¬
ous of the war. Lee waited for Jackson to come up, and
then at one o’clock Longstreet and A. P. Hill attacked ;
Longstreet being in the front of the Federal left, A. P.
Hill attacking on the center, and D. H. Hill on the Con¬
federate left. Jackson, when he arrived, joined the latter.

The Federals
retire

Gaines Mills

730

BATTLES AROUND RICHMOND

Complete

victory

Twenty N. C.
regiments

The spoils

North Caro¬
lina’s losses

The contest was undetermined when, towards night, Lee
having ordered a general advance, a great movement was
made, and almost simultaneously the Federal line was
broken both on the right and on the left. General Lee
ascribed the first break to D. H. Hill, saying that Hill
reached the crest of the ridge, and after a sanguinary strug¬
gle, broke the enemy’s line, captured several of his batteries
and drove him in confusion towards the Chickahominy.
Along with Hill were Anderson’s and Garland’s North
Carolina brigades. Almost simultaneously the line was
broken by A. P. Hill on the Confederate right, where
Branch’s and Pender’s brigades and the Sixth Regiment,
Colonel Avery, were engaged along with others. All together
there were twenty North Carolina regiments in the engage¬
ment.

A vivid account of this famous charge is : The brigades
advanced with the defiant yell of the Southern soldiers ;
in the face of a murderous fire of artillery and small arms,
charged the front line of the enemy, which gave way and,
being pressed, carried disorder into the second line, which
fell into a panic and gave way; and the two lines, rushing
madly to the rear in wild disorder, swept away the third,
and a general rout ensued. The artillery upon the crests of
the hill in the rear joined in the general tumult. Many of
the guns were taken at the point of the bayonet. Twenty-
six pieces of artillery, several thousand small guns and five
thousand prisoners fell into the hands of the victorious Con¬
federates. The Federal loss was 9,000, and that of the
Confederates somewhat greater. The North Carolina loss
was very severe. Colonel Campbell, Colonel Lee and Colo¬
nel Faison were killed ; General Pender, Colonels Hoke,
Riddick, Lane and Cowan, Majors Cole and Shot well were
wounded.

While this terrible battle was in progress McClellan might
have still further reinforced Porter, but Magruder again
made a demonstration attacking the Federals on the south
of the Chickahominy, which prevented such a movement.
The Confederate victory was complete, and it was, indeed,
a crushing defeat for McClellan. When night closed in

FED ERA LS IN FUEL RETREAT

731

Lee was in undisputed possession of the field, but firing
continued for two hours notwithstanding the darkness.

During the night, realizing his defeat, McClellan deter¬
mined to abandon his York River base, and he withdrew
Porter’s corps and all other troops from the north of the
Chickahominy, and began a retreat to the James, which,
however, the Confederates failed to discover at the time.
On abandoning his York River base McClellan sought to
save what stores he could and to destroy all he could not.
One long train of stores was run upon a partially destroyed
bridge into the river.

Lee seized the York River Railroad, effectually cutting
off McClellan’s communications with that base of supplies,
but McClellan had already abandoned it, and had begun his
retreat to the James. On the 29th Lee, having recrossed
to the south of the Chickahominy with all his troops, except
Jackson and Ewell and Stuart’s cavalry, at noon began to
follow the retiring Federal army. It soon became evident
that McClellan was in full retreat, on every side being indi¬
cations of his hasty flight. Immense piles of baggage, cloth¬
ing, stores of all kinds had been destroyed. And his hospital
camp, containing some 3,000 sick and wounded, was like¬
wise abandoned.

About noon Magruder fell in with Sumner’s corps acting
as a rear guard holding Savage Station, where the Federals
were strongly intrenched. Some time was consumed in
making dispositions for the attack, which in the afternoon
was made with spirit and vigor ; but it was nightfall before
Sumner, after suffering heavy loss, was driven from his
works. He, however, retreated and made the passage of
White Oak Swamp that night. Jackson was now ordered
to cross to the south and relieve Magruder in the direct
pursuit, while the other divisions were to seek to assail
McClellan’s flanks.

At three o’clock on the 30th, Lee with Longstreet and
A. P. Hill struck the Federal column at Frazier’s Farm.
Jackson and Huger were to have been on the Federal flank,
but they failed to be there, and only a part of Lee’s army
was engaged with the entire Federal force. The field,

Jun-e 29

York River
base aban¬
doned

Retreat to
the James

Savage

Station

Frazier’s

Farm

732

BATTLES AROUND RICHMOND

Branch

Federate
stand at
Malvern Hill

Plan of
battle

however, was open and the Federals did not have their
usual advantages of intrenchments. Branch’s Brigade was
thrown to the right. In his congratulatory address to his
troops, he mentioned: “On Monday, at Frazier’s Farm, you
were again in the heat of the engagement from its opening
to its close, driving the enemy before you for a great dis¬
tance, and capturing a battery.”

The Federal resistance in the center was strong, and it
was not broken until late in the afternoon when a charge
by Pender and Field of A. P. Hill’s Division finally broke
it. Colonel Lee fell on the field, and Colonel Lane was
badly wounded. The Confederate loss was heavy. Dur¬
ing the day McClellan had continued his movement to the
rear and occupied Malvern Hill. Indeed, he had dispatched
General Porter to select a position "beyond which the army
could be withdrawn in safety,” and Porter selected Malvern
Hill. It was certainly a strong position with every natural
advantage for defense. Porter’s description of it is : “The
hill was flanked with ravines, enfiladed by our fire; the
ground in front was sloping, and over it our artillery and
infantry, themselves protected by the crest and ridges, had
clear sweep for their fire. In all directions for several hun¬
dred yards the land over which the attacking force could
advance was almost clear of forests and was generally
cultivated.” The corps of Porter and Keyes were all day
fortifying this position, and as the retreating forces reached
it Porter placed them to advantage. All night long the
movement was continued, so that when morning broke
McClellan had his entire army concentrated and intrenched
in an impregnable position. McClellan’s right was covered
by a creek, and his left rested on the James, his front be¬
ing enfiladed by the fire of his gunboats, while Malvern
Hill, crowned by numerous batteries, dominated the coun¬
try around. The Confederates were under every disad¬
vantage.

Magruder, with Huger and Holmes, was to make the
attack on the right, Jackson on the left. D. H. Hill on the
extreme left was to attack with the bayonet as soon as
Magruder moved in. To be ready, Hill advanced over some
open ground to a timber only four hundred yards from the

MALVERN HILL

733

enemy’s line. It was five o’clock when some firing and
cheering on the right indicated that Magruder was making
his delayed assault, and then Hill led his charge. He car¬
ried the enemy’s first line ; but Magruder, not having moved
in, the Federals concentrated and drove Hill off with severe
loss. The brigades of Trimble, Lawton, Winder and Cun¬
ningham were sent to his aid, but without avail. At length,
about sunset, Magruder moved in ; ten brigades threw them¬
selves heavily on the enemy, among them being six North
Carolina regiments. But D. H. Hill having been repulsed,
his column shared the same fate. Indeed the Confederates
fought under every disadvantage. Their artillery was in
the low ground and could not be used effectively, while three
hundred cannon hurled death and destruction from the
crowned crests of Malvern Hill. Long during the war was
the artillery battle of that day a vivid memory to those sub¬
jected to the terrible ordeal. The loss of the Confederates
was heavy, and much was it deplored. Yet the sacrifice
was not in vain. # It was the end of the great and prolonged
conflict, and the result was indicated by McClellan’s tele¬
gram to Washington, ‘‘I need fifty thousand men.” In less
than two hours after the contest had ceased he gave orders
to resume the retreat to Harrison’s Landing, and at mid¬
night his utterly exhausted soldiers were groping their stag¬
gering way in all the confusion of a fleeing and routed army.
The end of the invasion had come.

The Confederate loss: 3,279 killed, 15,857 wounded.
North Carolina, 650 killed, 3,297 wounded. Confederates
captured 52 pieces of artillery, 10,000 prisoners, 27,000 arms,
and stores to a great amount.

The general result

W hile the general result desired by Lee was attained, and
the strategy he used in connection with his plan was mas-
terly, yet it happened that on nearly every day he suffered
severe disappointment because his directions had not been
observed and his particular purpose had not been achieved
as planned. This was unknown at the time either by his
army or the country, and Lee, whose magnanimity was un-

Hill’s charge

July 1,
1862

End of the
conflict

Some results

Lee’s

magnanimity

734

BATTLES AROUND RICHMOND

Appreciation
of Jackson

Officers

killed

Ransom’s

Brigade

excelled, for his greatness of soul was only equaled by his
greatness as a general, never uttered any complaint ; but
members of his military family were conversant with the
incidents, and one night a few weeks later the author was
shocked beyond expression to hear one of them exclaim in
a fit of anger, '‘Damn Jackson, he is always doing what he
ought not to !” These disappointing incidents are adverted
to in Long’s Memoirs and Taylor’s Destruction and Recon¬
struction. But never again was Lee to be disappointed by
Jackson in action. There was the utmost cordiality, reli¬
ance, confidence, and appreciation on the part of both of
them.

Among those killed were Colonels Stokes, Meares, Camp¬
bell and Lee ; Lieutenant Colonels Petway and Faison, and
Majors Compton, Skinner and Huske. The victory was
dearly bought.

Robert Ransom’s Brigade, composed of the Twenty-
fourth, Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth, Thirty-fifth, Forty-
eighth and Forty-ninth, was ordered from North Carolina on
June 20, and reported to General Huger on the Williams¬
burg road on June 25, and it was repeatedly engaged, until
finally at 7 p.m. on July 1, at Malvern Hill, it made one of
the last and most desperate assaults. Its losses during that
period were three colonels wounded, several field officers
and many company officers killed, and 499 privates either
killed or wounded.

The North Carolina troops

In the battles around Richmond the other North Carolina
regiments engaged were brigaded as follows :

In Whiting’s Brigade — the Sixth, Colonel Avery.

In Branch's Brigade, A. P. Hill’s Division — Seventh.
Eighteenth, Twenty-eighth, Thirty-third and Thirty-seventh.

In Pender’s Brigade — Sixteenth, Twenty-second, Thirty-
fourth and Thirty-eighth.

In Garland’s Brigade, D. H. Hill’s Division — Thirteenth,
Twenty-third, Fifth, Twelfth and Twentieth.

In G. B. Anderson's Brigade — Second, Fourth, Thirtieth
and Fourteenth.

NORTH CAROLINA LOSSES

735

In Ripley’s Brigade — First (Stokes), Third (Meares).

In Webb’s Brigade, McLaw’s Division — Fifteenth (Mc¬
Kinney).

In Trimble’s Brigade, Ewell’s Division — Twenty-first
(Kirkland).

In Daniel’s Brigade, Holmes’s Division — Forty-third,'
Forty-fifth, Fiftieth, Thirty-second and Fifty-third.

In Walker’s Brigade — Twenty-seventh, Forty-sixth, For¬
ty-eighth and Fifteenth.

There was one regiment of North Carolina cavalry.
There were four batteries and two battalions.

Garland’s Brigade lost 815, Pender’s 763, Branch’s 641,
G. B. Andrews’s 450, Ripley’s 424 ; the others not so many.

The Losses

As the terrible news of the great battles around Rich¬
mond spread throughout the State, and the lists of the killed
and wounded were published, every community was involved
in sorrow, and the private woes of the families rose to the
height of a public calamity. Thousands of households
mourned their dead, and ten thousand were afflicted with
the agony of anxiety and dread. Among the victims were
the bravest spirits, the most gallant sons, the best and most
beloved — and heads were bowed and hearts were broken at
the sacrifice.

Among the slain deeply lamented were Colonels Lee,
Stokes and, Meares. Late on the evening of June 30, Colo¬
nel C. C. Lee of the Thirty-seventh Regiment was unfor¬
tunately killed by a cannon ball. His regiment with the
rest of Branch’s Brigade was charging a battery, and had
driven the enemy before them some considerable distance.
When about a hundred yards from the battery as he shouted :
“On, my brave boys,” he fell. Adjutant William T. Nickle-
son raised him up, but he instantly expired in his arms.

Stokes was the son of Governor Montfort Stokes of
Wilkes County. He had been a major in the Mexican War
and had survived all the perils of that conflict, and now was
honored by his State by being accorded the preeminence of

73^

BATTLES AROUND RICHMOND

Colonel of the first regiment of State troops. He fell on
his first field of battle at Ellison’s Mills.

Gaston Meares, who fell at Malvern Hill on the last day
of the titanic strife, struck in the forehead, was a son of
the distinguished and honored William B. Meares of Wil¬
mington. In early life he had had two years training at
West Point. Having settled in Arkansas, in 1846 he was
adjutant of Colonel Yell’s Arkansas regiment in the Mexi¬
can War, and was elected by it Lieutenant Colonel. Return¬
ing to Wilmington in 1848, the citizens there presented him
with a handsome sword in recognition of his military serv¬
ice. Eventually, he located in New York City as a mer¬
chant. He was appointed Colonel of the Third Regiment.
He was a man of rare ability and of singular purity, and
of such military characteristics that had he been spared he
would certainly have attained high distinction.

CHAPTER XLVII

Lee in Maryland — Vance Governor

The election of Governor. — The campaign. — The soldiers vote.
— Vance elected. — Lee’s plans. — Disaffection from Chatham to
Wilkes. — Cedar Mountain. — Warrenton Springs. — Manassas Junc¬
tion. — Jackson takes position. — Second Manassas. — The battle on
the left. — Pope’s error. — The renewed assault. — Longstreet. — The
victory. — Ox Hill. — Harpers Ferry. — Boonsboro Gap. — Sharps-
burg. — Branch. — Conditions in summer. — Martin’s Brigade. —
Given to Pettigrew. — Vance’s fine inaugural. — Holden. — Lot Hum¬
phrey. — The death of Ashe. — The yellow fever.

The election — Vance and Johnston

As August approached, notwithstanding the sorrows of
the afflicted people, the political contest grew in intensity in
the editorial sanctums of Raleigh, and at some other points,
although but few were in sympathy with the bitter utter¬
ances of those papers. The Wilmington Journal, giving
expression to the views of the Confederate people of the
lower section of the State, and declaring that it had no hand
in bringing out either of the candidates, urged the election
of Johnston as the more capable of the two, but admitted
that Vance could tell an anecdote better than his opponent.
And that paper strenuously objected to the general policy
of the Standard and of the Fayetteville Observer drawing
lines between those who had advocated secession prior to
Lincoln’s proclamation and those who stood for the Union
up to that event. Vance’s attitude to the cause of the South
was not a subject of adverse comment, but the purposes of
his leading supporters to establish antagonistic parties was
denounced. Vance was Holden’s candidate, and the Fed¬
eral paper published at New Bern was quoting from the
Standard and holding the Standard up to its readers as a
L nion paper, adverse to the Confederacy.

As there had been no conventions and no organization,
the antagonistic editors at Raleigh measurably conducted the
contest, and never did Holden in all the years of his fine

Aug., 1862

The cam¬
paign

738 LEE IN MARYLAND— VANCE GOVERNOR

Standard,
July 30

Vance’s de¬
votion

In camp,
July 31

The vote

editorial work manage with greater finesse and display more
astuteness and acumen ; while, on the other hand, some of
the Johnston papers were betrayed into the blunder of as¬
sailing Vance’s personal record and patriotic devotion to
the South. Vance, in advertising for companies to consti¬
tute a legion, had said: “Turn out and let’s make short
work of old Abe,” and forty companies promptly responded;
yet the Iredell Express said: “We shall expect soon to hear
that the Standard's ally at New Bern has nominated Colonel
Vance”; and the Standard alleged that the Express spoke of
Vance as “the Northern or Federal candidate.”

“Remember,” cried the Raleigh Register as a last appeal,
“remember that if Zebulon Vance shall be elected Governor
the Yankees will claim it as an indisputable sign that the
Union sentiment is in the ascendancy in the heart of the
Southern Confederacy.” To this the Standard replied: “Go
to the polls and rebuke these atrocious libels on Colonel
Vance. You are proclaimed submissionists, traitors. You
have the power in the State. Use it.”

Notwithstanding Vance was a candidate for Governor
of the State, he had remained with his regiment all through
the battles around Richmond, and was particularly engaged
in the last — Malvern Hill. Vance was young, dashing, and
captivating in manner as in appearance. He was already
distinguished for his ready wit and eloquence. In the
charge at Malvern Hill a rabbit was jumped, and it ran
past the men. The men raised a shout, in which Vance
joined, crying out: “Go it, Cotton Tail: if I had no more
reputation to lose than you, I would run too!” At the
election he received every vote in his regiment except seven.

Under the ordinance of the Convention the soldiers were
to vote on the 31st of July, the returns being made to their
respective counties. The result, as far as ascertained, was
in the army about two for Vance to one for Johnston. In
the counties, Vance received 46,736, and Johnston 16,452.
Four counties within the Federal lines made no returns.
The entire vote was 38,000 fewer than in i860. The Gov¬
ernor was to be sworn in the second Monday in September.

EFFECTS OF POFITICAF AGITATION

739

Lee’s plans

After the battles around Richmond, McClellan’s army
being virtually defeated, Lee divided his army into two
corps, one being commanded by Stonewall Jackson, the
other by Longstreet. He sent troops back to North Caro¬
lina and along the coast, and left some divisions at Richmond
and Petersburg. On July 13, Lee dispatched Jackson to
Gordonsville with some 20,000 troops, among them being
A. P. Hill’s Light Division, containing Pender's and
Branch’s brigades. As soon as Pender had recovered from
his wounds he rejoined his brigade and began to practice
his regiments in brigade drill. Theretofore the colonels had
assiduously practiced regimental drills, but Pender now
introduced the brigade drill, and soon all the other brigades
were following his example, much to the benefit of the
Army.

The effect of the political agitation and of the onslaught
made by Holden and his followers on the Secessionists and
the Administration now became apparent. Disaffection was
prevalent. There were many desertions. At first, by some,
it was supposed that the men did not intend to separate
themselves from the army, but only were possessed by an
overpowering desire to return home and see their families.
But unfortunately another spirit was infused among them
and desertions soon became numerous. The counties of
Chatham, Guilford, Randolph, Forsyth, Yadkin, Iredell and
Wilkes were particularly affected. These counties gave
Vance about twenty times as many votes as they gave
Johnston, and the feeling among the people at home doubt¬
less had its influence on the soldiers. The change in senti¬
ment was ominous, but among those whose endeavors were
centered on success it seems to have been measurably dis¬
regarded. At any rate, the men who were intent on up¬
holding the Confederacy did not turn their thoughts from
the purpose that engaged them.

Cedar Mountain

Jackson found an opportunity to engage Banks’s Corps
under Pope’s command, at Cedar Mountain, about eight

Pender be¬
gins brigade
drill

Disaffection

The affected
counties

August 9

740

LEE IN MARYLAND— VANCE GOVERNOR

1862

Branch and
Pender

Hill, 94

Official
Records,
Vol. XII,
184

August 21

Warrenton

Springs

Manassas

Junction

miles from Culpeper, on the 9th of August; but as Jackson
approached, before his entire force was up, Banks made the
attack, his soldiers fighting well. However, A. P. Hill’s Di¬
vision, arriving in time, extended Jackson’s front to the left,
and Branch’s Brigade drove the enemy in its front. Still
farther to the left Pender struck Gordon’s Federal Brigade
on the flank ; and, a general advance being made along the
entire line, the Federals were routed and driven off the field.
The victory was largely due to the effective work of the
two North Carolina brigades, although their loss was only,
slight. The Union loss was 2,381 ; that of the Confederates
was 1,276. After the enemy had retired, General Pender,
with a selected detachment of three hundred men, advanced
beyond the stream and remained there during the night as
a guard from an early attack, for Seigel was expected to
join Banks, and the battle might be renewed. Pender’s ad¬
vanced position was hardly three hundred yards from the
Federal army. The Confederates gathered up 5,302 small
arms.

Jackson, after maintaining his position for two days, re¬
turned to Gordonsville and there was joined by General Lee
and Longstreet’s Corps. On the twenty-first, Jackson
moved up the Rappahannock, and found the enemy at War¬
renton Springs, where there was heavy artillery firing on
the 24th. Then, Longstreet coming up and the Federals
not being aware of the substitution, Jackson moved rapidly
through Thoroughfare Gap and penetrated the rear of
Pope’s army. He seized Manassas Junction with its vast
stores. On the morning of the 27th, as Pender’s Brigade
approached the junction, Taylor’s New Jersey brigade,
along with other Federal organizations, utterly at sea as to
what was the situation, moved up in fine style, in perfect
formation, as if on parade. Pender’s Brigade, with Branch’s
and two others, quickly drove them away and then followed
them across Bull Run.

On that forced march the weather was very warm and
the soldiers suffered very much, the more that they were
separated from all commissary stores, had no rations, and
subsisted largely on green corn plucked from the fields en
route.

BULL RUN AGAIN

74i

At twelve o’clock that night Hill's Division marched to
Centerville, some five miles, and the next day moved back
towards Thoroughfare Gap, it being expected that Long-
street would follow Jackson. In the meantime, Pope, en¬
tirely mystified, for his own headquarters near Warrenton
had been visited by General Stuart, and he knew nothing of
what forces were in his rear, ordered his various corps to
proceed towards Manassas Junction and capture the maraud¬
ers. When Pender’s Brigade had forded Bull Run some
distance above Stone Bridge, it camped at edge of a wood
to the south of which lay a wide stretch of open country.
Pender, coming up, observed some men far away across the
fields, and deciding that they must be a Federal column,
ordered his brigade to resume their arms, and hurried off
to Jackson. Presently, there was an order for Jackson’s
Divisions to move, and they were conducted to the positions
they continued to occupy for three days. With a ravine
and a mountain in the rear, they were protected from any
attack in that quarter, while they were screened from ob¬
servation, being in woods, where they lay along the fine
Warrenton turnpike that the Federals would travel. In
front of Jackson’s left was a deep railroad cut that afforded
some advantage.

Centerville

Pender

The position
chosen

Second Manassas

Towards evening Jackson made his dispositions, and when
the Federal column, King’s Division of McDowell’s Corps,
approached on the turnpike Ewell and Taliaferro’s Division
assailed it, and a stubborn fight ensued that lasted until ten
o’clock. The engagement was sanguinary. General Hood
states “the fighting was so close that the foes intermingled,”
and that “commanders of both armies gave orders for align¬
ment, in some instances, to the troops of their opponents.”
Volleys were exchanged at such short range that “brave
men in blue and brave men in gray fell dead almost in one
another’s arms.” Generals Ewell and Taliaferro were
wounded, the former losing a leg, and Lieut. Col. Saunders
Fulton of the Twenty-first North Carolina was killed.

742

LEE IN MARYLAND— VAN'CE GOVERNOR

Pope’s

pursuit

August 29

Branch and
Pender

The railroad
cut

The close
quarters

Six assaults

Pope, having reached Centerville and finding no Confed¬
erates, supposed that they were fleeing from his wrath, and
the next morning issued orders forming his forces into “an
army of pursuit,” and entered on the pursuit.

On Jackson’s right was his old division, towards Grove-
ton. Ewell’s Division held the center, and A. P. Hill was
on the left towards Sudley Springs. On the morning of the
29th Seigel fell in with Jackson's right and was repulsed.
Later, Hooker, Kearney and Reno came up on the left and
center. Pope, endeavoring to turn Jackson’s flank and rout
him, made his chief assault on the left, where Branch and
Pender were engaged. The Federals, perhaps underestimat¬
ing the forces in their front, moved in with elan and stub¬
bornly maintained the fight.

For a time the battle swaged backward and forward
through the woods, Jackson with great prudence acting on
the defensive, and not risking a conclusion until Lee should
have come up with Longstreet’s Corps. The Federals at
times penetrated into the woods held by the Confederates,
and once they reached the railroad cut, occupied by Thomas,
where, ammunition being exhausted, stones were used, and
the bayonet and the butt-end of the musket. General Grover,
who was in this charge, reports that “bayonet wounds were
given,” and he saw “a Confederate colonel struck on the
head by a musket.” Gen. Bradley Johnson saw at least “one
man killed by a stone.” He saw “a Federal flag hold its
position for half an hour within ten yards of the Confed¬
erate regiments in the cut, and go down six or eight times,
and after the fight one hundred dead men were lying twenty
yards from the cut and some of them within two feet of it.”
Pender, coming to Thomas’s aid, hurled the enemy back.
“The evident intention of the enemy this day,” said Gen.
A. P. Hill, “was to turn our left and overwhelm Jackson’s
Corps before Longstreet came up, and, to accomplish this,
the most persistent and furious onsets were made by column
after column of infantry, accompanied by numerous bat¬
teries of artillery. Soon my reserves were all in, and up to
six o’clock my division, assisted by the Louisiana Brigade,
with a heroic courage and obstinacy almost beyond parallel,
had met and repulsed six separate and distinct assaults.”

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LONGSTREET’S BATTLE FLAG

743

So the day ended with Jackson’s line unbroken. The move¬
ments of the Federals on the left were ominous of a night
assault, and Pender’s Brigade was advanced that night far
to the left to hold against such a contingency; and, as the
batteries continued their fire until late, more or less all night,
it was a perilous position.

Porter’s Federal Corps, far to the west, had on the 29th
become aware of the approach of a Confederate column,
Longstreet’s, but Pope was ignorant of it. Porter was
cautious, and did not at first obey Pope’s order to march to
his aid, and when at length he did so he left Longstreet
virtually unopposed. Lee united Longstreet with Jackson’s
right and confidently awaited the renewal of the battle.
Pope, learning of Confederate movements towards Jackson’s
right, misapprehended them, and, ignorant of Longstreet’s
presence, thought Jackson was in flight and telegraphed to
Washington, “The enemy is retiring toward the moun¬
tains.” So well had Lee’s strategy been put into effect that
Pope had yet to learn who his antagonist was. The next
morning was passed in comparative quiet, but by the after¬
noon Pope had brought up Porter, whose command was
regulars, who, with King, Hooker, Kearney, Richards and
Reynolds, made desperate assaults on Jackson’s left. The
Federal fighting that afternoon was perhaps the fiercest,
most obstinate and strenuous of any by them during the
war. Repeatedly repulsed, they still surged forward. They
pressed Jackson’s front line back through the woods, and
it seemed as if they could not be withstood, so great was
the number, so massive their columns, so persistent their
courage. Jackson’s situation seemed perilous indeed. But
in the nick of time reinforcements came through the ravine
in Jackson’s rear and filed down towards the front, and they
bore Longstreet’s battle flag ! Soldiers know only what
they see, and Jackson’s Corps knew nothing of Longstreet
until they saw that battle flag. Then, whatever of apprehen¬
sion may have been felt gave place to exultation. Long¬
street was up ! The battle was safe ! All the reserves then
swept in, and with irresistible force, the serried columns of
Porter and the others were hurled back; and Longstreet,

Porter’s

position

Pope’s error

Jackson’s

left

Longstreet’s
battle flag

The advance

744

LEE IN MARYLAND— VANCE GOVERNOR

Pender

The spoils

Fletcher

Webster

The effect

Chantilly

Maryland

having his artillery massed and well placed, played havoc
and destruction upon them. During that storm of shot and
shell along the front Jackson’s, divisions withdrew to escape
it, and when it was over the Federal columns, although
badly shattered, again advanced. Ptnder, with some ad¬
ditions to his brigade, wheeled into the field and enveloped
a battery of Federal artillery, and then pressing on to the
left, struck several columns of the enemy, the last at nine
o’clock, far to the left, that being the last encounter of
that great conflict.

Pope’s army that night left the battlefield and returned
to Centerville, where Franklin’s regulars and other rein¬
forcements from McClellan’s army had arrived, McClellan
himself having been assigned to the command of the forti¬
fications around Washington.

Pope reported his casualties at 16,843, being as great as
all the losses of McClellan during the seven days battle
around Richmond ; and Lee captured 30 pieces of artillery
and 26,000 stands of small arms, and the supplies at Manas¬
sas and especially the medical supplies at Centerville. Among
the slain was Fletcher Webster, the only son of Daniel
Webster. It was, however, a dearly-bought victory, but a
glorious one, the more glorious because the Federals fought
with unusual bravery, because Jackson’s force that bore the
brunt of it was greatly outnumbered, because the hazard
was great, the enterprise remarkable and the consequences
of the utmost importance. It threw the Federal authorities
at Washington into a terrible panic, the expectation being
that Washington would be captured. However, Lee’s only
chought was to rout Pope’s army, and he now moved so
as, if possible, to gain his rear; and the battle of Ox Hill,
or Chantilly, ensued. That again was Jackson’s fight.
Branch and Brockenborough were sent to develop the
enemy, and Gregg, Pender, Thomas and Archer came to
their aid. The Federals obstinately contested the field. The
brunt of the battle was borne by Branch, Gregg and Pender.

After this battle, on September 2, D. H. Hill and McLawrs’s
and Hampton’s cavalry, having left Richmond, joined Lee,
who now entered Maryland, his army numbering 45,000
efifective men. The cavalry was sent forward to seize im-

ACROSS THE POTOMAC

745

portant points, and on the 5th, the infantry crossed the
Potomac at the lower fords, arriving at Frederick on the
6th. There Lee discovered that the Federal force at Har¬
pers Ferry had not been withdrawn, and he dispatched Jack-
son to capture it. Jackson crossed the Potomac near Wil¬
liamsport on the nth, while McLaws with his and Ander¬
son’s divisions pressed on to seize Maryland Heights, and
Walker was to occupy Loudoun Heights. In this expedition
were eighteen North Carolina regiments. The movements
were a perfect success. General Miles found Harpers
Ferry completely invested on the morning of the 14th, and
two hours of cannonading on the morning of the 15th
brought his surrender. There fell into Jackson’s hands
11,000 prisoners, 73 pieces of artillery, 13,000 stands of
arms, 200 wagons and a large quantity of stores. To protect
Harpers Ferry, McClellan, again in command, had dis¬
patched Franklin’s Corps to hold Maryland Heights; but
Franklin met with such stubborn resistance at Cramptons
Pass, five miles away, that he was several hours too late.
As soon as the surrender was effected McLaws crossed the
river and proceeded by way of Shepherdstown to Sharps-
burg. Lee had moved leisurely toward Hagerstown, but
McClellan, by an unfortunate circumstance, became con¬
versant with his plans and the movement of his corps and
their separation, and he pressed forward to strike the several
commands in detail.

On the morning of the 14th Jackson was at Harpers
Ferry, fifteen miles from Sharpsburg; Longstreet at Ha¬
gerstown, still farther to the north; and D. H. Hill at Boons-
boro Gap, in the South Mountains, eastward, with McClel¬
lan’s whole force approaching. Longstreet moved to Hill’s
assistance, and fortunately arrived in time to prevent Hill
from being overwhelmed. Later, however, Lee found it
necessary to withdraw to Sharpsburg, where at ten o’clock
the next morning Longstreet and Hill were in position.
That was the morning of Miles’s surrender. Lee, aware
of Jackson’s success, now chose to give battle at Sharps¬
burg, trusting to Jackson’s return in time. And so it hap¬
pened, for after Miles’s surrender, Jackson, leaving A. P.

September

Eighteen
North Caro
lina regi¬
ments

Harpers

Ferry

The surren¬
der

McClellan

Boonsboro

Gap

746 LEE IN MARYLAND— VANCE GOVERNOR

Sept. 16

Positions

taken

The carnage

The progress
of the battle

North Caro¬
linians

The stone
fence

The key

Hill to guard the prisoners, by a night march reached
Sharpsburg about noon of the 16th. McClellan's force hav¬
ing been badly disorganized by the battle of the 14th, he
was delayed, so that he did not reach Sharpsburg until the
afternoon of the 15th.

On the afternoon of the 16th Hooker crossed the Antie-
tam and had an encounter with Hood’s Brigade, in which
the Sixth North Carolina was engaged, and Mansfield
joined Hooker. At early dawn of the 17th they moved in
and fell on Jackson and Ripley. The First North Carolina,
the Third, Twenty-first and the First Battalion were then
engaged ; then the Sixth and later, Garland’s Brigade, com¬
manded by Col. D. K. McRae, with the Fifth, Twelfth,
Thirteenth, Twentieth and Twenty-third. There was ter¬
rible carnage.

The Third North Carolina was moved and brought into
the deadly embrace of the enemy. Here DeRossett fell
about seven o’clock in the morning. The ammunition of
Jackson and one of D. H. Hill’s divisions became exhausted,
and all had been used from the boxes and pockets of their
dead comrades, when they were reinforced ; but then Sum¬
ner’s Corps came up and the Confederates were driven back.
Now Walker’s Division arrived, consisting almost exclus¬
ively of North Carolinians. His own brigade, under Col.
E. D. Hall, was composed of the Twenty-seventh, Forty-
sixth and Forty-eighth, and Ransom’s of the Twenty-fourth,
Twenty-fifth, Thirty-fifth and Forty-ninth. McLaws sup¬
ported Walker. Walker made a headlong charge and
McLaws, pressing beyond, flanked Sedgwick’s line. The
enemy was driven off with terrible loss. The Twenty-first
North Carolina and the Twenty-first Georgia, being posted
behind a stone fence, broke the enemy’s line, nearly two
thousand men being disabled in a moment. Sedgwick’s
repulse is notable in warfare, and the work was chiefly done
by the North Carolina regiments.

On the left General Ransom drove the enemy from the
woods and held resolutely a position so important that it
has been called “The key of the battlefield.” For eight
hours they held it while a fearful battle was in progress.
By ten o’clock that stage of the battle was ended. Then

LOSSES AT SHARPSBURG

747

came an attack in the center, held by D. H. Hill, where
G. B. Anderson’s North Carolinians and Rhodes’s Alabam¬
ians, along with the division of R. H. Anderson, stood the
brunt. They held the sunken road, which they made im¬
mortal as “The Bloody Lane.” Here among many others
fell, terribly wounded, Gen. G. B. Anderson. Of Anderson
it has been said that he was the first officer of the Regular
Army to resign and cast his fortunes with the Confederacy.
Like his kindred in North Carolina, he was distinguished
for his winning manners, warm heart, modest manliness,
and love of truth. No man had gained more steadily the
admiration of his men and the confidence and regard of
his superior officers.

Among those killed was Colonel Tew of the Second Regi¬
ment, His body, however, was not distinguished in the
mass of the slain, and some years after the war there was
a rumor that he had been taken prisoner and confined on
the Dry Tortugas, a canard certainly without foundation, but
adding to the sorrow of his friends.

A son of Col. F. M. Parker, of the Thirtieth Regiment,
writes: “I remember hearing father say that his regiment
was lying down under orders to escape the terrific rifle fire
of the Federal troops, and that while lying there with his
regiment, a courier rode up and stated that General Ander¬
son, who was in command of the brigade, had been seriously
wounded and taken from the field, and that Colonel Tew,
who was next in command, had just been killed, and that
he, Colonel Parker, was next in command and should take
charge of the brigade. Father stated that he rose up to
go down the line, and just as he stood erect he was struck
in the head with a bullet and was borne from the field un¬
conscious and did not recover consciousness until some
weeks afterwards.” Among the many others badly wounded
also was Col. R. T. Bennett.

The struggle ends

The last phase of the battle now was precipitated. Burn¬
side, with twenty thousand, assailed Lee’s right, and at five
o’clock gained the crest of the ridge south of Sharpsburg,

The sunken
road

G-. B. Ander¬
son

Haywood

Parker

The last
encounter

748 LEE IN MARYLAND— VANCE GOVERNOR

The close

Branch

The return

Shepherds-

town

but at that critical moment A. P. Hill arrived from Harpers
Ferry, accompanied by five brigades, among them Branch’s
and Pender’s. Hill fell on Burnside’s flank, and, outflanked
and staggered by Hill’s brigades, Burnside’s advance was
arrested ; but, receiving reinforcements, he again pressed on,
only, however, to be again repulsed and followed up by
Hill, Tombs and Kemper. Night brought the battle to its
close.

While in this battle the North Carolina infantry main¬
tained its high reputation, particular honors were accorded
to the North Carolina batteries — Latham’s, Manly’s and
Reilly’s.

The result of the conflict justified Lee’s determination to
hazard the battle at Sharpsburg, but it was a bloody en¬
counter. More than eleven thousand Federals lay dead or
wounded on the field; and Lee himself lost ten thousand —
nearly one-third of his army. But McClellan was defeated.
Among those the State of North Carolina had to mourn
was General Branch, who fell at the head of his brigade.
Of him General Hill said : “He was my senior brigadier,
and one to whom I would have entrusted the command of
the division with all confidence.” In the Regimental History
it is well said of him: “No country had a better son or
nobler champion, no principle a bolder defender than
the noble and gallant soldier, General Laurence O’Brian
Branch.

All the next day Lee kept the field awaiting any renewal
of the battle, but McClellan was satisfied. The following
night the Confederates quietly crossed the Potomac without
let or hindrance. The next morning, however, some Fed¬
eral brigades crossed the river under the protection of
numerous batteries at Shepherdstown, and A. P. Hill’s
North Carolinians drove them back.

Thus ended the Maryland campaign in which the North
Carolina regiments performed inestimable service along with
their associates. Their rapid march to Harpers Ferry and
the great success of that movement, and their resolute con¬
duct on the field of Sharpsburg won them high encomiums.
Their loss, in part, was 335 killed and 1,838 wounded.
Among those killed was Col. C. C. Tew, one of the most

SCARCITY OF NECESSARIES

7 49

efficient colonels in the army ; and among the wounded were
Colonels Van H. Manning, Risden Tyler Bennett, Francis
M. Parker, William L. DeRossett, Lieutenant Colonels
Saunders, W. A. Johnston, Thomas Ruffin, Majors R. F.
Webb, S. D. Thurston and S. McD. Tate and Edwin A.
Osborne, who were commanding regiments. Here also fell
the lamented Hugh Gaston, “as true and brave a soul as
ever died for liberty,” a grandson of Judge Gaston, and
with his death the family name passed away.

Conditions in the summer of 1862

The scarcity of necessaries was beginning to be felt in
the homes of the people. The great aim had been to raise
and equip the army and to provide for the soldiers and for
defense, but efforts had been made to foster the manufac¬
ture of indispensable supplies and to promote the raising
of provisions on the farms. The stay law protected those
who were indebted from being harassed by law suits, and,
as a great mass of currency had been added to the circula¬
tion, prices had begun to advance, especially as there were
some persons who were not convinced that the currency
issued during the war would eventually be redeemed at
par, and there was a notable depreciation in its value.

Blockade running was in full operation and speculators
hastened to buy up imported articles, expecting to make
great profit by their sale. Speculation and profiteering be¬
came rampant.

When the conscript law came to be enforced it brought
about new conditions that led to discontent. The labor prob¬
lem began to bear acutely in some sections where nearly all
the able-bodied men had entered the military service ; and,
especially at the west the absence of the necessary labor on
the farms was felt. Enterprising men were engaged in de¬
veloping resources.

As the Federal authorities had declared medicines to be
contraband of war, the South was deprived measurably of
such necessaries. Fortunately the botanists and medical
profession were able presently to reasonably supply the de¬
ficiency. Native herbs and roots of medicinal virtue were

The losses

750

LEE IN MARYLAND— VANCE GOVERNOR

Martin’s

Brigade

Pettigrew

soon in demand and there were many collections. That at
Statesville became famous and of considerable importance.
Then there were soon fields of poppies and other plants of
medical value. One physician, Dr. Joyner, among other
persons, grew a field of poppies and got opium ; he grew
jimpson, or Jamestown, weed, and got stramonium, a deadly
poison but useful for many things ; and Palma Christi plants
for castor oil. And so it was here and there.

Home manufactures

Efforts were made to increase the home manufactures.
At Raleigh and Fayetteville were paper mills; and there
were thirty-nine cotton factories and seven woolen mills.
These made yarn and cloth, and throughout the State hand
looms and spinning jennys came into use by those who
could obtain them. Wooden shoes were made at Raleigh,
also pikes, caps and powder; while at Greensboro a private
company, aided by the State, made rifles, and there was a
sword factory at Wilmington, and there were numerous
smaller enterprises started elsewhere. Indeed, there was a
great demand on North Carolina by other states. The
arsenal at Fayetteville was being utilized and the coal and
iron of Deep River were found helpful. The coal, espec¬
ially, was being carried to Wilmington for the blockade
runners. But the people were saddened by their terrific
losses and households mourned for fathers and sons.

Whatever was needed and was possible to be done was
accomplished for the advantage of the troops, and for their
equipment and supply. In the stress of military conditions
in the early summer, General Martin organized a brigade
consisting of the Eleventh, Seventeenth, Forty-fourth, For¬
ty-seventh and Fifty-second regiments, and took them to
Kinston ; but soon was ordered to carry them to the defense
of Richmond, arriving there, however, after the battles had
been fought and victory won. Eater his North Carolina
brigade was given to Pettigrew and he returned to Raleigh
as Adjutant General, and so continued cordially cooperating
with Vance as he had with Governor Clark, until his retire¬
ment in 1863.

VANCE BOLD AND PATRIOTIC

75 1

Emancipation

At the North also doubtless there was mourning, and now
a new turn was given to hostilities.

In April the Federal Congress passed an act to emancipate
the slaves in the District of Columbia, paying an average of
$300 for them; then in June it prohibited slavery in any
territory. In July it passed an act confiscating the property
of those in arms against the United States and setting free
all slaves coming into the possession of the government.

In September the governors of the Northern States joined
in urging the President to proclaim that all slaves in
the seceded states should be declared free; likewise that the
conduct of operations should be committed only to men
favorable to emancipation, and that the war should be not
merely to force the seceded states back into the Union, but
to abolish slavery. But the Confederates neither knew nor
cared for that. They proposed to be independent.

Vance’s inaugural

On Monday, the 8th of September, the oaths of office
were administered to Governor Vance by Chief Justice
Pearson in the presence of a large number of persons, on
a platform erected near the west entrance of the Capitol,
and Governor Vance delivered an inaugural address. It
was bold, manly and patriotic. Whatever feeling of un¬
certainty any may have entertained was dispelled. It breathed
as noble and lofty a spirit as devoted patriotism ever in¬
spired. After stating the circumstances that led to seces¬
sion, he declared that “it was the deliberate judgment of
our people. Any other course would have involved the
deepest degradation, the vilest dishonor, and the direst
calamity. We also accepted with the act all of its inevitable
consequences, a long and bloody war. We were wide awake
to all the results, and gallantly and gloriously have our peo¬
ple met them. . . . North Carolina has sent forth near

fifty thousand men, and can send many more. Are there
any among us who faint or despair?” And then, in impas¬
sioned eloquence, he portrayed the inevitable consequences

752

LEE IN MARYLAND— VANCE GOVERNOR

of subjugation, and cried: “If all this should fail to arouse
his soul to resistance, then, indeed, is he dead to every
Sept. 1862 sense °f shame and deaf to his country’s voice. . . .

One of the most vital elements is harmony. On this great
issue of resistance, itself, let there, I pray you, be no dis¬
senting voice in our borders. Let the names and watch¬
words which once divided us divide us no more forever.
Let us see nothing, hear nothing, know nothing, but our
country and its sufferings. ”

The eloquent orator, indeed, made substantially the same
address on assuming the government that he had made when
asking the votes of the soldiers in Virginia. The Conscript
Act had borne hard on the twelve-months men, but he had
sought in Virginia to reconcile them to it, and now he pro¬
claimed that he would enforce it. On the other hand, how¬
ever, he sought to allay whatever feeling there was of dis¬
trust by declaring that the civil authority was superior to
the military authority.

The influence of Holden

Vance was young and generous, and he acknowledged the
great obligations that his old Whig friends had conferred
on him in calling him from the camp to the Chair of State;
and he sought to manifest at once his respect and gratitude.
He asked their advice, listened to it, and even subordinated
himself in some regard to what he considered their superior
wisdom. As his private secretary he selected Richard H. Bat¬
tle, a young Whig, esteemed for his character, industry and
qualifications, and indeed, possessed of every excellence.

One of the complaints that the Standard urged with un¬
remitting bitterness was that it was a war of the Secession¬
ists, that they were bent on it and had precipitated it ; and
now they had no confidence in those who had not been for
secession from the first, and would not appoint them to any
office; that the old Whigs had been ignored. Much was
made of the circumstances that Branch had been appointed
a brigadier general, while Vance had not been. However,
ill-founded or well-founded the complaint was, the result
was the same among those who had not been appointed to

APPOINTMENT INFLUENCED BY POLITICS • 753

office. It had its effect, and Vance was led to be in sympathy
with it. As an offset to that supposed injustice, he sought to
promote the fortunes of former Whigs or Union men. And,
perhaps, he was the more easily induced to pursue that
course by the fact that his very large majority in the State
was ascribed to a turning away from the Confederate Ad¬
ministration. He early took occasion to say to President
Davis that the Secessionists no longer had the ear of the
people.

In August Lot W. Humphrey, who had early raised a
cavalry company, was elected Colonel of the Third Cavalry
Regiment, and was directed to report at Raleigh. When
he reached Raleigh his commission could not at once be
issued to him ; but he received orders to go on and com¬
plete the organization of the regiment. When Vance be¬
came Governor he ignored that election and appointed as
Colonel of the regiment, John A. Baker of Wilmington, who
had no connection whatever with any company in the regi¬
ment and had never been in the service except slightly as
aide to General French. Humphrey had been an original
Secessionist ; that determined Vance.

Years later Vance had cause to remember that Humphrey
was only flesh and blood, and had resolution and determina¬
tion that might have made him a good colonel of cavalry.
Colonel Baker rendered acceptable service for a year, and
then fell into the enemy’s hands, not without some unpleas¬
ant comments.

On September 14, Colonel William Ashe, the president
of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, died at Wilming¬
ton from the effect of a railroad accident. In announcing
his death, the Journal said: “Taking him all in all, we shall
seldom look upon his like again, nor can this community
and the State at large soon cease to mourn the loss of the
noble, generous, big-hearted gentleman, the ardent patriot
and the useful citizen.” Colonel Ashe, after returning from
Congress in 1854, became president of the Wilmington and
Weldon Railroad, and attained such a high reputation for
administrative ability that President Davis asked him to
supervise and direct all transportation from the Mississippi

Humphrey

Baker’s

career

Death of
Ashe

754

LEE IN MARYLAND— VANCE GOVERNOR

The yellow
fever

to Richmond. After a year of that service he was promoted
from major to be colonel, and chafing at the occupation of
New Bern, he was authorized to raise a legion. His loss
was a great calamity to the State.

Colonel Ashe knew the sincere and thorough patriotism
of his associates, and attributed to those who differed with
him on minor matters equally lofty and noble patriotism
with that he was familiar with ; and, although one of the
most pronounced Secessionists of the South, it was his view
that, under the conditions that existed, the administration
of State affairs ought to be committed to the old Whig
leaders ; and he therefore had considered that Vance should
be elected Governor.

At Wilmington

To add to the troubles of that fall, early in September
the yellow fever broke out in Wilmington. It was brought
on the steamer Kate from Nassau, and on the 16th of Sep¬
tember six cases were reported to the mayor; four days
later two others were reported. Then it spread more
rapidly ; and for a period there were no recoveries ; all taken
died. On the 23d there were fifteen new cases and panic
seized the town. Those who could left the city. The phy¬
sicians, ministers and nurses were exhausted by their minis¬
trations. There had been many soldiers in the town and
persons drawn there on commercial business. The place
had been overcrowded. Now it became deserted. Silence
reigned. The black pall of smoke from the burning tar
barrels added solemnity to the deathlike silence of the
streets, and was a somber emblem of mourning.

Panic, distress, mute despair had fallen upon the popula¬
tion sorrowing for their dead on the battlefields, and the
air was filled with the wail of the widow and the orphan,
and the dead could not be honored with the last Christian
rite of burial. The telegraph office was closed ; the night
trains on the railroads were stopped. The Journal ceased
its issue on October 13, and suspended for five weeks, issu¬
ing only occasional bulletins on slips.

The editor in its issue of November 20 said, “We have
gone all over town in broad daylight without meeting a

HORRORS OF PESTILENCE

7 55

vehicle, save a doctor’s buggy or a hearse, or seeing a human
being but those who control them.” About the same time
the author walked through the town and saw only two liv¬
ing beings outside of the railroad station, an old negro
woman picking up chips for a fire, and a dog. The town
was truly deserted. There were reported over 1,505 cases
and 441 deaths. The Journal carefully estimated the deaths
at 654; but physicians and others thought that fell short of
the full extent of the epidemic. The secretary of the ceme¬
tery association and the superintendent both dying, the
records of interments ceased.

Charleston and other communities came nobly to the aid
of the stricken city. Dr. Choppin and his staff, Surgeon
E. North, W. T. Wragg, William Huger and D. A. White,
and Doctors Trescott, Seabrook and Cooper came volun¬
tarily to tend the sick.

Never was there more devoted heroism displayed than by
some of the inhabitants of the town. Among the most
lamented of the victims were James R. Miller, Dr. James
H. Dickson, Rev. R. B. Drane, Rev. John L. Pritchard,
Thomas C. Worth, C. S. Van Amringe and Rev. Father
Murphy, a Roman Catholic priest, a hero among heroes,
who worked night and day until nearly the last victim had
died, and then fell on sleep. Rev. A. Paul Repiton was the
only minister remaining in the city to survive. He worked
unceasingly for the sick and buried the dead. His name is
blessed in the annals of Wilmington. Hundreds of others
bravely met the issue and remained to nurse the sick during
the horror and few survived.

Nor was the pestilence confined to Wilmington : there
were at least thirty deaths at Smithville, some at the sound,
others in the country; and the fever also appeared at New
Bern.

After the subsidence of the pestilence the population of
Wilmington became greatly changed. Many who had aban¬
doned their homes and found refuge elsewhere did not re¬
turn, while strangers came for commerce drawn by the
blockade running that centered on the Cape Fear.

Chronicles
of the Cape
Fear, 287

CHAPTER XLVIII

The per¬
sonnel

The fac¬
tions

The speakers

In the State — Fredericksburg

The Assembly meets. — Vance’s fine message. — Holden. — The di¬
vergences. — The State defense. — Graham Senator. — New officers.
— General Martin gives place to Fowle. — Patriotic measures. —
John W. Ellis. — Vance’s action. — Fredericksburg. — At Marye’s
Heights. — Losses.

The new Assembly

Vance had been Governor two months when on the 17th
of November the new Legislature met. In the Senate
among the men familiar with public business were Governor
Graham, Bedford Brown, Giles Mebane, James G. Ramsay,
William B. Wright, Thomas I. Faison, William K. Lane
and Eli Hall; also Edward J. Warren who at once took
rank with the best because of his intelligence, legal attain¬
ments, and personal characteristics.

In the House were Jesse G. Shepherd, Robert B. Gilliam,
R. S. Donnell, James S. Amis, Henry G. Williams, Samuel
Love, Thomas A. Allison, John L. Brown, Samuel J. Per¬
son, Jonathan Worth, M. S. Robins, F. E. Shober, G. H.
Alford, Daniel Fowle and M. K. Crawford. But the large
majority of both houses were new men who had not before
participated in public matters. No election had been held
in Tyrrell and Carteret counties; but the soldiers in the
army from Tyrrell having voted for Eli Spruill for the
House, he was admitted to a seat.

The difference in sentiment among the members may be
inferred from their division in the election of Public Printer.
In the Senate Holden received 27 out of 38 votes cast, and
in the House 53 out of 97.

Mr. Ramsay of Rowan took the role of leader in the
Senate, and on his motion Giles Mebane was chosen Speaker,
although a few votes were cast for Governor Graham and
for E. J. Warren. In the House, Robert S. Gilliam of
Granville received 69 votes for Speaker ; only 23 being cast

VANCE’S WAR MEASURES

757

for others. Mr. Gilliam being elected judge, R. S. Donnell
was chosen Speaker. The other officers were elected with
unusual unanimity. Both houses were in apparent accord
with the Governor. Governor Vance’s message was patri¬
otic, wise and practical, and whatever fears may have been
entertained lest he should not prove to be a business man
were probably set at rest.

The preceding Legislature had directed the raising of' ten
regiments for local defense, and now in the changed con¬
ditions because of the Conscript Act, the Governor asked
for ten regiments of reserves to be called out for three or
four months when needed. He dwelt on the necessities of
the people and recommended that exportation of provisions,
cotton cloth, and other necessities should be prohibited ex¬
cept for the army, or when purchased for any sister state.
He urged the purchasing and storing of large quantities of
provisions, and he stated that he had already made prelim¬
inary arrangements to that end. As slaves were now taxed
at their value, he urged that some uniform standard of value
be declared.

In order to aid the Confederate authorities in maintain¬
ing the efficiency of the army without the intervention of
Confederate agents he had decided himself to employ the
militia to arrest deserters, and, in general, that had worked
admirably, and all persons subject to military duty had been
gathered up without offending the sensibilities of the peo¬
ple ; but in some instances the efforts of the militia had not
been effective, and he recommended an act be passed to
punish those who aided or assisted deserters. He recom¬
mended additional legislation to prevent distillation of grain
into spirits, and to punish those who speculated in neces¬
saries. The keynote of his message was, “The vital im¬
portance of bringing forth all the powers and resources of
the State for the common defense of our country and our
cause. . . . Remember that you are laboring for the
very salvation of our people. The bitter cup that our cap¬
tured cities and districts have had to drink shows us, alas,
too plainly, the mercy we have to expect if our Abolition
foes should overcome us. In the bitterness of their baffled

Vance’s

message

His

measures

Nov., 1862

Vance’s
plain speech

758

IN THE STATE— FREDERICKSBURG

Holden’s

course

rage they have even shown a determination to reenact the
horrors of San Domingo and to let loose the hellish passions
of servile insurrection to revel in the desolation of our
homes. The people of the next generation will bless the
memory of those who, whether in the field or the council,
helped to rescue their country from these horrors. Let us
labor to deserve their praise, and may the blessings of God
attend our soldiers and our - statesmen, who are struggling
to defend a noble people and a noble cause.”

As shocking as is this allegation of a proposed reenact¬
ment of the San Domingo massacre, Vance had a reason¬
able foundation for making it.

Such was the spirit of Vance. But there were those
whose purposes were not entirely in harmony with these
thoughts and aspirations. It was in Holden’s parlor that
the opposition to the dominancy of the Secession Democrats
had been planned and formulated, and he had continued to
be the pilot of the movement. His influence in the Assem¬
bly was now so positive that when he was elected Public
Printer he addressed a letter to Speaker Gilliam accepting,
but saying that he had not asked any one to support him ;
it came as an offering from the body, and he was determined
in his course. Every conservative member who exercised
his own judgment in voting and gave aid and comfort to
the “Destructives,” as he termed “the Confederates,” was
denounced as “guilty of bad faith.”

Indeed, animated by a purpose to reverse the attitude of
the State with respect to the Confederate Government and
to destroy the ascendancy of the Secession Democrats, Mr.
Holden had been astute to weld the disaffected into a party
of decided opposition.

Step by step he separated himself from the cause of
Southern independence and skillfully drew many unwary
followers along with him. No man in sympathy with the
Confederate administration was to be retained in office, and
the door to preferment was open only to his friends.

In his plan of campaign, whenever an opportunity arose
for questioning the action of a Confederate official, the oc¬
currence was blown and magnified into a startling invasion
of personal liberty as if the liberties of the people were be-

DOMESTIC ANTAGONISMS

759

in g subverted and the ultimate purpose of the Confederate
authorities was to establish tyranny and despotism on the
ruins of constitutional government.

Thus in the Assembly difficult was the situation of those
who in heart and soul were devoted to the success of the
Confederate cause, and who thought it wise and patriotic
to sustain the Confederate Government in the measures
adopted by Congress. They were antagonized not only by
Holden, but by others of high standing and character who,
following the leadership of Governor Graham, the most
distinguished citizen of the State, acted on the declaration,
“We propose to be free and independent, not only in the
end, but in the means.” These now emphasized the time-
honored principles of civil liberty and invoked the rights of
the sovereign State to restrict the authority of Congress and
to correct any alleged improper action on the part of the
Confederate officials. And in the performance of these
functions they were sometimes captious, querulous, acting
on baseless rumors without preliminary examination ; and,
by manifesting such a disposition of opposition and antag¬
onism, they inflamed rather than quieted their adherents,
who were inclined to be disaffected. In a word, instead of
strengthening the Confederate cause, their attitude tended
to weaken it. In this divergence of sentiment and differ¬
ence in action, such men as Samuel J. Person, Jesse G.
Shepherd, Eli Hall, Bedford Brown, and the other leaders
of the minority sought to conciliate and persuade rather than
to antagonize. There were some occasions, however, when
the line had to be drawn. Ten days after the meeting
of the Assembly, on November 27, Judge Person, who had
not been a supporter of Vance for Governor, introduced a
resolution declaring the separation from the United States
final and sustaining President Davis and Governor Vance.
This was then adopted, and later in the session there were
similar expressions, but there was action at times that ap¬
parently was in conflict with these declarations.

Congress had authorized the President to suspend the
privilege of the writ of habeas corpus. This was met by
a proposition to amend the statute law of the State by re-

Tlie di¬
vergences

760

IN THE STATE— FREDERICKSBURG

House Jour¬
nal, 265

The ten
regiment bill

House Jour¬
nal, 95, 119

Ibid., 110

Ibid., 186-
189

quiring all judges on issuing a writ of habeas corpus to see
that it was executed. Judge Person moved an amendment:
that the act should not apply to any place where the Presi¬
dent had, under the act of Congress, suspended the Habeas
Corpus Act ; but the proposition to avoid a conflict with the
authority of Congress was rejected nearly two to one.

The taking by the Confederate Government of some iron
belonging to the Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford
Railroad — not being laid down — for use in the construc¬
tion of the road from Greensboro to Danville since the
capture of Weldon, then threatened, would have destroyed
all rail communication between the army and the states south
of Virginia, called for the introduction of intemperate reso¬
lutions, which, however, were finally greatly modified.

In accordance with the recommendation of Governor
Vance to provide for a reserve force of ten thousand men a
bill was introduced to that end. Propositions to the effect
that men liable to conscription should not be enrolled in it
except with the consent of the President were rejected. A
declaration sought to be included that “This Legislature
desires to be understood as offering no impediment to the
operation of the Conscript Act and disclaiming any inten¬
tion to throw itself in conflict with the President of the Con¬
federacy or the authorities at Richmond,” was rejected by
a small majority. The bill, having passed the House, failed
in the Senate. The Assembly declined to raise troops for
State defense.

However, the attitude of the State toward the Confed¬
erate Government had occasioned some adverse comment
both at home and in other states, notably in Virginia, and
the Legislature took notice of it, adopting a resolution pro¬
testing against any settlement of the struggle which should
not secure the entire independence of the Confederate
States.

Thus it would seem that if the Confederates or “De¬
structives” were uncomfortable in the legislative halls, the
role taken by the Conservatives was still more difficult of
performance than merely seeking to persuade and to con¬
ciliate. Naturally when the time came to elect officers of
the Assembly and of the State, the majority turned to their

THE STATE’S OFFICIAL FAMILY

761

friends, and no “Destructive” was chosen. The voting was
on the line proclaimed by the Standard. But the men elected
were worthy, and, doubtless, quite as competent as the men
proposed by the minority in the Assembly. The difference
chiefly was their attitude to the Confederate measures and
authorities. To succeed George Davis as Confederate States
Senator, whose term was to expire in 1864, before a new
Legislature would be elected, Governor Graham was chosen
— in many respects the most distinguished citizen of the
State — and while he was not in sympathy with some of the
measures of Congress and of the Confederate Government,
yet all of his five sons had quickly volunteered in the service
and were in daily peril on the battlefield.

Jonathan Worth, elected State Treasurer, had long been
concerned with public matters, was a good business man, a
man of probity and character, although remarkably prej¬
udiced against Secession Democrats ; and his brothers were
ardent workers for the success of Confederate measures.

Samuel F. Phillips, elected Auditor, an office created at
this session of the Assembly, was one of the great men of
the State. Sion H. Rogers, chosen Attorney-General, was
equal to the position and had such amiable personal char¬
acteristics that there were none to regret his election. Robert
B. Gilliam and William M. Shipp, elected judges, were
justly esteemed in the profession, and their elevation de¬
tracted nothing from the high reputation enjoyed by the
North Carolina bench. There were seven solicitors elected
— men of mark at that time and destined to play large and
important parts on the stage of public action — A. S. Merri-
mon, R. F. Armfield, W. P. Bynum, Thomas Settle, Jesse
J. Yates, R. P. Buxton, and C. C. Clark. Not a word of
disparagement could be said of any of them. The Legisla¬
ture likewise replaced the old Council of State by new
ones; and in this, perhaps, the action was not so fortunate.

The indisposition of the Assembly to sanction the hold¬
ing of a State office by a Confederate officer led it to de¬
clare that as General Martin, the Adjutant-General, had
been appointed brigadier general in the Confederate Army,
that position was vacant. General Martin as Adjutant -

Graham,

Senator

The new
officers

General

Martin

762

IN THE STATE— FREDERICKSBURG

Dec., 1862

Martin gives
place to
Fowle

Food supply

Prohibition

Hospitals

General had rendered the State particular service. The
duties of his office and his powers had been greatly enlarged
by resolutions of the Convention and the whole manage¬
ment of the State’s military matters had been committed to
him, and he measured up to his work so well that no other
state could boast such excellence of administration.

Appointed a brigadier in May and for a while in com¬
mand of a North Carolina brigade, he returned to Raleigh
and continued to conduct the office all during the adminis¬
tration of Governor Clark, and then for nearly four months
under Governor Vance. He and Governor Vance worked
together in close cooperation and with great benefit to the
State and to the soldiers in the field: but on December 15
the House passed a resolution declaring the office vacant,
and later the Governor was authorized to fill the vacancy
by appointment. General Martin continued to serve until
March 14, when a successor, Colonel Fowle, a member of
the House from Wake, was appointed; Capt. R. S. Tucker
being Assistant Adjutant-General. General Martin was
then assigned to the command of a district with Kinston as
headquarters.

On December 22 the Legislature adjourned for the holi¬
days, to meet again on the 19th of January, and the ad¬
journed session lasted until the 12th of February.

While some persons were disposed to find fault with the
Assembly’s failure to take measures for the defense of the
State and with its attitude toward the Confederate Con¬
gress and authorities, yet some of its measures were highly
patriotic.

The Governor was authorized to purchase provisions and
store the same, to be sold at cost, for the poor and families
of the soldiers.

The ordinance of the Convention prohibiting distillation
of grain was to expire January 1, 1863, and now the Legis¬
lature extended it indefinitely.

The Governor was directed to appoint an agent to look
after the sick and wounded at Richmond and the Surgeon-
General was authorized to establish wayside hospitals.

The contract made under Governor Clark by N. W.
Woodfin and George W. Mordecai to make salt in Virginia

ARMY THE LIFEBLOOD

763

was accepted by the Legislature and the Governor was au¬
thorized to buy one hundred thousand bushels of salt and
to purchase and operate salt works.

A bill for the relief of prisoners in custody not in the
military service — which was aimed to check the arrest and
detention of citizens for alleged disloyal actions — excited
considerable interest. Governor Graham moved to lay it
on the table, but his motion failed. In discussing the meas¬
ure, John W. Ellis, the Senator from Columbus, said :

“If we are to understand that officers who refuse to obey
the writ of habeas corpus in districts where this writ has
been suspended, are to be made to answer in damages to
such persons as they have in custody, or that officers who
arrest and confine disloyal and suspected persons are to be
the especial objects against whom it is directed, then I am
against the whole concern. I am opposed to all measures
that will tend to weaken the strength and efficiency of the
Army. That Army, so readily sneered at by Senators, is
the lifeblood and breath of this Nation. It is our only
hope for safety and protection. Upon its success every
hope for civil and religious liberty must now depend.

“There is no other power on earth that can maintain the
civil law in this Confederacy and preserve the liberties of
our people, save the military arm. Then why will Senators
endeavor to impair its usefulness by limiting its operations
with rigid statutes? They are but striking a deadly blow
at the civil law, of which they boast to be such ready de¬
fenders. It is well for us to make sure of our civil liberty
before we destroy the only means we have to secure it.
Senators can now point to nothing that can save us but the
Army, then let us give it the full exercise of all its powers.

“Every man who is true to the South must place himself
under the Southern Cross. We are all in the same boat,
adrift on a stormy sea. We have sent our noblest men to
the field by thousands. Let us not say to them, we desert
you now and leave you in the hands of traitors. Our State
considered long before she acted. She has taken her course.
We are here pledged to maintain her action. Then let us stand
by the altar of freedom, beneath the banner of our common

Salt

John Ellis
pleads for
the Army

7 64

IN THE STATE— FREDERICKSBURG

cause, with united hearts, determined to save our country ;
but if go down she must, let it be without spot or blemish
on her fair name. The escutcheon of our State is brilliant
with the deeds of the brave: then let no act of ours dim
their record of glory.”

Governor Graham moved to lay the bill on the table, but
the motion failed. The author of the bill then moved to
postpone it — and it was never taken up again.

Vance’s action

All of these patriotic measures adopted were in sympathy
with Vance and he executed them with vigor. To allay
feelings against the Jeff Davis Administration and Con¬
gress, he sought to restrain many actions that were a cause
of friction; and he emphasized the rights of the State,
while urging the soldiers and the people to make the war
a success. He collected stores of provisions and fed the
poor and even supplied food to Lee’s army; and the same
with clothing. He had wagon trains to bring salt from the
State’s works in West Virginia, which were under the man¬
agement of N. W. Woodfin. He utilized to the utmost the
blockade-runners bringing in for the State not merely arms
and ammunition, but machines to make cotton — cards and
looms. In a word, he sought to be as useful as he could
in every line. But he was greatly troubled. Men would
use grain to make whiskey against the law ; men would rebel
against the requirements of the War Department whose
officers were often harsh and reckless; deserters and dis¬
loyal men would harass communities, while the Federals
were threatening the eastern sections.

Fredericksburg

Shepherdstown was the final clash with McClellan, whose
army had been largely increased by reinforcements, Presi¬
dent Lincoln having called for three hundred thousand
nine-months men.

Lee took position near Winchester and McClellan near
Harpers Ferry, and for a month there was repose. “Dur¬
ing that time,” says General Long, “a strong religious senti-

ON THE RAPPAHANNOCK

765

ment prevailed in the Army, and every evening from the
various camps might be heard the sound of devotional ex¬
ercises, which were encouraged by General Lee, who at¬
tended them whenever circumstances permitted.”

In November McClellan took the initiative and moved near
Warrenton. Lee established his line on the Rappahannock,
but the Federal authorities now selected Burnside as the
Federal commander and determined on an advance else¬
where. The original plan of President Lincoln, General
Halleck and Burnside was to cross the Rappahannock,
avoiding Lee, and hurry on to Richmond in advance of
him; but there was such delay that Lee was able to con¬
centrate in Burnside’s front.

Down the river from the railroad track at Fredericksburg
there is a wide, level plain, skirted by a series of hills ;
while up stream, behind the town, is an eminence, known
as Marye’s Heights. Jackson’s Corps guarded the plain
on the right, while Longstreet’s held the center, including
Marye’s Heights and Lee’s left.

Jackson’s first line, composed of A. P. Hill’s Division,
held the railroad overlooking the plain, about a mile and
a half from the river; his artillery occupied the heights
above the railroad ; and D. H. Hill commanded the reserve
at Marye’s Heights. Gen. Robert Ransom’s two brigades
occupied the reverse slope. Lee did not attempt to prevent
Burnside’s crossing, and on the morning of December 13,
about eight o’clock, a force of fifty thousand men under
Franklin advanced on the plain, while forty thousand under
Sumner moved through the town itself.

“While standing in line, gazing seriously on the prepara¬
tions of the foe, we discovered a solitary horseman riding
slowly out in the valley. Then several other horsemen,
each one alone, advanced from different directions to a little
hillock in front of a Confederate battery. One by one they
assembled and saluted, and used their glasses. The solitary
horseman has left his perilous beat and rides back towards
the lines. One of the six on the hillock rides towards him
and shouts, ‘Stuart! come this way’; and together they join
the others. There those seven men — giants of war — plan

The relig¬
ious revival

Burnside

Mr. Lin¬
coln’s plan

The local
situation

The con¬
sultation

y66

IN THE STATE— FREDERICKSBURG

Dec. 13,
1862

Clark

Reg.

History

The Federals
advance

The repulse

their action. At last, they salute, and ride back — Lee,
Longstreet, Jackson, A. P. Hill, Hood, Stuart and Pender.

“The weather was bitter cold, and the soldiers suffered
severely. Pender’s Brigade was on the left of Jackson’s
line, touching Hood’s of Longstreet’s Corps. In his front
the Federals placed thirty-six guns, about three-fourths of
a mile away. Lane and Archer first met fiercely the massive
onset, but reel, stagger, waver, retreat. Over the railroad,
into the woods, the triumphant enemy rush to their death.
Early comes sweeping down on the right, Hoke dashes
into their advancing columns, Gregg and Thomas rush
upon them in front, Lane and Archer reform and madly
fall upon them, Pender closes in on the left, charging in
person. The air is filled with hideous yells, screams, shrieks,
and thunder rolls from a hundred cannon, while the light¬
nings leap from the long line of musketry and clothe the
field with fire. Bloody bayonets and flashing sabers clash
and ring amid the carnival of death and terror. The
chivalrous Gregg has fallen to rise no more. Pender, bloody
and exhausted, has been carried from the field. Hill, dar¬
ing and fierce, like an enraged lion, is seen everywhere re¬
sisting the storm. The great Jackson, with expanding nos¬
trils, like the excited war-horse, sternly guides and governs
the tempest and hurls his dauntless legions against the
countless foe. For three hours Jackson had held the enemy
in his fearful embrace, and now the fire begins to recede.
A crowd of fugitives is seen flying from the woods toward
the river, still more and more, and now come the Confed¬
erates yelling and fighting, covering the valley with the
dead and wounded.”

The battle was Saturday. Sunday there was but little
fighting. Monday came and still no fighting. “That even¬
ing Major Cole, Lieutenant Cole and I strolled to the front
to survey the field. Beyond our strong line of skirmishers
lying on the ground, a short distance, the enemy’s skirmish
line was spread out ; lying down a little beyond them, the
enemy’s line of battle and their numerous batteries. We
noted a great many straggling squads of infantry and
horsemen moving about carelessly — among them some of
our generals. All at once a white cloud arose from one

ENEMY ESCAPES ACROSS THE RIVER

767

of the enemy's batteries, then the shrieking shell. Another
followed, and then others, till the field was clear of all
who had no business there. Lieutenant Cole and I started
oft at a pretty brisk walk, which rapidly increased as the
shells came nearer and faster. Major Cole compromised
with his dignity, took tremendous strides. General Hood
dashed by me at full speed on horseback, a shell coming
so near his head as to knock off his hat. General A. P.
Hill disappeared into the thicket. The next morning it was
discovered that the enemy had made his escape across the
river.”

General Pender, in his official report, said : “When the
enemy advanced on the right they opened the most tremen¬
dous fire of artillery upon the batteries in my front. This
fire was most destructive to my men. One of the balls at
this time killed my aide, Lieutenant Shepperd.” Gen. A. P.
Hill, in his report, said: “From the nature of the ground
occupied by Pender’s Brigade and the entire absence of
all protection, his brigade received the greater part of the
terrible fire.”

General Pender was himself wounded while gallantly
rallying a portion of the Eighteenth Regiment of Lane’s
Brigade. During the temporary absence of General Pender
the command of the brigade devolved upon Colonel Scales,
of the Thirteenth. The two batteries suffered much by the
fire of a heavy line of skirmishers. Colonel Scales directed
Major Cole of the Twenty-second North Carolina to dis¬
lodge them, which was handsomely done. General Pender,
though wounded, resumed the command of his brigade as
soon as his wound was dressed.

At Marye’s Heights

While Franklin’s Division had crossed the bridge below
the town unopposed, Burnside’s Corps that was to cross
at the town itself met with opposition. Barksdale pre¬
vented them from laying their bridge, but soon a terrible
and effective cannonade from the numerous Federal artil¬
lery upon the town drove his troops off, and forty thousand
Federals crossed and took possession. Several hundred

The

Federals

withdraw

7 68

IN THE STATE— FREDERICKSBURG

Clark,
II, 297

The Forty-
sixth

Saunders

yards behind the town ran the Telegraph road that skirted
an eminence known as Marye’s Heights, near the base of
which was a stone wall. Barksdale, fighting desperately,
retired to this wall, which he held until relieved. To Gen¬
eral Robert Ransom had been assigned the defense of this
part of the line. Barksdale’s Brigade was relieved by
Cobb’s Brigade, aided by the Twenty-fourth North Caro¬
lina of Ransom’s Brigade. Then about eleven o’clock Gen¬
eral Ransom moved in the Twenty-fifth. On reaching the
crest of the hill (the regiment having been divided so as
to pass the house on either side) it met a fearful fire from
the enemy two hundred yards off. In casting an eve along
the line men could be seen falling like grain before a sickle.

Colonel Hall, the intrepid commander of the Forty-sixth,
said in his report : “The enemy had succeeded in forcing
their way to within forty yards of the fence when Cooke's
Brigade reached the crest of the hill, and in the face of a
deadly fire of artillery and small arms, drove them back with
great loss. Our men were falling fast, for we were within
250 yards of 25,000 or 30,000 of the enemy; but no men
ever fought better, or with more enthusiasm. The Forty-
sixth and Twenty-seventh were ordered down the hill to
the stone fence, where they suffered but little after arriv¬
ing. The Forty-eighth and Fifteenth remained on the hill,
where they suffered severely.” Colonel Hall states that
“while the Confederates did not have five thousand en¬
gaged, the enemy left at least one thousand dead in our
front, and the wounded must have been three or four times
as many.”

The Twenty-seventh North Carolina was likewise at the
stone wall at the foot of Marye’s Heights.

The historian of the Forty-sixth says: “In comparative
security, protected by a wall about breast high, all day it
shot down the brave men who charged again and again
across the level plain in front, vainly yet most gallantly,
striving to accomplish the impossible. Among the wounded
was Col. W. L. Saunders, shot by a minie ball through the
mouth. It was related by those near the Colonel that dur¬
ing a lull in the firing, he was enjoying a hearty laugh at
some remark when the minie entered the wide open mouth,

NOTABLE TRAGEDIES

769

making its exit through the cheek. It was said to have
been the most abruptly ended laugh heard during the war.”

The Thirty-fifth and Forty-ninth were in position on the
Telegraph road and suffered ; but were not in the forefront
of the battle.

The destruction of the Federal brigades as they succes¬
sively assailed Marye’s Heights was indeed one of the most
notable tragedies of the war. General Couch, who com¬
manded an army corps, says of his troops : ‘‘As they
charged the artillery fire would break their formation, and
they would get mixed up ; then they would close up, go
forward, receive the withering infantry fire, and those who
were able would run to the houses and fight as best they
could. And then the next brigade coming up in succession
would do its duty, and melt like snow coming down to. the
warm ground.” The men behind the wall would fire and
step back, giving place to others, and, having reloaded their
guns, would swap places again, thus maintaining an almost
uninterrupted sheet of deadly bullets as long as the Federals
advanced. “After Howard, attacks were made by Sturgis’s
Division, supported by Getty’s Division. Then Griffin made
the brave endeavor. Humphrey next essayed to carry the
hill by the bayonet. Dead men were lying in such piles that
the living could hardly get by. At length the useless sac¬
rifice ceased.”

While Burnside had 110,000 available, and 90,000 crossed
the river, of whom perhaps only 50,000 engaged in the bat¬
tle, Lee had available 78,000, of whom only 20,000 were
engaged. Fifteen hundred Union boys lay dead on the
field and 595 Confederates, while 9,100 Union men were
wounded, many to the death, and 4,061 Confederates; and
16,539 °f the Federals were taken prisoners. North Caro¬
lina’s part in this important battle was second to that of
no other state. Her losses were more than one-third of the
entire loss suffered by the Confederates, and to her belonged
the larger part of the credit and honor of the victory. At
Marye’s Heights, Cooke’s Brigade lost 53 killed, 228
wounded; Ransom’s Brigade lost 27 killed and 127 wounded.

The disastrous movement of Burnside was found by

Clark, III,
70

The Federal
loss

770

IN THE STATE— FREDERICKSBURG

President Lincoln and the generals of the Army, and in
the homes of the people, to be more deplorable than the
management of McClellan. Thousands of Northern mothers
bewailed their young sons who had loyally and gallantly
responded to their country’s call to arms. While necessarily
there was likewise mourning among the Confederate moth¬
ers, yet the year drew to its close with what seemed a rea¬
sonable assurance that the skill of Lee and Jackson and the
bravery of the trained Southern boys would eventually repel
the invaders and secure that peace and independence and
self-government for which the South had taken up arms.
And for that assurance and with that hope, the hearts of
the Southern people turned with gratitude to give humble
thanks to the Lord of Hosts.

CHAPTER XLIX

In the Homes of the People

Necessaries. — Social conditions. — The church bells. — Influence
of Federal occupation. — The deserters. — The response to the call to
arms. — The young men in the war. — Supplies. — Salisbury prison. — -
The Medical Department. — Hospitals. — In the army. — Spiritual in¬
fluences. — The negroes. — Religion in the camps. — The schools. —

The brigades. — The railroads. — End of the ironclads. — Natural
changes. — The drafts at the North. — Capture of the Ellis. — Fos¬
ter’s raids. — Movement on Goldsboro. — The alignment. — The bat¬
tle. — Foster withdraws. — Whitford. — Capture at Plymouth.

Changed life

In the homes of the people the year had brought some i862
notable changes. While there were many inconveniences
attendant on the novel conditions, and numerous families
had suffered grievous sorrows and mourned their dead, yet
generally the patriotism of the people was equal to every
demand made upon it, and with confidence they gloried in
the victories won by the Confederate arms, and their hearts
continued to beat in unison with those of their brothers and
fathers on the battlefields.

There were many deprivations, but they were borne with
cheerfulness. The sudden cessation of commerce was at¬
tended with waning supplies of all manufactured articles
formerly obtained from the North, and by a scarcity of
everything not the product of the home soil. Outside of
clothing and medicine, the two most necessary articles were
salt and sugar. The State quickly undertook to provide the
former, and numerous salt pans were installed along the
sounds by private enterprises ; but still the supply was in¬
adequate. The sugar plantations lay west of the Missis¬
sippi ; and although a large portion of the previous crop
had been brought to New Orleans, it could not be moved
east for the want of transportation. Then misfortune came
in the capture of New Orleans in April by Farragut, and the
supply was cut off, and sugar soared in price to seventy-five

772

IN THE HOMES OF THE PEOPLE

Farming

The women

The de¬
nominations

cents and a dollar a pound, and the prices of other neces¬
saries rapidly followed in its wake.

Of tea and coffee there was none on the market, but for
them local substitutes were found. The northeastern people
resorted to the fragrant yopon, and decoctions of parched
cornmeal, of rye and potatoes replaced the habitual cup
of coffee. To conserve the supply of grain so essential for
the Army, North Carolina forbade the distillation of grain,
and there was much enforced “prohibition” and fortunate
temperance.

Medicine had unnecessarily been declared by the Federal
authorities a contraband of war, a useless manifestation of
barbarism, in contravention of international law and en¬
lightened civilization, for the only source of supply was
from the North and there was a cessation of all intercourse
between the warring sections. The apothecaries, however,
were resourceful, and, with the aid of physicians and bota¬
nists, resort was made to native products of medicinal virtue
to supply the deficiency.

The absence of so many white men from their homes
throughout the country would have largely interrupted
farming operations had it not been for the general fidelity
and loyalty of the negroes. These continued their usual
vocations with steadfastness and cheerfulness, eagerly do¬
ing their customary work, making crops and carrying on
the operations of the farms as they had done all their lives.
Fortunately in the State there were only native people, and
they had been raised from youth in obedience to the laws,
so that there was but little lawlessness, and social life was
not disturbed. The courts were open as usual, but the stay
law operated to prevent the sale of property for debt. There
were marriages and social gatherings, and the women were
much employed in providing necessaries for the soldiers and
sending boxes to their loved ones in camp. The war had
necessarily severed all relations between the churches. North
and South, but the Constitution of the Episcopal Church
was such that the several dioceses at the South had to take
primary action. A meeting of delegates was held on July 3,
at Montgomery, but Virginia and North Carolina were not
represented. The Convention agreed to meet in Columbia

CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS

773

October 16, where all the Southern Dioceses met, and pro¬
visional canons were adopted. Still the dioceses of Vir¬
ginia and North Carolina did not formally withdraw from
their former connection by diocesan action until 1862. A
general council convened at Augusta in November, 1862,
and the Prayer Book was altered, substituting “Confeder¬
ate'’ in the place of “United” and “Council” in the place
of “Convention” wherever those words occurred. This re¬
quirement to pray for the President of the Confederate
States at times occasioned friction with Federal officers in
occupied territory.

The public schools were maintained and the University
and the colleges were kept open, as well as the leading
female schools, such as the college at Greensboro, St. Mary’s
at Raleigh, and Miss Nash’s at Hillsboro.

The ministers performed their functions and, perhaps,
religious fervor was increased under the stress of the fear¬
ful time. By public agreement it was resolved that through¬
out the Confederacy March 24 should be set apart as a day
of universal prayer, and that day was so observed in North
Carolina. The patriotism of the people led them to offer
to the Government their church bells to be turned into
cannon for their country’s defense, but the sacrifice was
not deemed necessary. In the Biblical Recorder of April
23, 1862, is a letter from Colonel Ashe, representing the
government, to Rev. Thomas E. Skinner, P. F. Pescud and
• W. J. Palmer, committee of the Baptist Church at Raleigh,
in tender and appreciative terms, declining such an offer.

The churches give their bells

Notwithstanding this declaration by the government, the
various religious congregations throughout the Southern
States tendered their bells. This significant fact illustrates
the character of the movement for Southern independence.
While the Federal authorities chose to call it a rebellion,
yet the entire population engaged in it regarded it as right¬
eous, holy, sacred, and involving the highest duty and dear¬
est sacrifice of devoted Christians.

774

IN THE HOMES OF THE PEOPLE

The bells of Edenton (with a single exception) were
cast at the Tredegar Iron Works into four cannon for
Badham’s Battery, the guns being named, the Saint Paul,
the Fannie Roulhac, the Columbia, and the Edenton, and
the battery being distinguished as “the Bell Battery." These
guns were used all through the war — last at Bentonville —
and finally were surrendered at Greensboro.

The bells of the Episcopal, Presbyterian and Baptist
churches of Hillsboro, the home of Governor Graham and
other distinguished patriots, were cast into cannon for the
light battery of Capt. Thomas H. Brem, which became
Company C, Tenth Regiment. In the summer of 1862 Cap¬
tain Brem resigned and was succeeded by Capt. Joseph
Graham, who retained command until about March, 1864,
being succeeded by Capt. A. B. Williams. The battery did
heroic service during the war, and fired about the last artil¬
lery shot at Appomattox.

Among others, the Washington churches all gave their
bells: also Calvary Church at Tarboro, the churches at Hali¬
fax and the Methodist Church at Greensboro. Bells were
ofifered by the St. Johns Episcopal Church, and the Presby¬
terian Church at Fayetteville; by St. Bartholomew’s at Pitts-
boro, and the Baptist Central at Raleigh, but were not ac¬
cepted.

The effect of Federal occupation

While generally there was social quietude in the north¬
eastern section where the Federals had made a lodgment,
there was much disorganization. Beginning with the occu¬
pation of Hatteras, considerable Union sentiment had devel¬
oped, which increased as the Federals permanently established
themselves on the waters of the sounds and at New Bern
and Washington and other towns. Many citizens were led
to enroll themselves as Union men, declaring for the “Old
Constitution and the Old Union”; and doubtless they were
strengthened in this course through the persuasions of
Governor Stanly, who had been esteemed as a man of in¬
tegrity and character. Some of these men, who now turned
away from their neighbors, soon engaged with the Federal

DESERTERS AND BUFFALOES

775

forces in making raids and giving information with respect
to hostility to the Union cause. For some reason these came
to be known as “Buffaloes.”

As the Federal troops made their forages into the country
and incited the negroes to leave the plantations, and with¬
out restraint committed many depredations, the neighboring
inhabitants lived in apprehension. Some who were able to
do so left their homes and took refuge in the central coun¬
ties; but this was manifestly impossible for the great bulk
of the people who, remaining on their farms, notwithstand¬
ing their unfortunate situation, made fair crops ; so they
produced an abundance of food, which the Confederate and
State authorities were anxious to withdraw for the sub¬
sistence of the soldiers and to supply any deficiency in the
interior. But the crops of 1862 proved good in every part
of the State, and the harvest was bountiful ; and in the in¬
terior and at the west social conditions were generally un¬
changed. The families lived on their farms much as for¬
merly, save the solicitude for the men at the front and their
anxiety for the cause.

The deserters

In some localities there was apparently a decline in the
resolute stand originally taken ; and in some of the moun¬
tain counties an influence was developed in sympathy with
the sentiment that prevailed in East Tennessee favorable to
the Federal Union.

There had been some early desertions from the ranks of
the soldiers by men whose patriotic fervor oozed away. In
March the presence of deserters in Chatham led to sending
a company for their apprehension ; and in other counties
there was a similar condition. During the summer deser¬
tions increased. Perhaps it might have been due to the
disappointment that many of the twelve-months men suf¬
fered when, upon the expiration of their enlistment, they
were not allowed to return to their homes, even on furlough,
a disappointment fanned and nourished by the Standard
in its hostility to both the Confederate and State adminis¬
trations, as each was administered by old-time Democrats

7/6

IN THE HOMES OF THE PEOPLE

The popular
feeling

and Secessionists. But whatever the cause, in the summer,
desertions multiplied, and as the men arrived at points in
the interior and the west, where they found sympathy, they
formed a nucleus, not only for other deserters but for men
seeking to escape from conscription.

To what extent these proceedings had progressed was not
early discerned. Secret in origin and clothed in obscurity,
at first they were undiscovered. In Wilkes and Yadkin,
however, the deserters were so numerous and had so much
friendly sentiment sustaining them that they threatened to
interfere with the election for governor in August, and the
conditions were so bad that troops were sent to hold them
in check. Still farther west in Madison, decided opposition
was manifested to the Confederate cause, and General Kirby
Smith thought it proper to send troops there. Indeed, not
only the small vote cast for Colonel Johnston, but the tone
and temper of many candidates elected as members of the
General Assembly, indicated that the wind was now blow¬
ing differently from when the hurricane swept the State in
April, 1861.

How deeply the people had been moved is illustrated by
the report of the Adjutant-General, that 64,636 North Caro¬
lina troops had been originally transferred to the Confed¬
eracy on August 30, 1861. Recruits subsequently enlisted
numbered 21,608. The effect of the Conscript Act was to
hasten enlistments, and, doubtless, a large proportion of
those subsequent enlistments were in 1862. By September,
1864, 18,585 conscripts had been enrolled, and naturally a
considerable number were enrolled as soon as the law went
into operation. It would seem probable that by the end of
1862 the number of troops furnished by North Carolina ag¬
gregated some eighty-five thousand men, and that number
had been withdrawn from their vocations in the State. How
communities were drained is illustrated by the figures com¬
piled for Wilmington. From the immediate vicinity of that
town there were sent twenty companies of infantry, two
of cavalry and six battalions of artillery, consisting in all
of nearly four thousand men. One of these companies,
Company I, Eighteenth Regiment, the Rifle Guards, of
which the author was a member, as stated by Adjutant

RIFLES MADE IN FAYETTEVILLE

777

W. M. McLaurin, at one time “was composed of one hun¬
dred men, ranging from sixteen to twenty-two years of age
and only one married man among them/’ Indeed, it was
largely the young men who did the fighting; and this was
likewise the case on the Federal side. The report of the
Adjutant-General of the United States shows a total of
2,778,309, of whom only 46,626 were over twenty-three
years of age; 1,008,830 were from nineteen to twenty and
1,100,000 were eighteen and under, 571,885 were between
twenty-two and twenty-four. At the South the proportion
of older men who volunteered was greater, and the Con¬
script Act embraced others.

At Wilmington the activities of the citizens had been
interrupted by the yellow fever, but with the abatement of
the pestilence blockade running became of increased con¬
sequence.

The arsenal

At Fayetteville the old Federal arsenal had been assigned
to the command of Capt. John C. Booth, a former United
States officer, thoroughly versed in ordnance. He de¬
veloped plans for greatly enlarging the plant, for a part
of the machinery for manufacturing rifles captured at
Harpers Ferry was in May, 1861, removed to Fayetteville,
and buildings had to be erected to install it, engines had to
be placed to run it; and the capacity of the arsenal was
greatly enlarged. Captain Booth was a most efficient officer,
but worked so incessantly that he sacrificed his health and
died in the summer of 1862. Fortunately many of the
operatives came from Harpers Ferry and rendered most
valuable service. By August a large lot of new rifles manu¬
factured at the arsenal was shipped to Richmond, while
thousands of English and Belgian rifles, saved from the
Modern Greece, were rendered fit for use. Capt. C. P.
Bolles of Wilmington was Captain Booth’s assistant, and
after his death had charge until Col. J. A. DeLagnel arrived
to succeed Captain Booth. Colonel DeLagnel was a most
accomplished officer, with a thorough understanding of the
needs of the plant. Under his administration much work

The young
men

Clark, IV,
295

Supplies

77 8

IN THE HOMES OF THE PEOPLE

Charlotte
Navy Yard

The prison

was accomplished and the arsenal became very useful to
the service. Many of these skilled artisans remaining in
Fayetteville brought an interesting addition to its popula¬
tion. Likewise near Fayetteville were several important
cotton mills and a paper mill.

At Charlotte the large foundry known as the Mecklen¬
burg Iron Works; the property of Capt. John Wilkes, was
purchased by the Confederate Government, and there was
installed the machinery of the Gosport Navy Yard, many of
the operatives removing from Portsmouth to Charlotte. It
was a large factor in supplying the Confederate Navy with
shells and machinery, and was of great value to the service.

The coke used in the foundry was made on the premises
of coal brought from the Egypt mines, and everything
needed, except guns, was cast there. The “navy yard’’
expanded into extensive proportions, and its operations were
highly important. In connection with it a considerable
number of Navy officers were stationed at Charlotte. The
post was under the command of Capt. R. L. Page, who had
supervision of all the departments of the work, while the
commandant of the yard was Capt. H. A. Ramsay.

At Greensboro, under the activities of the patriotic citi¬
zens for the benefit of the soldiers in the field, an establish¬
ment there was turning out three hundred arms each month.

Salisbury was early chosen as a proper location for a
military prison. Safe in the interior, with railroad connec¬
tions, and noted for its climate, its advantages were quickly
discerned. The buildings of a large cotton factory, erected
in 1839, with 'sixteen acres of woodland had passed into the
possession of the trustees of Davidson College, and in
November, 1861, the Confederate Government bought it for
a prison.

At first it was guarded by a company of Trinity students,
commanded by Rev. Dr. Braxton Craven, the president of the
college, that went into quarters as a guard. The first lot of
Federal prisoners, numbering 120, was received December 9,
1861. Two weeks later nearly two hundred more were re¬
ceived, and Colonel George C. Gibbs was assigned to the
command of the prison. By the middle of March, 1862,
the prisoners numbered' 1,500. In the report of Surgeon

WARTIME INDUSTRIES

779

Hall for that month it is stated that of the 1,427 prisoners
251 had been under treatment, and only one had died dur¬
ing the four months. When the cartel for the exchange of
prisoners was agreed on during the summer all the prisoners
of war were exchanged, and only Confederate convicts, Fed¬
eral deserters and political prisoners, citizens arrested for
alleged treasonable practices, remained. Subsequently, other
Federal prisoners were confined there, but during 1863 and
until the fall of 1864, the conditions were not dissimilar
from what might be inferred from the earlier report of
Surgeon Hall.

Among the other wartime industries may be noted : Rifles
likewise at Jamestown and Asheville; sabers at Raleigh,
Wilmington and Kenansville ; bayonets at Raleigh and
Kenansville ; rifle stocks at High Point ; shells at Raleigh,
Wilmington, Fayetteville and Charlotte ; powder and per¬
cussion caps at Raleigh; cotton cards at Raleigh, Goldsboro
and elsewhere ; paper at -near Raleigh, Fayetteville and
Lincolnton ; knapsacks, canteens, etc., at many points. At
New Bern they were making pistols when the Federals
occupied that town.

North Carolina was forward in making provisions for
the sick and wounded soldiers. Every regiment had its
surgeon and assistant surgeon, and the Surgeon General of
the State, Dr. Charles E. Johnson, was most active and
efficient. He established at the outset a general hospital at
Raleigh under Surgeon E. Burke Haywood, and in October,
1861, equipped and opened the first North Carolina hospital
at Petersburg, with Surgeon P. E. Hines in charge, and
from among the volunteers three ladies were selected as
nurses at this institution — Mrs. Kennedy of Wilmington,
Miss M. L. Pettigrew of Raleigh, and Mrs. Beasley of Ply¬
mouth. Later, early in 1862, Dr. Johnson opened the sec¬
ond hospital at Petersburg under Dr. Warren; and this
was not merely a hospital, but a home for any North Caro¬
lina soldiers at Richmond. Then during the summer, he
established wayside hospitals at Weldon, Goldsboro, Tar-
boro, Raleigh, Salisbury and Charlotte. Nor were Dr.
Johnson’s services confined to general oversight. Taking

The medical
department

The hospitals

IN THE HOMES OF THE PEOPLE

a corps of assistants, he visited every battlefield, carrying
with him medicines and supplies of every kind necessary for
sick or wounded soldiers. In these matters North Carolina
led the way, and other states followed her example. And
so, with regard to clothing and provisions as well as equip¬
ment of the soldiers, North Carolina early made the most
satisfactory arrangements that were open to her. Having
raised the troops, to provide for their necessities was her
chief care.

The soldiers

The men had gradually become accustomed to their duties
as soldiers. They had learned by experience how to care for
themselves, to provide for their comfort, to avoid incon¬
veniences and to take precautions for their health. What¬
ever may have been their individual vocation at home, they
now fell into the habit of using their best intelligence to
make their situation safe and comfortable, and they be¬
came skillful in preparing their meals and performing the
ordinary duties of camp life. But above all, their continued
association fostered a spirit of comradeship, of self-abnega¬
tion and obedience. Thoroughly engrossed with the exact¬
ing requirements of the present in a measure they put aside
other thoughts and became, as it were, a mere part of a
great machine. Their calling was now to be a soldier and
a member of the organization, and each was proud of his
organization. Its reputation was dear to him. It was the
instrument to make successful his hopes and aspirations.
He had entered on the business of fighting for his country,
for his home, for all that he knew of in life. He had be¬
come inured to fatigue and hardship, had had his nerves
strengthened and hardened into iron by varied experiences
and frequent perils. He had practiced self-control and self-
possession in imminent danger, and was tutored in obedience.
Gradually the ardent enthusiastic volunteer had been con¬
verted into the trained veteran.

Nor was life in camp devoid of spiritual influences. To
influences every regiment the services of a chaplain were provided,
and generally the chaplain had a roster bearing the name

CHAPLAINS IN CAMP

781

of every man in each company, and he knew them all and
ministered unto them in health, in sickness, and in death.

The chaplain of the Thirteenth Regiment has left a record
bearing on the work of chaplains in the camps :

“Generally, most of the regiment would attend on Sab¬
bath. Often the men of other regiments were encouraged
by their officers to do so. In mild, open weather they often
preached to very large crowds in the morning and at night.
The hearers stood, sat, knelt, or lounged on the ground and
generally gave decent attention to the sermons. Often the
singing was grand. During two or three winters the troops
built chapels where protracted meetings were held and many
souls converted. But meetings were often held in the open
air, night and day, and many turned to God.

“Many chaplains and visiting ministers had a chance to
preach to brave men. a few days or a few hours before
they were killed. Faithful chaplains were busy men. The
soldiers heard far more preaching than they would have
heard at home. Many read Bibles, tracts and religious pa¬
pers more than they would have done at home. Most of
them thought more about religion, prayed more and felt their
need of God more than they would have done at home. And
much of the chaplain's best work was in the care of the
wounded and sick. Thousands of North Carolina soldiers
will bless God for His goodness in giving them the atten¬
tions of kind chaplains.”

Rev. A. D. Cohen, a Baptist minister, chaplain of the
Forty-sixth Regiment, wrote from the camp at Goldsboro :
"I have more opportunity to do good than any other time
of my pastoral life. Every tent is the habitation of a
family of six or eight men, each man of whom feels con¬
strained to pay at least respectful attention to the kind coun¬
sel and good advice of their chaplain.” While the ministra¬
tions of the chaplains nourished the spiritual life, they
likewise strengthened manhood and devotion to the military
duties and inspired courage and prepared the soldiers to
meet the perils of the battlefield. Among those who served
as chaplains may be mentioned Reverends A. A. Watson,
A. W. Mangum, M. M. Marshall, W. S. Lacy, Aristides

The

chaplains

Clark, IV,
p. 615

782

IN THE HOMES OF THE PEOPLE

The tracts

The negroes

Smith, N. B. Cobb, Cameron F. McRae, W. A. Wood,
W. R. Gwaltney, Colin Shaw, James M. Sprunt and A. D.
Betts. Nearly every regiment had a chaplain whose good
work merited particular distinction.

A tract association at Richmond, and there was also a
similar one at Raleigh, furnished not only Bibles and Testa¬
ments, but leaflets and tracts. The general tendency of the
myriad of these publications distributed among the soldiers
was to instill the precepts of patriotism as well as religious
sentiment, so that they inspired both military ardor and
spiritual life. Their influence can be epitomized by refer¬
ence to one — a reprint of a sermon preached to Cromwell’s
Ironsides during the Commonwealth in England, when they
were marching to victory over the Cavaliers who sought to
uphold the government by prerogative maintained by King
Charles. Its effect, in a word, was to inspire them with
a grand confidence and make them stalwart soldiers. And
in sympathy with the influence of these tracts was the pride
which all shared in the exalted character of Lee and his
masterful leadership, and the knowledge of the innermost
life of their hero, Stonewall Jackson, himself a veritable
Cromwell. No wonder, then, that as the year 1862 drew to
its close the volunteers of 1861 had been converted into
veterans who formed the most remarkable army known to
history and who vied in performance with their prototype,
the famous Ironsides. And of all of Lee’s mighty host
there were no regiments or brigades, either with respect to
the men or officers, superior to those of North Carolina.

Illustrating the life in the country, Rev. F. M. Jordan
has recorded:

“In those days I preached very often to the colored peo¬
ple. The Grahams, Ruffins, Nashes, Camerons, Turners,
and others owned a great many negroes and, living with
such intelligent families, they were more than average in
intelligence themselves. I baptized and married a good
many of them. There was a settlement of colored people
in Halifax County, Virginia, just over the State line from
Bethel, but who were free before the war and almost white.
They once belonged to Bethel, hut finally built a good house
and organized a church of their own in their settlement.

RELIGION IN THE ARMY

783

They had good farms, good homes, and everything in good
order. I preached for them two years as pastor, and they
paid me $200 a year. The distance was forty miles. I went
once a month.

“At that time (during the war) the Beulah Association
included seven counties — Orange, Person, Caswell, Guil¬
ford, Rockingham, Forsyth and Stokes. So that the Asso¬
ciation contained a great many preachers and churches, with
a large membership. I was pastor of four churches and
preached a great deal over the country, at schoolhouses and
private houses, as there were a great many women and chil¬
dren who could not go to church. It was a time of great
confusion, trouble and suffering.”

In the army

Col. E. A. Osborne is quoted as saying :

“I saw but little difference, if any, from what the men
were at home before and since the war. There was rather
more piety manifested by the soldiers during the war than
prevails among the men or young men today. I seldom
heard an oath in the Confederate camps, and I had every
opportunity, from second lieutenant to the command of the
regiment. Our camps often resounded at night with hymns
and spiritual songs.”

Bishop Meade said in his convention address of 1862:
“I rejoice to learn that in many companies not only are the
services of chaplains and other ministers earnestly sought
for and after, but social prayer meetings are held among
themselves.”

Dr. McKim said : “I was a private soldier the first year,
and used to conduct prayer meetings among my comrades ;
had a tent devoted to this purpose.

“A year later, in the winter of 1863-64, a very remarkable
religious revival swept through the Army, and thousands
of conversions occurred. The Army reminded me of a
regular camp-meeting while in winter quarters, and even in
bivouac. Religious exercises were generally well attended
by officers as well as men on week days as well as Sun¬
days, and the moral and religious atmosphere in the camp

Beulah

Association

Prayer

meetings

The revival

784

IN THE HOMES OF THE PEOPLE

was good, remarkably so. How could it be otherwise, with
our noble citizen soldiery, and the examples set before them
by such men as Lee and Jackson at their head?”

Indeed, while most of the Confederate generals of the
first distinction had been bred to arms, in many cases they
were as eminent for religious character as for military
achievement. Lee, Jackson, Stuart, Bishop General Polk,
Pender, Hood, Bragg, Hardie, Joseph E. Johnston, among
others, were examples. Says Private Carlton McCarthy,
“Thousands embraced the gospel and died triumphant over
death. And so the camp fires often lighted the pages of the
Best Book, while the soldier read the orders of the Captain
of his Salvation. And often did the songs of Zion ring out
loud and clear on the cold night air, while the muskets rat¬
tled and the guns boomed in the distance.”

Daily life of soldiers

Stripped of all sensual allurement, and offering only self-
denial, patience and endurance, the Gospel took hold of the
deepest and purest motives of the soldiers, won them thor¬
oughly and made the Army as famous for its forebearance,
temperance, respect for women and children, sobriety, hon¬
esty and morality as it was for endurance and invincible
courage.

On the march

Troops on the march were generally so cheerful and gay
that an outsider would hardly imagine how they suffered.
In summer time, the dust combined with the heat caused
great suffering. The nostrils of the men, filled with dust,
became dry and feverish, and even the throat did not escape.
The grit was felt between the teeth, and the eyes were
rendered almost useless. There was dust in the eyes, mouth,
ears and hair. The shoes were full of sand. The heat was
at times terrific, but the men became greatly accustomed
to it and endured it with wonderful ease. But the heat
combined with thirst on a forced march was often so in¬
sufferable that rests had to be made on the road.

TEACHERS AND TEXTBOOKS

78 5

The schools

Rev. Calvin H. Wiley had continued to give satisfaction
as Superintendent of the Common Schools, and without op¬
position he was reelected. Mr. Wiley had been an apostle
of public education and had been successful in supplanting
indifference with enthusiasm. He had found a vineyard
without laborers and he had created an army of devoted
workers. When the war suddenly came on, bringing its
need for funds, there was developed a movement to use
the school fund for war purposes. This Mr. Wiley com¬
bated with great energy, and so successfully that during
Governor Ellis's administration the thought was abandoned ;
but soon after the Legislature met in November, 1861, the
proposition was renewed, only to be again defeated. And
so the schools were kept open, but necessarily they felt the
strain of war. Difficulties daily increased ; many thought
it best to suspend, for it was hard to get textbooks, and still
more difficult to find teachers. But in spite of all, the report
of 1863 shows fifty thousand children in the common
schools.

There were but few printing offices in the State where
books could be published; but quite a number of school
books were prepared and published, one of the most active
authors being Mrs. Moore of Raleigh. And while the edu¬
cation of the children was cared for the needs of the sol¬
diers were not ignored. There were various organizations
for the publication of religious tracts, sermons and the New
Testament; and millions of leaflets were distributed in the
camps.

Railroads

All the roads in North Carolina were fortunately in a
fine state of efficiency at the outbreak of the war. The
North Carolina Railroad had just been completed, the
Raleigh and Gaston was under the management of Dr.
William J. Hawkins, and the Wilmington and Weldon
under William S. Ashe, and these officers had maintained
their lines in a high state of efficiency.

Biog. Hist.,
II, 436

;86

IN THE HOMES OF THE PEOPLE

To succeed Colonel Fisher, killed at Manassas, Paul C.
Cameron was selected as President of the North Carolina
Railroad, and to succeed Colonel Ashe, S. D. Wallace be¬
came President of the Wilmington and Weldon. These
three lines afforded the sole transportation from the South
to Virginia and maintaining them in efficiency when there
were no new supplies of iron, machinery or rolling stock,
was as valuable a service as could be rendered even on the
field of battle.

The Wilmington and Weldon road was threatened from
the coast. It therefore became important to build the miss¬
ing link from Danville to Greensboro. Colonel Ashe recom¬
mended it and urged it on the Convention, and the work
was assigned to Capt. A. S. Myers of the Confederate
Engineer Corps. There was a branch railroad from Hen¬
derson, and the iron was taken up for use on the proposed
road ; and some iron belonging to the Wilmington, Charlotte
and Rutherford Railroad Company was also taken for that
purpose and also the iron on the Charlotte and Statesville
road. John Wilkes and his brother, sons of the distin¬
guished Capt. Charles Wilkes, United States Navy, who
had explored the North Sea, and who had also made, in
1858, an exploration and report on the Chatham coal fields,
undertook to construct the road to Danville. The work was
begun in 1861, but there were so many obstacles to be over¬
come that it was not completed until 1864.

The brigades

When the North Carolina regiments were organized in
the spring and summer of 1861 they were hurried off to
Virginia, and for a period were not brigaded. Among the
earliest North Carolina brigades were those of Generals
Branch, Robert Ransom and Pettigrew.

General Branch had been appointed Brigadier General
and was engaged in the defenses of New Bern. After the
fall of New Bern the North Carolina troops assembled there
were thrown in two brigades. The Twenty-fourth, Twenty-
fifth, Twenty-sixth, Thirty-fifth and Forty-ninth were
assigned to General Ransom; but later the Twenty-sixth
was transferred to General Pettigrew. The Seventh, Eight-

BATTLE OF IRONCLADS

787

eenth, Twenty-eighth, Thirty-third and Thirty-seventh
were assigned to General Branch ; on his death Lane suc¬
ceeded him. Pettigrew, appointed Brigadier General Feb¬
ruary 26, 1862, was assigned to the command of a brigade
consisting of the Sixteenth, Twenty-second, Thirty-fourth
and Thirty-eighth North Carolina regiments. While in
command of that at Seven Pines, July 1, he was wounded
and taken prisoner, and W. D. Pender was appointed
Brigadier General and assigned to the command of that
brigade, and subsequently the Thirteenth North Carolina
was added.

After the battle of Williamsburg, George B. Anderson
was promoted to be Brigadier General and given a brigade
composed of the Second, Fourth, Fourteenth and Thirtieth.
He was killed at Boonesboro, and Grimes succeeded him.
On his promotion, Ramseur, and later Cox commanded the
brigade.

In Ripley’s Brigade were two North Carolina regiments,
First and Third; in Colston’s the Thirteenth and Fourteenth.
The Fifteenth was under Howell Cobb. The Twenty-first
and First battalions were with Trimble. The Twelfth, with
the Fifth, Twentieth and Twenty-third formed Garland’s
Brigade. The Sixth was in Whiting’s Brigade, but later,
with the Fifty-fourth and Fifty-seventh, made Law’s
Brigade.

End of the Virginia and the Monitor

When the Federals evacuated Norfolk in April, 1861, they
attempted to destroy the Merrimac, a frigate of thirty-five
hundred tons, one of the fine vessels built while Mr. Dobbin
was Secretary of the Navy. The Confederate Navy officers
converted her into an ironclad, and named her the Virginia.
Early in March, 1862, the Virginia destroyed the Cumber¬
land and the Congress , herself receiving no harm. In the
meantime, a new style of vessel, also an ironclad, the Moni¬
tor, had been finished at New York and reached Hampton
Roads while the Congress was still burning. A trial of
effectiveness between the two ironclads resulted. No ap¬
parent injury was suffered by either, but eventually the

Lane

Pender

Grimes

Cox

788 IN THE HOMES OF THE PEOPLE

Monitor withdrew into shallow water where she was safe
out of reach of the Virginia.

When Johnston abandoned the low country, the Virginia
was ordered up the James; but as she drew too much water
to pass up the river, by a most extraordinary decision, her
officers destroyed her.

The Monitor , towards the end of December, 1862, was
ordered to Beaufort. In passing Hatteras in tow of the
Rhode Island on the night of December 30, she encountered
a fierce gale, and at midnight went down on our coast. Her
commander, Lieutenant Bankhead, and the gallant Lieut.
S. Dana Greene and sixteen of her crew were fortunately
saved.

Thus ended these two vessels that revolutionized naval
warfare. At Wilmington it was feared that the Monitor
was making for the waters of the Cape Fear, and that she
was lost en route gave relief from that apprehension.

Natural changes

When the Conscript Law came to be enforced with the
result of disturbing many who had been content to remain
at home conducting their ordinary business, it brought about
new conditions that led to discontent. The labor problem
began to bear acutely in some families where nearly all the
able-bodied men entered the military service, but while a
large majority of the people were not slaveholders, a very
considerable number of families owned a few slaves, so that
except at the west, the necessary labor on the farms was
not greatly disturbed.

In the camps the conscripts were not generally received
as brothers by those who early volunteered, and they were
at some disadvantage on that account. But it was a neces¬
sity. Untrained conscripts, crowded together in companies,
would at first have been useless, but, scattered here and
there among the trained soldiers, did well.

The appeal to arms by the Northern governors had re¬
sulted so unfavorably that on June 28 all the governors of
the Northern States united in a formal signed document re¬
questing President Lincoln to call for more troops. Pos-

CAVALRY CAPTURE SHIP OF WAR

789

sibly Mr. Lincoln may have desired this action. Agreeably
to their request, Mr. Lincoln at once issued a proclamation
calling for an additional force of three hundred thousand
men, assigning a quota to each state. The drafts made in
pursuance of this call led to riots at the North, but the
troops were obtained.

Capture of the Ellis

On the 24th of November an armed iron steamer, the
Ellis, came into New River and went to Jacksonville, where
the Federals took such articles as they chose. When her
presence was made known to Captain Ward by his pickets
he and Captain Newkirk, with a detachment of his cavalry,
the Rebel Rangers, and Lieutenant Latham, with one piece
of artillery, hastened to the scene. As the Ellis was pro¬
ceeding leisurely down the river, Lieutenant Latham opened
on her with his rifled gun, causing her to leave the main
channel and throwing the crew into confusion. But she
soon opened her batteries on Latham’s position, with shell
and canister. Finding he could make no impression on her
iron sides, Latham moved his position; and the steamer in
maneuvering, finally landed on a sand bank, from which
she could not disengage herself. By nightfall Newkirk had
been reinforced by a second gun, and when day broke, his
two guns opened with such vigor that the crew hastily set
the Ellis on fire and jumped into a boat, pushing out to a
vessel lower down, in which they escaped. The Ellis was
captured, and much ammunition and stores secured. It is
not often that a detachment of cavalry succeeds in captur¬
ing a warship.

On the last day of October, 1862, General Foster set out
from New Bern with three brigades, the Twenty-first,
pieces of artillery and cavalry, to capture the Seventeenth,
Twenty-sixth and Fifty-ninth North Carolina regiments
foraging through the eastern counties. Two days later he
encountered the Twenty-sixth Regiment at Little Creek,
but Colonel Burgwyn retired to Rawls’s Mills. After an
engagement at this point Colonel Burgwyn withdrew to¬
wards Tarboro, and Foster retired to New Bern.

At the North
June 28

Clark, II

338

790

IN THE HOMES OF THE PEOPLE

Dec. 13,
1862

The positrons

Battle near Goldsboro

In December Gen. G. W. Smith was in command in
Eastern North Carolina, and from many sources informa¬
tion was received that General Foster was preparing for
some movement. It was thought that Wilmington might be
the object, and such precautions as were possible were taken.
But the Federal purpose was to take Goldsboro ; and with
that end in view, with a strong force of infantry (ten thou¬
sand men) and 40 pieces of artillery and 640 cavalry, Foster
approached Kinston. General Evans, with two thousand
men, held them in check on the 13th and 14th, below Kin¬
ston, and at Kinston again delayed them two days. But here
Evans, who was on the south of the Neuse, was outflanked,
and before he got all his men across the river, four hundred
were cut off and fell into the hands of the enemy. Foster,
keeping on the south of the river, hurried forward and
reached White* Hall, but found that General Robertson had
burnt the bridge there and disputed his crossing. A heavy
engagement ensued; but Foster abandoned any purpose to
gain the direct road to Goldsboro, and contented himself
with advancing on that side of the river where he could
reach the railroad bridge.

In the meantime reinforcements had begun to arrive from
Petersburg and Wilmington. Early on the 16th General
Clingman had arrived with the Eighth Regiment and took
position about a mile and a half below the railroad bridge,
where later he was joined by the Fifty-first and Fifty-
second. Goldsboro was three miles from the bridge ; and
half a mile above the railroad bridge was the county bridge,
the roads running parallel, with a swamp between them near
the river, but with a cross-road connecting them about a
mile distant from the river.

It was ten o’clock, December 16, when Foster reached the
railroad south of Clingman’s position and advanced up it,
his cavalry on the county road getting in the rear of the
Confederates. The protection of both bridges was impor¬
tant, especially that of the county bridge ; and Clingman fell
back, stationing the Fifty-second in front of the railroad
bridge, the Eighth in front of the county bridge, and the

BATTLE AT GOLDSBORO

791

Fifty-first between the two. North of the river and at the
railroad bridge and sweeping the approach, Colonel Pool
with his artillery was placed as an additional protection.
Foster opened heavily with cannon and musketry on the
Fifty-second and Clingman led the Fifty-first to its support;
but both regiments were forced to give way, and it being
obvious that they could not withstand Foster’s brigades,
Clingman withdrew them to the county bridge. Pool’s fire
for an hour or more saved the railroad bridge, which Foster
attempted unsuccessfully to destroy with his artillery. But
about noon, Lieut. Geo. A. Graham of a New York battery,
at great peril made his way to an abutment where, shielded
from the Confederate fire, he started a blaze that eventually
destroyed the bridge.

General Evans’s Brigade had early arrived on cars from
Kinston, but for some reason the cars could not be moved
to the bridge, and Evans did not at once march his troops
to the scene of operations. In the afternoon the Sixty-first
North Carolina, under Colonel Devane, arrived and Cling¬
man moved to the south of the river. Skirmishers were
thrown out, and Foster was found to occupy the line of
railroad behind its embankments for a mile and a half.
Clingman proposed to attack them — both flanks simultane¬
ously — and conducted the Fifty-first and Fifty-second down
the river to a sheltered position, less than three hundred
yards from the enemy’s right. He then joined the Eighty-
first and Sixty-first, who were pushing down the county road
to reach the enemy’s left. Before he had attained the de¬
sired position, General Evans reached the field with the
Twenty-third South Carolina and Holcombe’s Legion, and
ordered the Fifty-first and Fifty-second to advance. In the
meantime Foster had withdrawn his troops from the rail¬
road to a higher field where he placed his artillery and con¬
centrated his infantry. Under the orders of General Evans,
the Fifty-second, in front, and the Fifty-first, fifty yards
behind, double-quicked against the enemy, who stood ready
to receive them. The men pushed forward with a yell, they
were rushing into the jaws of death. Grape and canister
from nine pieces of artillery thinned their ranks, but they

The county
bridge

The battle

792

IN THE HOMES OF THE PEOPLE

Clark, IY,
484

Whitford

continued the charge until, having reached a ditch, more
than midway of the battlefield, they sank into it. Evans’s
South Carolinians also reached the railroad, but quickly re¬
turned. In the meantime Clingman had reached his objec¬
tive and opened on the enemy’s left flank with the pieces
of artillery served by Lieut. T. C. Fuller with excellent
efifect. The hour was, however, too late to renew the front
attack. The night came on, and the Federals hastily retired
towards Kinston, making some eighteen miles before day¬
break.

In this afifair the Federals sustained a considerable loss.
The Confederate loss as reported was 335 ; that of the North
Carolina troops being 40 killed and 177 wounded; the Fifty-
first Regiment suffering more than any other. Within a
few days the bridge was rebuilt, and the interruption of
traffic was inconsiderable.

In this battle, as elsewhere, General Clingman was par¬
ticularly distinguished for his intrepidity, coolness and good
judgment. Said an eye witness : “There could not be a man
braver in the hour of fiercest battle than was Clingman on
that occasion.” The -brigade repulsed every assault and,
unsupported, charged Foster’s attacking columns, and the
latter’s army retreated to New Bern. Lieutenant Fuller’s
coolness, bravery and efficiency in handling his piece of
artillery won for him the highest encomiums.

*On the return of a Federal expedition up the’Neuse in
December, Colonel Whitford posted his companies on the
north side of the river almost twelve miles from New Bern,
and successfully attacked the first vessel as it came down.
She carried one gun, and opened on Whitford’s men with
grape and canister ; but soon, under the galling fire of the
cavalry, her crew, dead or wounded, was piled up about her
gun, and she was silenced. Two other gunboats, however,
soon came to her rescue, and although quite a number of
their crew were killed or wounded, Colonel Whitford drew
his men off without serious loss.

FEDERALS DRIVEN FROM PLYMOUTH

7 93

Capture at Plymouth

Plymouth was held by the Federals. Early in December
an expedition was organized to retake the town. The Sixty-
third Regiment, Colonel Evans’s Cavalry, was picketing in
that region. Four of the cavalry companies, Moore’s Bat¬
tery of Artillery, and several companies of the Seventeenth
Regiment (infantry), all under the command of Col. John
C. Lamb, reached the Federal picket station just before day,
December 13, 1862, and captured all of the pickets but one,
he escaping and giving notice. The Federals quickly formed
across the main street, but when the cavalry charged, after
one volley, they broke and took to their heels in all direc¬
tions — some to skiffs in the river, and others hid in the
houses. A lively cannonade ensued between Moore’s Bat¬
tery and the gunboats. ' The Confederates captured more
provisions and clothing than they could move .and a dumber
of prisoners. Capt. John M. Galloway, leading Company
D of the Fifth Cavalry with his accustomed dash and brav¬
ery, was wounded, and three of the infantry. Although
their success was perfect, yet as the gunboats could ascend
the river and cut off their return, Colonel Lamb deemed it
best to withdraw with the provisions and prisoners they had
taken.

CHAPTER L

Richardson
Inaugural,
Vol. VI

Progress of Events at the North

Mr. Lincoln’s views. — Colonization. — Emancipation. — The pre¬
liminary proclamation. — The moral objection. — A war measure. —
Montgomery’s project. — The changed situation. — Feeling at the
South. — The absentees. — Vance’s action. — The Assembly Factious.
— President Davis. — Thaddeus Stevens. — Hill besieges Washing¬
ton. — The women and children. — To secure food for the army. —
Old leaders. — Faction arises.

Mr. Lincoln’s view

Mr. Lincoln in his Inaugural, said : “All profess to be
content in the Union if all constitutional rights can be main¬
tained. If by the mere force of numbers a majority should
deprive a minority of any clearly written constitutional right,
it might in a* moral point of view justify revolution ; cer¬
tainly should, if such rights were a vital one.” But he de¬
clared, “physically speaking we cannot separate; and if the
minority will not acquiesce, the majority must, or the gov¬
ernment must cease.” “I do not forget,” said he, “the posi¬
tion assumed by some that constitutional questions are to
be decided by the Supreme Court. At the same time the
candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the govern¬
ment upon vital questions affecting the whole people is to
be irrevocably fixed by decision of the Supreme Court, the
people will have ceased to be their own rulers, having to
that extent practically resigned their government into the
hands of that eminent tribunal.” “This country,” he added,
“with its institutions, belongs to the people who inherit it.
Whenever they grow weary of the existing government they
can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or
their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it.”
And here we have an echo of his earlier address on the
sacred right of a people to set up a new government for
themselves. And while Mr. Lincoln probably did not fully
understand conditions in the seceded states, yet he did not
minimize the attachment of the Southern people to the

LINCOLN’S SYMPATHIES

7 95

Union. On the meeting of Congress in July, he said: “It
may well be questioned whether there is today a majority
of the legally qualified voters of any state, except perhaps
South Carolina, in favor of disunion. There is much reason
to believe that the Union men are the majority in many, if
not in every other one, of the so-called Seceded States.”
Nor was Mr. Lincoln in full ■ sympathy with Senator Sum¬
ner, who in the Senate on a solemn occasion some years
later, spoke of the “slave power” as “driven from these
legislative chambers.” But it was in the minds and hearts
of many of those with whom he was in cooperation a satis¬
faction that they had “driven” the* slaveholders out of
Congress.

Mr. Lincoln was born and raised in such surroundings
that he regarded chiefly the interests of the white laboring
man of this country. While he may have objected to any
legalized servitude, his particular objection to African slav¬
ery was that he considered it adverse to the interest of white
labor. His forebears were like the white men of Western
Virginia whose attitude towards slavery was such that
about 1833 Legislature of the State failed by only a
few votes in measures looking to gradual emancipation. He
was opposed to its extension. But in one of his early mes¬
sages to Congress he declared that as slavery in the states
was protected by the Constitution, he did not object to a
proposed amendment to the Constitution particularly for¬
bidding interference with it. As his chief interest was the
protection of white labor from African competition, he
favored colonizing such of the slaves as might be set free.

Colonization

In his first annual message, December 3, 1861, he said
with regard to such negroes as might under the laws of
Congress be held forfeited : “In such cases, I recommend
that such persons be at once deemed free, and that in any
event steps be taken for colonizing both classes, those lib¬
erated as property of the insurrectionists and those other¬
wise set free, at some place or places in a climate congenial
to them. It might be well to consider, too, whether the free

Richardson,
Vol. VI,

140, 232

796

PROGRESS OF EVENTS AT THE NORTH

Appropria¬
tion for the
purpose

Constitu¬
tions become
obsolete

No attempt
to settle
difference

colored people already in the United States could not, so
far as individuals may desire, be included in such coloniza¬
tion. . . . To carry out the plan of colonization may
involve the acquiring of territory. . . . If it be said
that the only legitimate object of acquiring territory is to
furnish homes for white men, this measure effects that ob¬
ject, for the emancipation of colored men leaves additional
room for white men remaining or coming here.

On this whole proposition, including the appropriation of
money with the acquisition of territory — does not the ex¬
pediency amount to absolute necessity — that, without which
the government itself ' cannot be perpetuated?”

Emancipation

The first step towards emancipation was the act of Con¬
gress, 1861, declaring forfeited the slaves of all those per¬
sons who should have been duly convicted of engaging in re¬
bellion and setting their slaves free. A trial for treason was
necessary, and conviction. But when in that same month,
General Fremont went further and issued a proclamation
declaring free the slaves of disloyal citizens of Missouri, a
state that had not seceded, Mr. Lincoln annulled that proc¬
lamation. Still “there is a political force in ideas, which
silently renders protestations, promises and guarantees, no
matter in what good faith they may have been given, of no
avail ; and which make constitutions obsolete.”

Such was the course of events at the North. Southern
statesmen had realized that the North was declaring the
Constitution a league with hell and a covenant with death,
and had demanded additional guarantees — but in vain. The
way to emancipation was now open, the road clear. The
opportunity was presented.

Mr. Lincoln preferred gradual emancipation. At his in¬
stance, Congress in April, 1862, passed a resolution that
the United States ought to cooperate with any state which
would adopt gradual emancipation. He personally consid¬
ered that justice required compensation for the freed slaves ;
and this measure was drawn in that view. But the opera¬
tion of this resolution was confined to states that had not

DEMAND FOR EMANCIPATION

797

seceded, and, indeed, it had no effect whatever. It was
never afterwards mentioned. Had Mr. Lincoln ever pro¬
posed that the slaves at the South should be paid for, and
opened the way for a consideration of such a proposition,
there is no telling what might have been the result. Indeed
had such a proposition been made at any time during the
war, some terms of accommodation might have been agreed
on, and the effusion of American blood might have been
brought to an end. On April 6, 1862, Congress passed the
act to emancipate the slaves in the District of Columbia,
paying an average of $300 a head for them. Then in June,
Congress passed a bill prohibiting slavery in any territory
or place under the jurisdiction of the United States.

In July, 1862, Congress proceeded further and passed a
bill confiscating the property of those in arms against the
government, and freeing their slaves and declaring that
all slaves coming into the possession or under the protec¬
tion of the government should be free and that the Presi¬
dent might employ them in such manner as he deemed best.

The proclamation

On the 13th of July, 1862, Mr. Lincoln announced to some
of his Cabinet that “The time had arrived when we must
determine whether the slave element should be for or against
us.” Seward hesitated; Blair objected; Bates desired that
the deportation of the colored race should be coincident with
emancipation. Mr. Lincoln appears to have been fixed in
purpose to compensate the owners, and to deport the ne¬
groes. The deportation of some of the negroes freed in
the District had already been arranged for. They were
carried to the Island of Vache, near Hayti and later were
brought back at the expense of the government. The Cab¬
inet being opposed, Mr. Lincoln at that time took no action
on emancipation.

In the meantime the Abolitionists were demanding that
all slaves should be emancipated. “For many months the
passionate appeals of millions of his associates seemed not
to move him.” And Mr. Greeley having addressed to him,
“The prayers of twenty millions,” Mr. Lincoln on Au-

Confiscatioa

The Cabinet
opposed

Richardson

Wells Lin¬
coln and
Seward,
210-212

79«

PROGRESS OF EVENTS AT THE NORTH

August 22

Without re¬
gard to mas¬
sacre

Hay and N.,
VI, 156

The gov¬
ernors de¬
mand it

Stephens
U. S. Hist.,
684

Mr. Lincoln
yields

gust 22, wrote to him: “If I could save the Union without
freeing any slave, I would do it. . . . If I can save it by

freeing all the slaves I would do it.

At length, on September 13, a delegation from all the
churches of Chicago called on the President to free the
slaves, saying that “it was the will of God."

Mr. Lincoln, in his interview with them, said: “You say,
‘it is God’s will,’ but others tell me, ‘No, no — it is not God’s
will.’ I don’t know whether it is or not.’’ He said that if
he “found it so, it would be so. . . . But I am think¬

ing of it day and night.” He further said : “Nor do I
urge objections of a moral nature, in view of possible con¬
sequences of insurrection and massacre at the South. . . .
I view this matter as a practical war measure, to be de¬
cided on according to the advantage or disadvantage it may
offer to the suppression of the Rebellion.”

On the 22 d day of September the governors met at
Altoona, Pennsylvania. It was understood that they de¬
manded that the object of the war should be changed,
and that the abolition of slavery should be added to “the
maintenance of the Union under the Constitution” — and
that the execution of military affairs should be committed
to persons of strict anti-slavery views.

Mr. Lincoln’s doubts now were resolved. He hesitated
no longer. On that day he called his Cabinet together and
read to them a draft of a proclamation he had prepared.
Seward, Bates, Smith and Blair objected to it. Seward
objected that the clause concerning the deportation of the
negroes should be modified so that the deportation would
be with their consent. Mr. Lincoln, with Chase, Wells and
Stanton, then made changes in his proclamation, by which
it was proposed to declare the slaves free in all the seceded
states, except Tennessee; and that night he published it.

At that meeting, among other things, he said, that when
the Confederates were at Frederick he made a promise to
himself and his Maker, if they should be driven out of
Maryland he would make such a proclamation. That, how¬
ever, was a secret pledge.

The publication of the proclamation was unexpected by
the public. A week before President Lincoln had abso-

JOY OF ABOLITIONISTS

799

lutely refused. It, therefore, came as a startling surprise.
The Abolitionists hailed it with delight. The Hartford
Courant declared with joy: “The year of Jubilee has come.”
And so the Abolitionists were happy. On the other hand,
there were many not prepared for such a step. The New
York Whig, a conservative journal, said: “Those who op¬
pose the Emancipation Proclamation do just what President
Lincoln has been doing for a whole year; what Seward
and Blair did last week ; what half of the Republican mem¬
bers of Congress did all through the last session of that
body.”

That night many arrests were made in Washington City.
Carriages were running all night long bearing persons ar¬
rested to the Old Capital Prison and conveying others to
the station en route to Fort Lafayette in New York. With
a strong hand opposition to emancipation was to be sup¬
pressed. The author was himself a prisoner of war and an
inmate of that prison. He read in a Washington paper,
perhaps the Republican, an account of an interview between
Mr. Lincoln and some colored men who called to express
their thanks. Mr. Lincoln was quoted as saying, substan¬
tially : “Do not take this too much to heart. I have not
acted in the interest of your race. I have acted only to
bring an end to the rebellion. If those in rebellion lay
down their arms as I wish and hope, the proclamation will
have no effect. If they do not, and emancipation follows,
it may not be to the interest of your race. This is the white
man’s country; and it is doubtful whether the two races
can live together in it, both in a state of freedom. The
African race may all have to be deported.”

Mr. Seward had years before declared an irrepressible
conflict between slave labor and free labor. That was
merely a catching expression; but there now appeared on
the horizon a conflict between white labor and free African
labor. It gave concern.

Mr. Lincoln, in his subsequent message to Congress, said :
“But not only in its effect and operation on labor, was eman¬
cipation the subject of concern : a moral objection was raised
to it.”

The public
startled

Mr. Lin¬
coln's feeling

The conflict
of labor

8oo

■PROGRESS OF EVENTS AT THE NORTH

Massacre

expected

Sumper saw
no objections

Morton
thought it
all right

Washington
Evening
Star, Oct. 7,
1862

The moral objection

The Courier des Etats-Unis, a conservative French paper
published in New York, said: “Does the government at
Washington mean to say that January ist it will call for
a servile war to aid in the conquest of the South? And
after the negroes have killed the whites, the negroes them¬
selves must be drowned in their own blood? Nevertheless,
in rejecting this fearful explanation, -we seek in vain any
other reason for the measure announced by Mr. Lincoln.”

Said the Cincinnati Commercial, a Republican newspaper,
referring to the negroes, “The weight of United States au¬
thority is to be removed from their shoulders and they are
to be allowed to fight for themselves.”

The Perry Freeman, a Pennsylvania newspaper, said :
“Through what blood they will be obliged to wade to make
themselves free the future only can reveal.”

Other papers took the same view that the proclamation
was a first step to a race war at the South, a murderous
insurrection, and the moral questions involved were dis¬
cussed. To combat that, emancipation was declared to be
a means to an end ; and as to the slave insurrection, Senator
Charles Sumner, in his Faneuil Hall oration, said : “God
forbid that I should fail in any duty of humanity, or ten¬
derness even ; but I know no principle of war or of reason
by which our rebels should be saved from the natural con¬
sequences of their own conduct. When they rose against
a paternal government, they set the example of insurrec¬
tion which has carried death to so many friends. They
cannot complain if their slaves, with better reason, follow it.”

Governor Morton of Indiana said : “It was clearly a
means to an end. It was no longer a question whether
slavery was right or wrong. It was no longer to be viewed
in the moral and political aspects. All these questions are
aside, and the great question is : In what does the great
rebel power consist? War consists not only in the use of
gunpowder. We must use every means, and we had an
undoubtable right to take that which sustains their armies
in the field. It was as much a question of expediency as a
march across the Potomac in any other direction.”

THE NORTH AND THE NEGRO

801

On October 6, Senator Sumner, delivered a keynote ora¬
tion at Boston, in which he maintained the principles Mr.
Lincoln had enunciated and discussed the proclamation in
its various aspects and phrases.

Mentioning the apprehension that the negroes when freed
would leave the South and come to live at the North, he
said, “Not so, on the contrary, those at the North would
go South, and the North would be freed from their pres¬
ence. ' Mr. Lincoln then said nothing; but in December,
in his message, he asked: “Cannot the North decide for
itself whether to receive them?” — whether the North would
allow the negroes to come. And perhaps by way of soften¬
ing the picture that was presented to the Northern mind,
short paragraphs were inserted in the newspapers to the
effect that President Davis was about to issue a proclama¬
tion freeing the negroes at the South and President Lincoln
had only gotten in ahead of him — an example of fine imagi¬
nation and wiry polemics.

In September, 1862, Mr. Lincoln’s capital had been in
danger, and he realized the necessity or desirability of
greater exertions. He apparently yielded to the pressure
of the governors, and expected to profit from the increased
interest of the Abolitionists, the zealots with whom he was
not in entire sympathy. And so, later, as they had required
that only Abolitionists should be in high command, he soon
displaced General McClellan, who, indeed, had been the
instrument to clear Maryland of the Confederate force,
bringing to pass ■ the conditions on which Mr. Lincoln’s
promise to his Maker was based. McClellan himself- put
on record . That the Abolitionists had constantly and per¬
sistently pursued him to the bitter end.” One sees in the
proceeding here no trace of sympathy for a downtrodden
race, no humanitarianism, only military considerations, and
considerations supposed to be interesting to the white labor
of this country. Bearing in mind Mr. Lincoln’s life, this
point of view was entirely natural to him. He was for the
white laboring man as became him. And in this respect he
was not far different from Andrew Johnson, ever in antag¬
onism with the gentry, who said : “As for the negro, there

1862

The North
and the
negro

Richardson,
VI, 141

McClellan
the victim

802

PROGRESS OF EVENTS AT THE NORTH

Ogden’s
Life of God-
kin, 264

The evils

Richardson,
VI, 140

is no place for him in this country, but in slavery.'’ Mr.
Lincoln, being likewise of that impression was the apostle
of colonization. But he was not awake to the magnitude
of that undertaking, nor did he have the training and ex¬
perience that presented the obstacles to his mind in a reason¬
able way any more than when he began the war and called
for seventy-five thousand men to serve for three months in
that enterprise.

Nor did Mr. Seward have any humanitarian sympathy for
the negroes. He inveighed against the continuance of slav¬
ery in this country as a means to popularity — preaching that
it conflicted with white labor. Early in life he himself had
been a slaveholder, and he had no personal animosity against
slaveholders. Indeed, he is quoted as saying that the North
had no concern with the negro, that they were merely
Hottentots.

How the proposed emancipation was to affect the war
was not apparent at the South. It was for present pur¬
poses a mere paper proclamation, with no ability to enforce
it, except as to the negroes in those localities where the
Federal armies were in possession, and they were already
at liberty to leave their homes and repair to the Federal
camps and go where they pleased.

As secession had originally been grounded on the appre¬
hension that the North would bring about the abolition of
slavery, carrying into effect Mr. Lincoln’s announced doc¬
trine that this Union cannot exist half slave and half free,
and as that threatened not merely such financial losses as
would attend it, but other evils of far greater magnitude,
it was not apparent, how the declaration of intention, the
avowal of the purpose, would or could influence the South¬
ern people to willingly return to the Union and accept the
threatened evils which they were seeking to avoid.

In his second annual message, December i, 1862, Mr.
Lincoln said : “I cannot make it better known than it al¬
ready is that I strongly favor colonization ; and yet I wish
to say that there is an objection urged against free colored
persons remaining in the country which is largely imaginary,
if not sometimes malicious. It is asserted that their pres¬
ence would injure and displace white labor and white la-

WHITE AND BLACK LABOR

borers. Is it true that colored people can displace any more
white labor by being free than by remaining slaves? If
they stay in their old places, they jostle no white laborers; if
they leave their old places, they leave them open to white
laborers. Emancipation, even without deportation, would
probably enhance the crops of white labor, and very surely
would not reduce them. Masters will give them wages at
least until new laborers can be procured and the freed men in
turn will gladly give their labor for their wages till new
homes can be found for them in congenial climes and with
people of their own blood and race. And in any event, can¬
not the North decide for itself whether to receive them?

“With deportation even to a limited extent, enhanced
wages to white labor is mathematically certain. Labor is
like any other commodity in the market — reduce the supply
of black labor by colonizing the black laborers out of the
country, and by precisely so much you increase the demand
for and wages of white labor. But it is dreaded that the freed
people will swarm forth and cover the whole land. But
why should emancipation send the freed people North?
But if gradual emancipation and deportation be adopted
they will have nothing to flee from.”

As the time approached for decisive action, Mr. Lincoln
seems to have reconsidered. In his message of Decem¬
ber 2, 1862, he proposed a method of securing emancipation
by 1900, but Congress would have none of it.

Had Mr. Lincoln’s plan, then proposed, been adopted by
the North probably it would have brought about a speedy
end of the war and the eventual emancipation of the slaves.
That, failing to meet the approbation of Congress, he pur¬
sued the course he had marked out in September.

A war measure

Mr. Lincoln opened the year 1863 with a proclamation
of emancipation declaring the negroes in the seceded states
free — but not in the other states.

The war had been begun at the instance of a few newly
elected Republican governors, perhaps to put the Democrats
of their respective states at a disadvantage. At the outset,

803

Mr. Lin¬
coln’s philos¬
ophy

The North

Jan. 1863

804

PROGRESS OF EVENTS AT THE NORTH

the movement at the South was deemed a mere slaveholders’
revolt, without support, and would end in sixty days. But
by improvidently provoking the withdrawal of other states
and unifying the people of the South, Mr. Lincoln converted
a small movement into a great struggle between the sec¬
tions or states of the Union.

The original occasion of secession being an understand¬
ing that the North proposed to interfere with slavery, Mr.
Lincoln, as for himself, denied the purpose ; and then, in Sep¬
tember, 1862, he published his first proclamation, followed
in January by that of emancipation. It was the realization
of what the South had apprehended.

He based his action on the declaration that it was a war
measure. The consummation of the apprehension was nec¬
essarily a war measure — a measure for a greater war, a
more lasting war — for a war to the bitter end. War meas¬
ures have usually been considered of such a nature as would
tend to shorten the conflict, to aid in bringing it to a close ;
this war measure was to intensify, to prolong. It could
have no legitimate efifect on the military power of the
United States, except so far as the negroes might be at¬
tracted to its military service.

In his emancipation proclamation, the President enjoined
the negroes declared free “to abstain from all violence un¬
less in necessary self-defense/’ Were this an invitation to
• negroes to assert their freedom as he proclaimed, and to

Mont¬
gomery’s
project

0. R., N. C.,
CVIII, 737

maintain it “in necessary self-defense,” leading the way to
servile insurrection, throughout the Southern country, it
signally failed. And in this connection, it is observed that
a general plan was devised by A. S. Montgomery at Wash¬
ington City, for a rising of the negroes throughout the
South, formulated May 12, 1864, and to be carried into
execution August 1st. It was approved by “The Depart¬
ment of North Carolina.” It was much in a line with
General Foster’s personal views and actions. But it is no
less creditable to the African race than a remarkable muni¬
ment of the benevolence of the slaveholders and the non¬
slaveholders alike, throughout the South, that notwithstand¬
ing the country was largely denuded of white men, the
negroes, while remaining in their homes, deported them-

805

DISCIPLES OF JOHN BROWN

selves as they were raised to do. A relatively few sought
Federal employment.

Thus there were no negro insurrections, and indeed mas¬
sacre was not a legitimate war measure as understood by
civilized and enlightened people. It would have been a
stain on the good fame and name of the Northern people.
And yet there were those in New England and, perhaps,
elsewhere who approved the plan of John Brown to inau¬
gurate wholesale murder and butchery after the fashion of
Wyoming Valley, but far surpassing that in infamy. So
this action by Mr. Lincoln, instead of opening a way to some
accommodation, closed the door to peace. In this view the
performance was, indeed, a war measure. It fixed Mr.
Lincoln’s policy so positively that he would never retrace
the step.

Then the character of the conflict changed. It was no
longer a purpose of the Northern side to maintain what
some considered the integrity of the Federal Constitution,
proposing to assert its authority over all the states. It was
now a conflict threatening the civilization of the Southern
States.

Personally, Mr. Lincoln was inclined to compensate the
owners for their loss of property, but there were other con¬
siderations against his proposed emancipation many times
more weighty than the pecuniary losses involved. That he
was not unaware of them is indicated in his address to the
negroes the evening after issuing his first proclamation in
September.

He would himself seek no adjustment of the sectional
differences, and he put the Southern people in such a case
that they could only fight to exhaustion. But this must be
said — that Mr. Lincoln did not control Congress. That
body was under the leadership of men who were unfamiliar
with the voice of humanity and had no bowels of compas¬
sion even for their own sons. Themselves not subject to
the vicissitude of the battlefield, they sent the young men
of the North to war with avidity and were inattentive to
the sorrows that afflicted the mothers in Northern house¬
holds. They provided the young soldiers not for purposes

The changed
demand

The issues

8o6

PROGRESS OF EVENTS AT THE NORTH

Southern

feeling

House Jour¬
nal, Feb. 5

truly patriotic, nor for “our country, right or wrong,” but
to crush out those from whom they demanded abject sub¬
mission to their tyrannical despotism. The lives of a hun¬
dred thousand were unnecessarily sacrificed that they might
have their will. And in sympathy with them were such
men as Phillips Brooks, whose record in the pulpit at
Philadelphia gives him prominence in that class.

The proclamation of President Lincoln emancipating the
slaves in the Confederate States gave a new aspect to the
war. Primarily, the South had separated from the North
because of apprehension that slavery would be interfered
with ; but the war had become a struggle for independence,
and the original cause of the movement largely passed from
view. Notwithstanding emancipation would carry with it
a loss of a billion of property and would disturb the social
conditions at the South by freeing from strict regulations
three millions of negroes not qualified for citizenship, and
who, as free men would be a social menace — had that been
the price of independence, the South now might have paid it.

Such was one of the consequences of protracted hostili¬
ties and of the animosities that had attended the warfare.
Every great battle had virtually been a Southern victory — the
spotless flag of the Confederacy was the symbol of honor
and glory and of a new nationality. The spirit of the peo¬
ple was fixed for independence ; the star of the new Con¬
federacy had risen ; it was enshrined in the hearts of the
people.

The proclamation, therefore, made no impression on the
Southern people. It was mentioned by the papers as a mere
brutum fiilmen — an emanation of ill-will incapable of being
enforced; and was of no effect except in the territory oc¬
cupied by the Federal troops.

Effects of the war

The progress of the war had brought its vicissitude.
Desertions had increased and, here and there throughout the
State, numbers of deserters had congregated. In the sec¬
tion where Moore, Randolph and Montgomery join it was
said that the deserters had committed numerous and serious

AMNESTY TO DESERTERS

807

disturbances against the lives and property of Confederate
people. It was the same in many other localities.

Governor Vance sought to apply a remedy, and obtained
the cooperation of the military authorities. Accordingly, on
January 23 General Smith issued a general order pardoning
all who were improperly absent from their companies if
they should report by the 10th of February, and giving
furloughs to one in every twenty-five in every company that
had no men improperly absent, for such a period that they
could remain at home fourteen days. And Governor Vance
the next day issued a proclamation exhorting all absentees
to return to their companies. Excellent results attended this
proclamation by Governor Vance. Thousands returned. A
statement from the Sixty-first Regiment announced that
it was “some two hundred stronger than some months ago ;
Governor Vance’s proclamation has brought in a great many
stragglers, deserters, or other absentees that never would
have otherwise come in.”

Vance’s message

Governor Vance, in his message to the Assembly, mani¬
fested a most admirable spirit. “The enemy is again threat¬
ening our seaports and lines of communication, but every
possible preparation has been made to receive them. The
most serious evils which our generals have to contend with
are the inefficient execution of our conscript law and the
alarming increase of cfesertion. This ought not to be suf¬
fered to continue — and it can be prevented by a little pru¬
dent legislation. With the consent of the highest military
authorities, I propose to give absentees from the army, by
proclamation, thirty days in which they can return with¬
out punishment”; and he asked that the militia, when or¬
dered out to arrest conscripts, should be under the Articles
of War.

The subject of arresting citizens on charges of disloyalty
had been one of irritation, and now he mentioned that the
Confederate officers “with a spirit of courtesy and respect
for State authority, had turned those arrested over to him
for examination,” and he mentioned the appointment of a

1863

House Jour¬
nal, Feb. 27

8o8

PROGRESS OF EVENTS AT THE NORTH

Senate Jour¬
nal, 99-101

Ibid., 198

•President

Davis

commissioner to make the examinations. He took “great
pleasure” in transmitting a letter from the Secretary of War
in relation to the case of Rev. R. J. Graves, that had caused
bitter remarks at the earlier session. “Admirable in spirit,
ample in explanation and in expression of regard for the
rights and sovereignty of the State, it cannot fail to give
you the satisfaction I experienced on its perusal.”

In a word, apparently, every cause of dissatisfaction with
the Confederate administration was removed, and Vance
led the way for harmonious cooperation.

The Assembly took up the Ten-regiment bill that ignored
the Conscript Act, and after several days of discussion, it
was defeated — Governor Graham and some ten other Con¬
servatives voting against it — the vote cast being 18 for
the bill, 27 against.

Similarly, resolutions that had passed the House in rela¬
tion to the liberties of the people were, on motion of Gov¬
ernor Graham, tabled, and he defeated the more stringent
propositions offered with respect to habeas corpus in the
cases of citizens held by the military for disloyalty. But
the bill to punish aiders and abettors of desertion was de¬
feated by a majority of four. And the House, by a vote
of 67 to 26, adopted a resolution instructing the Senators
and Representatives in Congress to procure the repeal of
the act authorizing the President to suspend the writ of
habeas corpus.

As an illustration of the captious- temper of some mem¬
bers of the House, on January 21, quickly after meeting,
at Colonel Fowle’s instance, a committee, of which he was
chairman, was appointed to inquire into the power of the
Provost Marshal to require all citizens to obtain passports
before leaving Raleigh, and to report by bill or otherwise.
The committee met and had the Provost Marshal before it.
He disclaimed having any such power. There was nothing
in it.

Congress having convened in January, President Davis,
in his message, mentioned Lincoln's proclamation and re¬
ferred to the declaration of Mr. Lincoln that there was no
“constitutional power to do the act which he had just com¬
mitted’’; and he said, “The people of this Confederacy then

WAR TO THE BITTER END

809

cannot fail to receive this proclamation as the fullest vin-
cation of their own sagacity in foreseeing the uses to which
the dominant party in the United States intended from the
beginning to apply their power.” It closed the door to any
expectation of the voluntary return of the Southern States
to the Union. The border states — Virginia, North Caro¬
lina and Tennessee — at least, had been driven from the
Union by Mr. Lincoln, and the terrible war had unneces¬
sarily been inaugurated by him, and now he closed the door
for any amicable termination of hostilities.

The war now was to the bitter end. Indeed the declara¬
tion of Thaddeus Stevens, leader of the Republican party
in the House branch of the Federal Congress, was to the
effect that the Southern States “had no rights under the
constitution and were to be treated as if they were a desir¬
able portion of the Mexican territory.” “His pronuncia-
mento,” said the New York World, “invites us directly to
contemplate a war for the Union without the Constitution.

. . . Virtually it gave an entirely new cast to the hos¬

tilities begun ostensibly to enforce the Constitution — con¬
verting it into a war of conquest and domination.”

President Davis, in his message, urgently recommended
to Congress judicious provisions against resort to impress¬
ment ; and of the exemption law he said : “It especially de¬
volves on you, the representatives of the people, to reform
abuses, to correct errors, to cultivate fraternity and to
sustain a just confidence in the government. . . . Our

armies are larger, better disciplined and more thoroughly
armed and equipped than at any previous period of the war:
cannon crown our fortresses that were cast from the prod¬
ucts of mines opened, and foundries built during the war.
Our mountain caves furnish much of the nitre for the
manufacture of powder. From our foundries and labora¬
tories, and armories and workshops, we derive in great
measure our materials for war. . . . Cotton and woolen

fabrics, shoes, harness and gun carriages are produced in
increasing quantities. In the homes of the women the
noise of the loom and of the spinning wheel may be heard
throughout the land.”

1863

Cox: Three
Decades, 123

8io PROGRESS OF EVENTS AT THE NORTH

Military operations in the State

After the battle of Fredericksburg, General Lee, feeling
that he could spare some of his troops, detached Longstreet
with two divisions to go south and extend that protection
to Southern Virginia and North Carolina that he had been
unable to do earlier; and while it reduced his force to some
thirty thousand men, it relieved the pressure for supplies at
the front, and afforded an opportunity to gather in and
utilize such provisions as could be secured in the regions
near the seaboard. Among the brigades sent to this State
was Pettigrew’s.

Thus when the Assembly met on the 19th of January,
1863, North Carolina was well defended, although active
hostilities were daily expected ; for with the opening of the
new year came reliable information that the Federal forces
at New Bern were being largely increased, and warships
were congregating at Beaufort. On the 4th of January
General Whiting notified the people of Wilmington that he
expected an attack in three days. General Foster with a
considerable force marched to Trenton, and then returned
to New Bern. His forces, being now increased, he threat¬
ened movements in several directions, and the Confederates
were watchful.

General Whiting had at Wilmington ninety-nine hundred
men, including Clingman’s Brigade, that occupied Camp
Ashe, on the sound. At Magnolia Pettigrew's Brigade was
stationed ; at Kinston, Evans’s South Carolina Brigade and
General Robertson with three regiments of cavalry ; at
Goldsboro were the brigades of Daniel and Davis, and nine
batteries of artillery; while at Weldon, were the Forty-sec¬
ond Regiment and a battery; at Hamilton, the Twelfth
Regiment. Altogether about thirty-one thousand men were
now in the eastern part of the State.

General Longstreet, understanding that provisions were
abundant in the territory within the Federal lines, deter¬
mined to use every endeavor to obtain them. It was neces¬
sary to hem in the enemy and confine them to their fortifi¬
cations while the wagon trains were so employed.

DEMONSTRATION AGAINST NEW BERN

To that end, having made his preparations, he moved his
troops in Virginia across the Blackwater to hem in the forts
around Suffolk, and ordered the troops in North Carolina
to make a similar advance.

Early in February, 1863, General Smith resigned, and
was replaced by Gen. D. H. Hill, but subject to General
Longstreet. So under these instructions General Hill or¬
ganized a demonstration against New Bern.

In this enterprise General Daniel’s Brigade moved to¬
wards New Bern on the lower Trent road, General Robert¬
son’s Cavalry on the upper Trent road, and General Petti¬
grew with his brigade and fifteen pieces of artillery was to
attack Fort Anderson and the gunboats near Barrington’s
Ferry.

On March 9 General Pettigrew started from Goldsboro
and by rapid marching, reached Barrington’s Ferry. The
Parrot guns to destroy the gunboats proved worthless. Gen¬
eral Pettigrew could have carried the fort, but could not
hold it. There would have been no compensation for the
loss of men. He therefore abandoned the enterprise.

After the withdrawal of the troops from before New
Bern the several regiments were marched to points where
their presence was needed to meet the threatened movements
of the Federal forces. The Fifty-second arrived at Tran¬
ters Creek, about eight miles from Washington, on the 19th
of March. On the 28th it moved to a point on the Pamlico
River, seven miles below Washington, and there erected a
heavy earthwork called Fort Hill.

General Hill’s troops, mainly Pettigrew’s Brigade, were
stationed on the south side of the river. Four batteries,
among them Reilly’s, under Capt. Joseph Graham, occupied
a position at Rodman’s Point, a mile and a half below the
town.

The Federal general, Palmer, was in command of the
town. On the 10th the battery opened fire on the Federal
fortification, Reilly’s Battery firing about 175 rounds each
day. The guns at Fort Hill were of light caliber and were
not equal to the heavier guns on the Federal gunboats that
shelled the fort constantly. But occasionally two Whit-

Siege of

Washington

begins

812

PROGRESS OF EVENTS AT THE NORTH

Foster
driven back

Clark,

Reg. Hist.,
pp. 492-512

The women
and children

worth guns would be sent down from a battery near the
town, and on several occasions these inflicted considerable
damage on the gunboats. On April io, General Foster ad¬
vanced from New Bern to relieve Washington, but was met
at Blount’s Creek by General Pettigrew, and after a slight
skirmish the Federals retired.

Eventually, on the 14th, one of the gunboats passed Fort
Hill and carried needed supplies to the garrison ; and, under
the orders of Generals Lee and Longstreet not to lose men
and to draw off when nothing was to be gained, the siege
was abandoned.

General Hill 's siege of Washington was predicated on the
expectation of starving the garrison out. He, therefore,
when it was invested asked for surrender, which was refused ;
then, that the women and children should be sent out, which
was refused. The Federals had a fort in the town, and two
blockhouses and fifteen hundred men, and General Hill did
not propose to lose any men in an assault. After Hill’s with¬
drawal there was published in the Fayetteville Observer the
substance of a letter from a lady in Washington: “She en¬
closed a printed order from the Yankee brigadier general,
Potter, stating that many of the residents had openly dis¬
played their sympathy with the rebel besieging forces and
had communicated with them by signals, and therefore order¬
ing that ‘all persons' shall take the oath of allegiance to the
U. S. or leave the place within five days. The lady writes
that she and others are nearly crazy. They cannot leave,
for they have no place to go but to the wild woods, and no
means to live upon if they go, for they are forbidden to
carry anything with them but their clothes. At first the
order allowed them to take their effects, but afterwards it
was changed to allow only clothing. The conduct of the
buffaloes and negroes is perfectly outrageous, and she cites
instances of their insulting behavior. ‘Everybody is perfectly
crazy,’ says she, ‘they do not know what to do. God help
us. Pray for us — tell all the people to pray for us, and
for Heaven’s sake, don’t call us traitors, for we are driven
to it. Our whole hearts are with the South, and the- thought
of taking that oath is killing to me, but we have such a

WOMEN AND CHILDREN REFUGEES

813

large family and no money that it is impossible for us to

go: ”

About the middle of May, 1863, over sixty women and
children, some of the women being seventy-five to eighty
years of age, and thirteen men were driven out of New
Bern because they would not take the oath. It was a sad
spectacle to see them, with no homes in prospect, thrown
destitute on the charity of the world.

Movements of troops

General Clingman’s Brigade had, after Kinston, been
ordered to the defense of Georgia and South Carolina,
where Beauregard was in command, but after the attack on
Charleston by Dupont’s fleet had failed it was returned to
Wilmington.

Operations in Eastern Carolina now ceased, but the regi¬
ments were on constant picket duty. The Fifty-ninth had
an engagement with the enemy some eighteen miles below
Kinston, and the Fifty-sixth started to their aid; but, the
occasion passing, the Fifty-sixth took position on the Davis
road at Gum Swamp, eight miles below Kinston. The enemy
advancing, for some five hours an equal contest ensued until
nightfall. Earthworks had been erected at that point, and
on May 22, the Fifty-sixth again occupied them. After a
short engagement, the enemy being in considerable numbers,
making a detour, gained the rear and the Confederates re¬
tired, suffering the loss of 146 men of the Fifty-ninth Regi- ^ark^ in,
ment. But, later. General Hill reached the field with Ran¬
som’s and Cooke’s brigades, and pushed the enemy back to
New Bern.

By the end of May many of the regiments that had been
operating in North Carolina were recalled to Virginia,
among them Pettigrew’s Brigade.

To secnre food

For the continued operations of the Army the great need
was provisions. On April 2, 1863, Governor Vance issued
a stirring address to the people, urging them to make pro-

814

PROGRESS OF EVENTS AT THE NORTH

The tax in
kind

The Confed¬
erate sym¬
pathizers or¬
ganize

visions and not to plant cotton or tobacco. “By universal
consent there is allowed to be but one danger to our speedy
and triumphant success, and that is the failure of our pro¬
visions. Our victorious soldiers now constitute the best
army in the world : guns and ammunition are abundant ;
time and experience have given us admirable leaders, and
everything is prosperous and hopeful except in the field and
workshop. Everything depends upon the industry and pa¬
triotism of the farmer. And as the soldier who shirks the
conflict and deserts his comrade in the hour of battle is a
coward or a traitor, so equally is he who withholds his hands
from the plow or who guides it to the production of those
crops which produce money and not bread, though he may
not so1 intend it.”

Indeed, the future supply of provisions was such a neces¬
sity that in April, 1863, the Confederate Congress passed
a tax law which, among other provisions, laid a tax in kind
of ten per cent, as follows : Each farmer, after reserving
one hundred bushels of corn or fifty barrels of wheat, one-
tenth of the residue and one-tenth of his bacon were to be
delivered to the agents of the government.

The spirit of the Legislature adverse to the Confederacy
did not pass unnoticed. On the adjournment of the Legis¬
lature a number of the members and of citizens met in the
House of Representatives and associated themselves into
an organization, adopting resolutions that were published.
“Impatient and indignant at the wrongs and oppressions
heaped on us and those who agree with us, by an accidental
dominant faction now in power in this State,
having determined to Organize in resistance at the ballot
box,” they resolved that they “repudiate and abjure all
idea of party organization. That in this holy struggle for
all that is dear to freemen, conciliation, harmony, brotherly
kindness and forbearance should be the object of every
patriot. That attempts, whether open or secret, to bring
about a restoration or reconstruction of the old Union, are
unpatriotic, wicked and treasonable. We therefore appeal
to the patriotic spirit of the people to visit with just con¬
demnation all attempts of the dominant faction to pass meas-

POLITICAL LEADERS

815

ures calculated and designed to bring about a conflict be¬
tween the State and Confederate Government.”

A central committee of thirteen was appointed, consisting
of Governor Bragg, Kenneth Rayner, D. M. Barringer, and
others ; and also a committee of consultation consisting of
Weldon N. Edwards, David S. Reid, W. W. Avery and
others. Governor Bragg was at that time the Attorney-
General of the Confederate States, but the political situation
in North Carolina was such that he resigned and returned
to Raleigh, where, under a commission from the President,
he had charge of such matters as might lead to controversy
between the State and the Confederate authorities. George
V. Strong was employed as an attorney to prosecute in
cases before the courts. Judge Asa Biggs was the Con¬
federate district judge for North Carolina, and he held the
terms of court appointed by law.

The former political leaders had generally been very quiet.
Mangum, Morehead and Badger had not participated in the
proceedings. Governor Morehead, on his return as a mem¬
ber of the Peace Congress, retired from political activity,
all his sons and kinsmen being active in the war. He sur¬
vived until 1866.

Judge Mangum had sent his only son to the field, and he
fell at Manassas. The blow brought on paralysis from
which he expired September 7, 1861.

John A. Gilmer was elected to the Confederate House of
Representatives in 1863, taking his seat May 2, 1864.

Judge Badger had become a justice of the peace for Wake
County and served as chairman of the County Court, as
had Chief Justice Ruffin in Alamance County and William
A. Wright in New Hanover County. While taking an
early morning walk on January 5, 1863, he was prostrated
by a paralytic stroke and never fully regained possession of
his faculties, although he survived until May 11, 1866.

Governor Vance seems to have been unduly impressed
by the politicians, who for purposes of their own magnified
every circumstance that made against the Confederate Gov¬
ernment.

Old leaders

* )

8i6

PROGRESS OF EVENTS AT THE NORTH

Lee sends
forces south

Leg. Doc.,
Feb. 25,
1863

Vance’s

Letters

Leg. Doc.,
1864, 45

Friction arises

After Fredericksburg, Lee sent half of his army to the
southward for convenience in supplying the soldiers with
food, and similarly a great many horses belonging to the
cavalry were sent to regions where they could be subsisted
during the winter. Some were sent to Western North Caro¬
lina. Vance demanded that they should be withdrawn.
“Unless they are removed soon I will be under the painful
necessity of calling out the militia of the adjoining counties
and driving them from the State.”

General Sam Jones, in response, asked that the horses be
allowed two or three weeks longer. “If Governor Vance
will bear with me a few weeks longer I can relieve his State
of the horses without injury to the service. If the horses
are brought into Virginia now they will probably starve.”
The horses stayed ; nobody starved.

On December 21, 1862, the Governor was inflamed by
reports of outrages committed by “detached bands of troops,
chiefly cavalry.” “I give you my word that in North Caro¬
lina it has become a grievance, damnable and not to be borne.
If God Almighty had yet in store another plague, worse
than all others, which he intended to have let loose on the
Egyptians, in case Pharoah still hardened his heart, I am
sure it must have been a regiment or so of half-armed, half-
disciplined Confederate cavalry.” The Governor gave no
particulars. The Secretary of War replied : “Of course,
if the crime committed be cognizable by a civil tribunal,
the offender is subject to the demand of the Executive of
the State. It is suggested when depredations are commit¬
ted by troops of the Confederacy, that the names of the
perpetrators, designating the commands to which they be¬
long, be communicated to the Department that they may
be brought to trial.”

Colonel August of some other state had been assigned to
the command of the conscript camp in North Carolina ; and,
on remonstrance, Colonel Mallett, a North Carolinian, was
ordered to relieve him, and the Department said : “When¬
ever the wishes of his Excellency, the Governor, can be
accorded with, without a clear infraction of the law, it is

VANCE’S DIFFICULT SITUATION

817

desirable to do so.” And General Rains added, with regard
to differences that might arise : “Hence forbearance is re¬
spectfully asked until conference can be had with this Bu¬
reau, with which you are cordially invited to correspond;
believing that between us, of the same State, no differences
can occur in such matters, the legality of which is left to
your judgment.”

The Governor’s reply was not in similar terms, but he
assured the General of “my great desire to assist in attain¬
ing independence by any possible means consistent with the
preservation of liberty.”

Difficult indeed was the situation of Governor Vance,
young, generous and with noble impulses, whose heart was
with his comrades in gray on the battlefield, and whose
sympathies were profound for the homespun men and
women of the State — while now surrounded by an atmos¬
phere of disaffection in which every inconvenience was mag¬
nified into a hardship and every variation from ordinary
action was stigmatized as a wicked and relentless assault
on the liberties of the citizens.

If, at times, he became intemperate in expression, it was
either to conciliate malcontents or to command attention
and secure remedies, rather than merely to harass the Con¬
federate authorities. And while through his aid the con¬
script act was enforced more thoroughly in North Carolina
than elsewhere, and more provisions were gathered in the
State than in any other, yet the proceedings in apparent
antagonism of the Confederate authorities received a color¬
ing that brought the State into unpleasant distinction ; and,
particularly, some of the Richmond newspapers made bitter
and galling remarks, which caused much irritation.

CHAPTER LI

April, 1863

Fighting Joe
Hooker

Chancellorsville — Gettysburg

Hooker’s plan. — Advances to Chancellorsville. — Jackson’s flank
movement. — Drives the Federals back. — His death. — Stuart ad¬
vances. — Sedgwick driven back. — Hooker defeated, recrosses the
Rappahannock. — The losses. — The Assembly meets. — Vance’s mes¬
sage. — The conscripts. — Those exempted. — Hale leaves Holden. —
Riots at the North. — Federal raid in Duplin. — Excitement pre¬
vails. — Williamston burned. — Lee enters Pennsylvania. — Lee’s di¬
visions occupy York and Carlisle. — The clash at Gettysburg. —
The North Carolina regiments on first day. — The second day at
Culp’s Hill. — Death of Avery. — Pender, Scales and Hoke wounded.
— Pender dies. — The third day. — Cemetery Ridge. — The column
of attack. — Pickett on right. — Pettigrew on left. — The charge. —
The result. — The losses. — Lee retires. — Pettigrew mortally
wounded at Falling Waters. — Death of Rufiin. — Bristow iStation.
— Disaster to Hoke’s Brigade at Culpeper. — Clingman’s Brigade
at Battery Wagner. — Boone’s Mills. — Devastating raid on Rocky
Mount.

McClellan had been removed : Burnside had made haste,
and after his defeat, he was replaced by General Hooker,
who had the sobriquet of “Fighting Joe." He spent three
months in preparation, and the close of April found him
with a well-equipped army of 132,000 men, of whom there
were 12,000 cavalry and more that 400 guns of artillery.
Every branch was thought to be in a high state of efficiency.
Lee’s army had been reduced by the withdrawal of Long-
street’s two divisions of fifteen thousand men. To mask
his designs, Hooker dispatched a force of ten thousand
cavalry under General Stoneman to operate on Lee’s lines
of communication with Richmond, crossing at Kelly’s Ford.

On the morning of April 29, Sedgwick with thirty thou¬
sand crossed the Rappahannock, some six miles below
Fredericksburg, but did not advance. Hooker himself with
his main army on April 30 crossed at United States Ford,
and proceeded to a point known as Chancellorsville, ten
miles southwest of Fredericksburg, where several roads
intersected in a dense thicket, which extended for miles in

STONEWALL JACKSON’S TRAGIC END

819

every direction, its wild aspect suggesting the name of “the
wilderness.” Hooker now boasted that the Confederate
Army was in the toils and “certain destruction awaits it.

. . . It was the legitimate property of the army of the

Potomac.” He began by throwing up two strong lines of
breastworks, one to the east, and the other to the north,
and cleaning off the brushwood a hundred yards in the
front, while he placed his artillery commanding the roads
of approach. But the south and west of his position were
not protected.

Death of Jackson v

Lee approached towards his front, and then dispatched
Jackson with his corps of 22,000 men by a circuitous route
of fifteen miles to attack Hooker on the west. At dawn
on the morning of May 2, Jackson was in motion, while
Lee with 12,000 men occupied his position in the front of
Hooker's 90,000. In the afternoon, Jackson reached a point
three miles in Hooker’s rear, and Fitz Lee conducted him
to where he could get a view of Hooker’s position. Jack-
son was ready to attack at six o’clock, Rhodes and Colston’s
Divisions being in the advance, and A. P. Hill in reserve.
They struck, first, Howard’s Corps, which, surprised and
panic stricken, fled precipitately, communicating the panic
through the other troops. Jackson’s forces pushed forward,
routing line after line, until nightfall put a stop to the
operations. Another hour of daylight, and the destruction
of the Federal Army had been accomplished.

After his lines had been reestablished for the night on
the ground occupied Jackson began to make a personal re¬
connaissance and passed to the front, several hundred yards
in advance of his lines. On returning, some Confederate
troops thought the party, all on horseback, were Federal
scouts, and fired a volley. Jackson whirled his horse into
the woods, bringing him directly in front of a portion of
infantry who had been warned of a possible attack by Fed¬
eral cavalry. Another volley was directed at him, and he
fell pierced by three balls. He was lifted in a litter and
carried off. General Pender, being present, expressed his

The wil¬
derness

Lee’s

strategy

Jackson’s

success

Jackson

wounded

820

CHANCELLORSVILLE— GETTYSBURG

May 3

Sedgwick

Hooker

retreats

Hill. 166

fear of not being able to hold his position. “You must hold
your ground, General Pender; you must hold your ground,
sir." This wounding and the death of Jackson, which oc¬
curred on the ioth, was the most deplorable event of the
war. Lee lost his right arm, and the people mourned.

Stuart succeeded Jackson in command, and on the next
morning, May 3, attacked with vigor, but Hooker’s dispo¬
sitions were well made during the night, and his troops
held their ground with stubbornness, till ten o’clock, when,
unable to withstand the impetuous assaults of Rhodes, Heth,
Pender, Lane, Doles and Archer, they gave way and safely
retreated to a strong line of defenses purposely constructed
to cover the approach to the United States Ford. While
this battle was in progress at Chancellorsville on the 3d,
Sedgwick forced back Early, and taking Marye’s Heights,
proceeded toward Chancellorsville. On the afternoon of
the 4th Sedgwick was confronted by Wilcox, Anderson
and Laws, while Early attacked him in the rear. Sedgwick
was defeated, and saved his corps by withdrawing during
the night across the Rappahannock. Lee had intended to
renew the battle with Llooker, but a heavy storm delayed
the movement; and on the night of the 5th Hooker, too,
retreated across the river at United States Ford, and escaped.
The Federal losses were about 12,216 on the field and 5,000
prisoners, while 19,500 stacks of arms and a large supply of
ammunition fell into Lee’s hands. •

The Confederate loss was, killed 1,581, wounded 8,700.
The North Carolina loss was, killed 557, wounded 2,394.
Lee had 124 regiments of which 24 were North Carolina
troops. While the State had one-fifth of the army, her loss
was about one-third.

The loss of the Thirty-seventh North Carolina was 227;
that of the Second was 214; the Thirteenth, 209; the Third,
179. These four were the greatest losses suffered: follow- •
ing them, the Twenty-second, 169; the Seventh, 164; the
Fourth, 155, while the Fiftieth Virginia lost 170 and
the Fourth Virginia, 163. Among the killed were Colo¬
nel Purdie and Colonel McDowell, Lieutenant Colonels
Cole, I. L. Hill and Major Odell. Among the wounded
were Generals Hoke and Ramseur and Colonels Garrett,

1. Lawrence O'B. Branch
4. Matthew W. Ransom

3. Bryan Grimes

William R. Cox
Alfred Moore Scales

LIGHT DIVISION NEVER TAKEN

821

Toon, Cox, Scales, Barbour, Avery, Haywood, Lieutenant
Colonels Lea, Cowan, Speer, Forney, George, Ashcraft
Majors McLauchlin, Morris, Davidson and Mahew, and
Adjutant Smedes. Both General A. P. Hill and General
Pender were slightly wounded.

Branch’s and Pender’s brigades were in A. P. Hill's Light
Division. After Sharpsburg, where Branch was killed, Gen¬
eral Hill, in a general order, said, “No man can say that
the Light Division was ever taken. You held the left at
Manassas against overwhelming numbers and saved the
army. You saved the day at Sharpsburg, and at Shepherds-
town you were selected to face such a storm of round shot,
shell and grape as I never saw before." On returning to
his brigade, his wound so permitting, after Chancellorsville,
Pender said in general orders, “Troops could not have
fought better or more gallantly, as evidenced by your loss,
greater than that of any other brigade in the army in pro¬
portion to the numbers engaged. I am proud to say your
services are known and appreciated by those higher in
command than myself.”

After Chancellorsville Gen. A. P. Hill was promoted, and
General Pender was then promoted and given a division,
and Col. A. M. Scales as Brigadier succeeded Pender in
command of that brigade. Lane had succeeded the lamented
Branch.

The Assembly meets

In March, 1863, the Confederate Congress passed a cur¬
rency law designed to fund all previous issues of Confed¬
erate currency that had now become redundant, and was
much below par as compared with specie; and provided for
a more limited issue of new currency. Probably to facilitate
the designed operation of the act, the Virginia Assembly
passed an act forbidding that the old currency should be
received in payment of taxes. Treasurer Worth called the
matter to the attention of the Governor, saying that he
was at a loss to know what was best to be done : that to
reject the currency, “would seem to savor of bad faith, and

The Light
Division

Pender,
Scales and
Lane

822

CHANCELLORSVILLE— GETTYSBURG

Vance’s

message

Harvests

good

The con¬
scripts

The

exempts

would be offensive to the taxpayers, and do more hurt than
good.”

Mr. Worth had been a most efficient and admirable treas¬
urer, and in view of his communication Governor Vance
convened the General Assembly on June 30, 1863, and sub¬
mitted the subject to it for determination. In his message
he also directed attention to the circumstances that Presi¬
dent Davis had called on the State for 7,000 militia, and
it was essential to revise the militia law to facilitate their
equipment with all possible speed. He closed his brief mes¬
sage as follows :

“Permit me to thank you for your prompt assemblage at
my call, and to congratulate you upon the improved con¬
dition of our affairs, State and National. Since your ad¬
journment our gallant armies have again won great vic¬
tories, and driven back with slaughter and confusion the
vast forces of the enemy. The danger of suffering for
the lack of food has happily passed away, and the goodness
and mercy of God has visited us with a harvest almost un¬
paralleled, while the growing crops everywhere promise
equal bounteousness. Let us gather fresh courage from
these divine blessings, and struggle with renewed strength
for the honor and independence of the country.”

For the year ending June 16, 1863, 11,874 conscripts had
passed through the conscript camp, and between 3,000 and
4,000 volunteers had joined the Army. Of substitutes,
2,040 had been furnished. The exemptions allowed in the
State aggregated 21,588. Of these 7,868 were men suffer¬
ing from some disability, 2,346 were militia officers, and
407 magistrates. Millers aggregated 740; 196 were non-
combatants ; 627 were engaged in making salt ; 1 56 were
preachers; 264 physicians; 1 1 7 were factory employees; 139
teachers; there were 651 shoemakers, 558 blacksmiths, and
53 railroad men. N. B. Cobb reported that he had collected
$20,000 for religious reading for the soldiers.

New situation

The Raleigh Standard on June 23 had urged a conven¬
tion of all the states to secure peace by reconstruction of
the terms — a peaceable separation.

DRAFTS AND RIOTS

823

President Lincoln called for a draft of 300,000 men, and
President Davis called out the older conscripts. The Fay¬
etteville Observer that had been in sympathy with Holden,
now came out commending President Davis's call for the
older conscripts. Mr. Hale declared : “Lincoln’s force must
be met if it requires every boy and man in the Confederacy.
It is a hard duty, but it is a duty. It is idle to talk of peace
until the North shows a willingness to have peace. We re¬
peat that it is idle to talk of peace.”

There were evidences of dissatisfaction in Georgia,
North Carolina and perhaps elsewhere. At the North like¬
wise the people were dividing. There even the high boun¬
ties offered failed to bring men into the ranks, and the
Federal Government had to resort to a draft. “The en¬
forcement of the draft act caused a fearful riot in New
York City. It raged for four days, and during a part of
that time the city was in possession of a mob, which com¬
mitted horrible atrocities. Wherever a negro was seen he
was beaten to death, hanged or mutilated. The Colored
Orphan Asylum was set on fire, and Colonel O’Brien, of
the militia, was murdered and his body dragged through the
streets. Governor Seymour declared martial law on the
14th, but it was not until the 16th, after the government had
sent a large military force to the city, that order was re¬
stored. Many hundred people were killed during those
four dreadful days. Similar outbreaks in Boston and in
Portsmouth, N. H., were suppressed by the military, and
the drafts were enforced everywhere.”

A Federal raid in Duplin

On July 5, a column of Federals about 1,000 strong
reached Kenansville, burnt the Froeleck sword factory there,
and committed other depredations. A detachment of 800
cavalry reached Warsaw the next morning, cut the telegraph
wires, burnt the depot containing about 20,000 pounds of
government bacon, and tore up a mile or more of the track ;
but the promptness with which the Confederate troops turned
to the scene led to their hasty retirement. They carried
from the county about 200 rifles, took the stores, throwing

Ellis, IV,
1085

Riots at the
North

824

CHANCELLORSVILLE— GETTYSBURG

The excite¬
ment

Williamston

burned

On the
Cape Fear

the contents to the negroes, but retained for themselves
such money and jewelry as they could find. In this manner
they visited Hallsville. The raid was made in haste and the
retreat was rapid. The advance on Warsaw, the rapidity
of the movement and wild rumors that the force was com¬
posed of 4,000 cavalry, caused some consternation. A meet¬
ing was at once held at Clinton and the citizens organized
for defense. At Goldsboro like action was taken, the peo¬
ple being addressed by Senator Dortch and others. At
Raleigh, the citizens were assembled and addresses made
by Governor Vance and Governor Thomas Bragg, and they
were organized for defense, and the force in the conscript
camp was equipped ready for an engagement and prepara¬
tions were made to resist the invasion. General Martin,
whose administration of the office of Adjutant General had
received such warm commendations, was in command at
Kinston. But now there was a concurrence of opinion that
he was inefficient in the field and lacked energy.

On May i, by general orders of General Palmer, the lines
around Washington were declared closed and no ingress
or egress was permitted ; no trade with persons beyond the
lines. Persons who had taken the oath of allegiance were
warned against holding any communications with outsiders.
A newspaper called the New Era was published by a pri¬
vate of the Third New York Cavalry.

Early in July General Martin telegraphed from Plymouth
that the enemy were advancing up the Roanoke with 6,000
infantry, 3,000 cavalry, six pieces of artillery and three gun¬
boats. They burnt Williamston, and were on their way to
Tarboro — the people were fleeing from Tarboro.

Under the plans and supervision of General Whiting, the
fort at Old Brunswick, called Fort Anderson, had made
much headway by July, 1863. At Smithville Major Hedrick
had erected powerful works called Fort Branch. Fort Cas¬
well had been so altered as not to be recognized. All of
the brick and scarps had been sodded over and no brick
was visible. It was the same with the iron casemates. At
Fort Fisher in addition to the mound, and the fort itself,
long lines of batteries commanded the inlet.

ADVANCE INTO PENNSYLVANIA

825

Gen. D. H. Hill had been transferred to the command of
the Richmond District, and now in the middle of July, 1863,
was appointed a Lieutenant General and assigned to duty
at the West, and General Whiting was promoted to be
Major General and given the command of the State of
North Carolina.

Gettysburg, July

After the battle of Chancellorsville General Lee deemed
it wise to transfer the scene of operations farther north,
hoping for beneficial results from a victory at Gettysburg,
if it could be accomplished. The army was reorganized,
with three corps, under Longstreet, Ewell and A. P. Hill.
Lee planned an advance into Pennsylvania and directed
Stuart to proceed on his right, between him and the Fed¬
eral Army. The movement was begun towards the end
of June, and just then Hooker was displaced from the com¬
mand, and General Meade succeeded him. Lee advanced
Early to the North, and occupied Chambersburg, Carlisle
and York, each about twenty-five 'miles from Gettysburg.
For several days he had no news from Stuart of the move¬
ment of Meade’s forces ; but on hearing, otherwise, that
Meade was moving north, on the 30th the Confederate
Corps were put in motion to concentrate at Gettysburg. On
the morning of July 1, A. P. Hill advanced Heth’s Division
and his old “Light Division,” now under command of Major
General Pender, to develop a Federal force found to be
at Gettysburg, and, meeting with strong resistance, he asked
for reinforcements. General Ewell s Corps arrived during
the day; Rhodes’s Division arrived first, .including Iverson’s
North Carolina Brigade and Daniel’s, Ramseur’s and Hoke’s
under Colonel Avery ; while in Hill's Division was Petti¬
grew’s Brigade, and under Pender were Lane and Scales.
In Davis’s Brigade was the Fifty-fifth North Carolina Regi¬
ment under Colonel Connally. Of the sixteen brigades en¬
gaged that day, seven were North Carolina brigades. While
Iverson’s Brigade suffered especially, all fought desperately
and made heavy losses. But the Confederates inflicted still

Hill pro¬
moted

Whiting in
command of
North Caro¬
lina

June 30

The first day

Seven North
Carolina bri¬
gades

826

CHANCELLORSVILLE— GETTYSBURG

Clark, I, 637

Ibid., IV,
522

Ibid., II,
119

Culp’s Hill

Green

Martin

Cemetery

Hill

Avery falls

greater losses on the Federals and gained a substantial
victory.

By some mischance Iverson was thrown single-handed
against a division of the enemy behind a rock wall in a
railroad cut, where, without faltering, it charged almost to
the very wall. Its dead were so thick and in so exact a line
that one could have walked from one end of the line to the
other and never taken foot off of dead men. Five hundred
and ten were killed or wounded and 308 of the brigade
were captured. Two hundred of the Twentieth Regiment
were captured with the colors, but the intrepid Capt. A. H.
Galloway of the Fifty-fifth recaptured the flag and a num¬
ber of the men.

On the next morning the conflict was renewed, but it was
not until the afternoon that any North Carolina brigades
were engaged, although the batteries of Manly, Reiley,
Latham and Joe Graham were in the thick of the battle.

In the afternoon the First and Third North Carolina
Regiments were in the assault on Culp’s Hill, Lieut. Col.
Green Martin, of the First, was the first to enter the Fed¬
eral works, but fell mortally wounded. The Confederates
held that advanced position that night, repulsing every at¬
tack, Daniel’s Brigade coming up as a reinforcement. At
the same time Cemetery Hill was assaulted by the brigades
of Hays and Hoke, the latter being under Col. I. E. Avery.
These moved through the ravine between Culp’s Hill and
Cemetery Hill, and then to the assault. This was one of
the most daring and stubborn conflicts of the war. Here
Avery fell. After falling from his horse he wrote in in¬
distinct characters, ‘‘Tell my father I fell with my face to
the enemy.” The brigade moved forward and reached
the heights it was attacking.

Here also Gen. A. M. Scales, Col. W. F. Hoke, and others
were wounded.

Death of Pender

On the second day Pender’s Division was on the western
front. “General Pender and his adjutant general, Major
Engelhard, came to where I was just between my regi-

LONGSTREETS COSTLY DELAY

827

ment the - North Carolina, on his left, and dismounted.

We three reclined on a large granite boulder, were pleasantly
conversing and passing jokes, when all the artillery on
Cemetery Hill at once opened fire on our lines. Shells and
fragments of shells filled the air, and with their peculiar
whistle it seemed as if pandemonium had turned loose.
Pender, in the most quiet manner, raised up and said :
‘Major, this indicates an assault on our lines and we will
ride to the center of our division.’ They rode off, and be¬
fore General Pender reached half the distance to the center
of his division, he received a fragment of a shell in his
leg which caused his death. He died on. July 18th, at
Staunton, Virginia. He was a noble Christian soldier.” Not
only that, he was equal to every duty. Of him General
Lee said : “The confidence and admiration inspired by his
courage and capacity as an officer were only equaled by the
esteem and respect entertained by all with whom he was
associated for the noble qualities of his modest and unas¬
suming character.”

The day ended and every hour's delay had been a god¬
send to Meade, whose divisions were hurrying up to the
field, and occupied strong positions as they arrived. The
battle was, these first two days, on the northern front, and
the Federals had been forced to retire from position to
position, but always holding some eminence difficult to
carry.

Cemetery Ridge

Lee now determined to make a final effort by assailing
the western front in the early morning of the 3d, and, con¬
temporaneously, to attack the Federal right and center.
Orders were given to that end. Longstreet was to make
the principal assault on the Federal western front on Ceme¬
tery Ridge, but he delayed doing so. In the column to
make the attack were forty-seven regiments, fifteen being
from A irginia, being in Pickett’s Division, on the right;
fifteen North Carolina regiments, on the left, and four
A irginia regiments, three Tennessee, seven Alabama, three
Mississippi, also on the left. The 115 Confederate cannon
and 80 Federal guns opened a terrific cannonade, and it

The third
day

The column

Fifteen
North Caro¬
lina regi¬
ments

828

CH ANCELLO RSV I LLE— GETTYSBURG

was only when the Confederate ammunition was about ex¬
hausted that the order to advance was given. The position
to be carried turned rearwards in front of the North Caro¬
linians under Pettigrew, and the field there was enfiladed
by numerous Federal cannon. Pickett, on the right, not
being subjected to such a fire was more favored. Both
right and left passed over the wide expanse that lay between
the lines, and reached a stone wall held by a strong Federal
line. But while the Federal troops at the wall were driven
back, other bodies closed in on the assailants on either
flank, and the attack failed. A Federal column getting well
to the rear of Pickett’s Division, that fine organization was
nearly destroyed; but few escaped capture. It lost 1,438
killed and wounded, and 1,499 prisoners. Pettigrew’s and
Trimble’s commands on the left lost 1,263 billed and
wounded and 761 missing. Pettigrew’s Brigade lost over
300 killed and wounded in this charge, and 1,105 on the
first day, making its loss in killed and wounded at Gettys¬
burg quite equal to the losses of Pickett’s three brigades,
and about three times as much as any Virginia brigade.
The loss in casualties sustained at Gettysburg by the Twen¬
ty-sixth North Carolina was, indeed, the heaviest suffered
by any regiment during the entire war. Not only was
Pettigrew himself wounded but four of his staff were either
killed or wounded ; and there fell Harry K. Burgwyn, the
pride of his regiment — noble, lion-hearted, efficient; “the
daring, experienced, and able Col. D. H. Christie, the ac¬
complished J. K. Marshall, the brave colonel of the Fifty-
second ; Lieut. Col. M. T. Smith, the Christian soldier of
the Fifty-fifth ; Lieut. Col. H. L. Andrews, whose splendid
leadership had encouraged the Twentieth Battalion to fight
so grimly and lose so terribly, and Maj. E. A. Ross, who
justly earned his reputation as being “a hard fighter.”

Among the wounded were Colonel J. K. Connally, C.
Leventhorpe, Thomas S. Kenan, S. D. Lowe, F. M. Parker,
and R. T. Bennett; Lieutenant Colonels J. R. Lane, S. H.
Boyd, R. D. Johnston, M. A. Parks, and W. J. Green;
Majors A. H. Belo, T. R. Winston, J. M. Hancock, H. G.
Lewis, D. W. Hurtt and C. C. Blacknall. Captains and

LEE RETIRES TO VIRGINIA

829

lieutenants were killed and wounded in great numbers, every
company suffering severely.

The instances of individual heroism on the part of the
North Carolina soldiers, in this battle make a roll of honor
that of itself is a crown of glory to the State.

North Carolinians advanced further on that field than
any other troops, according to the official map of the battle¬
field, and Pettigrew’s charge has brought to the State im¬
perishable glory and renown.

Lee had one of the finest armies he had ever commanded,
an aggregate force of 65,000, composed of 52,000 infantry,
9,000 cavalry and 250 pieces of artillery — all well drilled and
efficient. It justified him in believing that he could success¬
fully cope with the Federal Army under any ordinary cir¬
cumstances and conditions. It happened, however, that his
cavalry was absent. Had he had early intelligence of
Meade’s movements and had himself taken possession of
the heights of Gettysburg, Meade’s army could not have
dispossessed him. It was one of the misfortunes of war
that Stuart failed to give him intelligence ; and also that
Longstreet delayed making the attack on the morning of
the third.

General Meade, whose army had suffered very heavily in
general officers, made no attack on the Confederate Army,
and Lee withdrew into Virginia. On the night of the 6th
the Federal Cavalry attacked the Confederate wagon trains
but were driven off by Imboden’s Cavalry and Colonel
Murchison’s Forty-fourth North Carolina Infantry and the
Thirty-first Virginia. At Hagerstown, also, the Federal
Cavalry fell in with Stuart’s Cavalry and a portion of Iver¬
son’s Brigade. In the engagement, the First, Second,
Fourth and Fifth North Carolina Cavalry participated with
credit; and on the 8th, at Boonsboro, there was another
slight encounter; as well as at Funkton on the 16th, in which
Manly’s Battery was engaged nearly all the day.

On the morning of the 14th of July, when the army
crossed at Falling Waters, Pettigrew’s Brigade was of the
rear guard, and was within two miles of the Potomac. Gen¬
eral Heth, in command, was present. A cavalry force ap¬
peared in their rear, which was being watched. Just then

Hill, 193-4

Lee with
draws

830

CHANCELLORSVILLE— GETTYSBURG

Death of
Pettigrew

Clark, IV,
560

Death of
Ruffin

Hall’s

charge

a small cavalry force came up from the river side. They
were mistaken by General Heth for Confederates. They
were quickly dispersed, but in the encounter one of them
fired a shot that was fatal to Pettigrew. Thus passed away
one of the most brilliant men of his generation, who, gifted
with military genius, would, like Pender, have been equal
to any command that might have devolved on him.

After Gettysburg

After Lee and Meade had confronted each other on the
return from Gettysburg, there were several strategic moves
on either side, but Meade did not bring on a battle — even¬
tually retiring behind fortifications that were unassailable.
There were several encounters by the cavalry. On Septem¬
ber 22, the First North Carolina being dismounted as skir¬
mishers, under Major Cheek, Capt. A. B. Andrews was
severely wounded, and Colonel Ferebee charged and drove
the enemy off. On October n, Colonel Ferebee was
wounded; on the 13th, Col. Thomas Ruffin of Goldsboro,
distinguished as a member of Congress prior to the war
and as a soldier, “a model of worth, devotion, and heroism,' ”
lost his life, while General Gordon and Maj. Rufus Bar¬
ringer were both wounded.

Bristow Station

On the 4th of October, as Meade was retreating, A. P.
Hill struck two divisions with Cooke’s and Kirkland’s
brigades, under great disadvantages, at Bristow Station.
General Cooke and Col. John A. Gilmer, Jr., were wounded
at the first firing. Col. Ed. D. Hall, succeeding to the com¬
mand of the brigade, ordered a charge. Cooke lost 526
men in this action, that lasted only about forty minutes.
Hall’s Regiment lost 204 out of 426. Col. William MacRae,
with his usual sagacity, avoided such slaughter in his regi¬
ment, ordering it to fall back by companies and firing
rapidly into the enemy. Kirkland’s Brigade did not suffer
so greatly. General Kirkland himself, however, and Colo¬
nel Martin were wounded. Their loss was only 270. The
total North Carolina loss was 912.

HOKE’S BRIGADE CUT OFF

831

On the 7th of November a great misfortune befell Hoke’s
Brigade, composed of the Sixth, Twenty-first, Fifty-fourth
and Fifty-seventh — the Twenty-first being then on detached
service in North Carolina. General Hoke, being still absent,
wounded, Colonel Gordon was in command. They had
gone into winter quarters at Culpeper. Detachments were
engaged in tearing up the railroad, the iron being much
needed in the Confederacy. To facilitate that work a pon¬
toon bridge was kept where the railroad crossed the Rap¬
pahannock. On the north side were some earthworks cov¬
ering this bridge, occupied by Hays’s Louisiana Brigade. On
the 7th of November, General Sedgwick advanced, threat¬
ening Hays, and Hoke’s Brigade was dispatched to rein¬
force the Louisianians. Crossing, it was decided to occupy
some trenches five hundred yards off. It had hardly reached
the trenches before a heavy column, in three lines, moved
on Hays, overpowered the Louisianians and captured the
works overlooking the bridge. Hoke’s Brigade was en¬
tirely cut off from retreat. While the Federals at the front
were kept at bay by the Fifty-fourth Regiment, the Sixth
and Fifty-seventh attacked the enemy at the bridge head.
A portion of the Federals were dislodged, but they suc¬
ceeded in holding the works commanding the bridge. The
struggle lasted till nightfall, when Sedgwick moved for¬
ward a large body of troops that completely enveloped the
brigade, save where the deep waters of the Rappahannock
held them in, the river being dammed at that point.

As it was getting dark, a few tried to run the gantlet
across the bridge, and others plunged in and swam the river.
Many who tried to run the bridge were pierced by balls and
fell headlong into the river.

The Federals were so intent on forcing the men into the
horseshoe bend, however, that a considerable number, after
throwing down their arms, and being ordered to the rear,
on going back and finding the bridge was not guarded,
stepped across to the south side. After the disaster there
was thus a remnant of each regiment left, a mere skeleton.
Later *Maj. James A. Craige gradually gathered together
such men as remained of the Fifty-seventh, and conscripts

Culpeper

The situation

Great
disaster of
the Brigade

CH AN CELLO RSV I LLE— GETTYSBURG

532

were sent to fill the ranks. The Sixth likewise remained in
the army of Northern Virginia and was recruited there.
While the remnant of the Fifty-fourth, of which only three
officers escaped, Lieutenants Edward Smith, Fitzgerald and
J. Marshall Williams, was sent to Kinston, where its ranks
were refilled by conscripts.

Battery Wagner

General Clingman’s Brigade, in March, 1863, occupied
James Island, near Charleston. It was at Savannah when
Fort Pulaski fell, then returned to Wilmington; but in July
was again ordered to Charleston. The Federals had made
a lodgment on the lower end of Morris Island. General
Brigade11'6 Clingman urged that they be driven off, and offered to take
his brigade and do it, but he was overruled. His brigade
was now called on to do duty as regiments, and one regi¬
ment was placed at Battery Wagner. The Federals having
established rifle pits about three-quarters of a mile away,
on the night of July 15 a detachment was sent out com¬
posed in part of some men from the Fifty-first North Caro¬
lina and surprised the Federals. Between thirty and forty
were killed, and a number were captured. Indeed, Cling-
man’s Brigade lost almost one-half of all lost at Morris
Island. During that long and continuous bombardment, the
garrison had to be changed every third night, and one of
Clingman’s regiments was always of the garrison, he him¬
self at times being in command of the fort. The ordeal
was terrifific, but at length in September the post was evac¬
uated.

Hundreds of incidents occurred illustrative of the splen¬
did heroism and devotion of the North Carolina troops dur¬
ing those trying days. One must suffice. On the 29th. of
July the Federals got the range of the only ten-inch colum-
biad that remained mounted, and the fire was so furious
that the artillerists abandoned the gun and sought shelter.
“Robert Winthrop Stedman, a private in Company B, Sixty-
first North Carolina Regiment went forward, loaded,
sighted and fired the abandoned gun, hitting the vessel at
which it was aimed, while a hundred balls were whistling

ENGAGEMENT AT WELDON

833

around him. There was no braver soldier among the hosts
of the Confederate Army than Winthrop Stedman. God
bless his memory.”

Near Richmond

Robert Ransom’s Division, including Jenkins’s and Cooke's
brigades, and the Ransom Brigade, now under Gen. M. W.
Ransom, were in the Department of Richmond, where they
had several encounters with the enemy. On the 26th of
June, Col. Tazewell Hargrove, of the Forty-fourth Regi¬
ment, held the bridge over the South Anna, but eventually
he was captured there after a gallant fight. Another Fed¬
eral expedition to destroy the bridge on the South Anna was
encountered by Cooke’s Brigade, and was handsomely re¬
pulsed.

While the battle of Gettysburg was in progres Gen. D. H.
Hill, with Ransom’s Division, moved to meet a column that
advanced from Williamsburg, but retired.

Towards the end of July a Federal force, consisting of
a brigade of cavalry and nine pieces of artillery, with a
heavy supporting column of infantry, advanced from Wilton
to take Weldon and destroy the bridge there. Ransom’s
Brigade was hurried to Garysburg. The Thirty-fifth Regi¬
ment arrived on the mail train during the night of the 27th,
the General following on an engine. He found a section
of two guns at Garysburg and ordered them to Boone’s
Mills where four companies of the Twenty-fourth had pre¬
ceded. General Ransom reached the bridge, and finding
the enemy approaching in haste, had the planks removed.
The Federal Artillery was brought up, and for an hour
there was a sharp engagement, when the two guns from
Garysburg arrived and the fire became hot. The engage¬
ment lasted five hours, when Colonel Spears, the Federal
commander, finding that he had not surprised the Confed¬
erates, withdrew.

The Fiftieth Regiment in June, 1863, was attached to

Martin’s Brigade and was stationed at Greenville; but in

July Martin withdrew it to Kinston. Taking advantage of

the open road thus left him, on the 18th of July General
53

Clark, III,
511

July, 1863

Boone’s

Mills

834

CHANCELLORSVILLE— GETTYSBURG

Raid on

Rocky

Mount

Devastation

Clark, III,
173

Ibid., 175

Potter started on a raid from New Bern to burn the bridge
at Rocky Mount. He had the Third New York Cavalry
and negro troops. Proceeding rapidly, they reached Green¬
ville, Tarboro and Rocky Mount. They burnt all the
bridges, including the railroad bridge, and Battle’s impor¬
tant cotton factory, the machine shops, engines, cars, flour
mills, the gunboat in progress of construction at Tarboro;
two steamboats and eight hundred bales of cotton. It was
really a great accomplishment. Large numbers of negroes,
with plantation horses and vehicles, joined the Federal de¬
tachment. General Martin dispatched the Fiftieth and a
portion of Whitford's Battalion to intercept them on their
return, and several hundred negroes were cut off ; but
Potter made good his return to New Bern, although the
Fiftieth Regiment marched forty-eight miles on July 22,
in that hot region.

CHAPTER LII

Vance Breaks with Holden

Holden’s complaints. — He urges peace. — The peace meetings. —
Vance visits Richmond. — He sustains the Confederate govern¬
ment. — Worth’s activities. — The North’s demand. — Northern im¬
pression as to North Carolina. — Editor Hale appeals to Holden. —
The army convention. — The State press. — Holden’s stand. — Vance
issues a proclamation. — A Georgia regiment devastates Holden’s
office. — A mob destroys the State Journal. — The Alabama brigade.
— Vance’s activities. — The congressional election. — The Conserva¬
tives carry the State. — The Assembly. — Vance urges full and com¬
plete independence. — His activities.

In view, perhaps, of the election for members of Congress
that would take place in the fall, Holden, ever astute, early
began his campaign for the overthrow of the Destructives.
He had carried the State for the Legislature and had, meas¬
urably, control of State affairs ; and now he proposed to
triumph further over his enemies and elect Conservatives
to Congress. To accomplish this it was necessary to under¬
mine the administration in the affections of the people, and
he lost no opportunity to present the Jeff Davis govern¬
ment in the most odious light possible. The Standard now
became a campaign publication devoted to the purpose of
turning the voters against the government. As Holden
progressed in his course under new conditions and circum¬
stances, he may have conceived new ideas not originally
entertained, but he did not publicly avow them.

On June 3 he drew up his bill of indictment against the
Jeff Davis government: “North Carolina is badly treated.
She is ignored. She has no voice in the Cabinet. She is
raked for conscripts as with a fine-tooth comb. Her troops
are always placed in the forefront of the hottest battles.
Her sick and wounded are scattered through every hospital
in Richmond, and are treated by physicians appointed from
other states. A large portion of her people are suspected of
being disloyal. The people of North Carolina are long suf¬
fering; but Mr. Davis would do well to bear in mind that

June, 1863

Holden’s

Complaint

836

VANCE BREAKS WITH HOLDEN

Holden cries
for peace

it is the last straw that breaks the camel's back.” Declaring
that the administration ostracised the Conservatives, he an¬
nounced : “If partyism shall take the place of patriotism,
the cry of this State will be: ‘To your tents, O Israel.’
North Carolina must be the equal of the other states of the
Confederacy, or she will leave it, and endeavor to take care
of herself.”

In such wise Holden sought to stir the people’s indigna¬
tion and to turn them away from support of the administra¬
tion. Every possible pretext was used to give point to his
argument.

The Confederate States had not established a Supreme
Court, so that the decisions of the State Supreme Court on
Constitutional questions could not be reviewed. Judge
Pearson’s decision on habeas corpus cases, and on conscript
cases brought about conflicts with the Confederate authori¬
ties. These were dwelt on very adroitly — together with
every unpopular feature of the laws passed by Congress.
Military tyranny and oppression and the destruction of civil
liberty were the watchwords, and the people were inflamed
against the government. The fall of Vicksburg and the
failure of Lee at Gettysburg may have turned Holden’s
thoughts to the subject of peace as an aid to the consum¬
mation of his purposes.

“Peace! When shall we have peace?” he asked. “The
government will not make peace. It is for the people to
make peace. . . . Unless the people of the two sections

rise up and demand that mental and moral means shall be
resorted to to close the war, the war may be prolonged in¬
definitely.” The suggestion was that the people hold meet¬
ings demanding peace. And he declared that “these views
do not separate us from Governor Vance.”

About the same time one Major Bradford, a disabled
Virginia officer, was assigned to duty to supervise the col¬
lection of the tax in kind. Designating him as “the tithing
man,” this appointment was denounced as a flagrant and
odious oppression of the people and an insult to North
Carolina. “Appoint a Virginian to collect taxes in North
Carolina! . . . People of North Carolina, if you have

FOMENTING DISCONTENT

837

any nature in you, bear it not. . . . Assemble together

and demand the removal of this Virginian. ” And on July
29, the Standard urged the people “to cast about and see
if negotiations could not be set on foot for an honorable
peace.” To sustain this new declaration, Holden further
declared: “Governor Vance and the editor of the Standard
are still on friendly terms, personally and politically, and
we see no reason why we should not remain so.”

This declaration was in line with Holden’s practice of so
mentioning the names of certain men that the charge was
made that he used Vance, Governor Graham, Bedford
Brown and other gentlemen as a screen and cover for
himself.

For decades Holden had had a strong personal and polit¬
ical following in Wake County, and the animosity that had
attended the bitter controversies between him and John
Spelman, editor of the State Journal at Raleigh, who sup¬
ported the administration, had extended to his lieutenants.
They acted on his slightest suggestions. Four meetings
denouncing the Confederate Administration and demanding
the removal of “the tithing man,” and calling for a general
peace convention, were at once held in Wake. Another
was held in Greene County; and then other counties fol¬
lowed. In some counties two or more were held — the
Standard claiming a hundred meetings in thirty counties,
chiefly in the center and west. The resolutions were all sub¬
stantially the same. They were responsive to the Standard’s
suggestion, and endorsed the Standard.

The newspapers of the State generally disapproved of the
Standard’ s course, most of the Conservative editors with¬
drawing from his support and the administration papers
denouncing him as a traitor. But he was not without
friends of influence. Nearly all of the men in office at the
State House stood with him.

Governor Vance and the Surgeon General had been to
Richmond to visit the North Carolina hospitals there, and
had met with a very cordial reception by Mr. Davis and
others. Doubtless it was on Vance’s suggestion that Major
Bradford, who was a disabled officer, was otherwise em-

Standard,
July 7

The peace
meetings

August 2

838

VANCE BREAKS WITH HOLDEN

Vance does
not approve

1863

Worth

ployed, and the position was offered to Maj. John Devereux,
who, however, declined it.

Vance returned in the midst of the excitement incident
to Holden's new departure, and he withheld his approval.
Although he would not condemn public meetings that merely
gave expression to peace sentiments, he was for sustaining
the Confederate government. His attitude, after his re¬
turn from Richmond, led to a miserable canard that he was
assured that he should either “succeed Jeff Davis as Presi¬
dent" or “be chosen Vice-President." And this false report
was communicated to the Federals at New Bern, and was
republished in the Standard, ostensibly for the purpose of
denying it, but really to give it currency, perhaps with a
view of undermining Vance’s influence.

Among those who sustained the Standard was the Treas¬
urer, Mr. Worth, a man of decided influence in the central
counties. On July 13, Worth wrote to Josiah Turner:
“Those who were in the beginning most ultra in their op¬
position to the party, justly denominated Destructives, are
now the most popular all over the State; and as you were
their most determined opponent, I am persuaded now you
would get a larger vote than any other man in the district
for a seat in Congress. If you will consent to be a can¬
didate, I will do what I can for you among my friends."
Turner accepted the suggestion, and later entered in the
canvass. Ten days later, the Treasurer wrote to Mr. Hin-
shaw at Salem: “Holden’s bold position in favor of peace
is hailed with joy by many, while his political opponents
vociferously demand the suppression of his paper. . . .

His position exposes him to great danger in these lawless
times. If we are ever to have peace, somebody must break
the storm of Secession hate, and the people must sustain
the leader who exposes himself to personal peril. As money
is no object now, can’t you send in two hundred new sub¬
scribers from Randolph? Every one desiring peace can
contribute something to this end by encouraging and sus¬
taining the only paper which dared advocate it on a plan
offering any hope of success. I still abhor, as I always did.
this accursed war, and the wicked men, North and South,

WORTH’S PESSIMISM

839

who inaugurated it. The whole country at the North and
the South is a great military despotism.”

A week later, Worth wrote to Mr. Foster at Thomasville :

“Great despondency is open in every thoughtful man’s face
hereabouts. Holden’s peace articles take with nearly all
classes in this region. The government and most of the .
prominent Secessionists differ from him. Who is to be your
candidate for Congress? From what I hear lately, Mr.

Ashe will not run well. I have no doubt you can be elected
if you desire to be.”

On August 3, he wrote : “The masses, North and South,
begin to feel that they have been gaffed and put in the ring
to kill each other long enough to carry out the purposes
of the devilish political gamblers who put them there. The
war can’t last much longer. The “last dollar and last
man’’ — men abuse Holden’s peace articles, but the fact that
he has the largest and most rapidly increasing circulation
of any journal in the State indicates the current of public
opinion.” Again : “I think the torrent is irresistible. . . .

The result of the election as to Governor and the Legisla¬
ture was the beginning of a counter-revolution, and showed
the keen sagacity of Holden as, to the real- sentiments of the
people. Holden believed the masses were for reconstruc¬
tion, and, while he disavows it as yet, is slowly shaping his
sails for this current. It is not yet formed, but he believes
the elements are pent up, and that the gale in this direction
will soon set in and blow a tempest. He will be ready to Worth 054
ride on the storm. I am far from feeling any hostility to
Holden, but in great doubt whether the plans he is shadow¬
ing out are the best or not. I have written this long letter
because I fear that you are too freely indulging in too
bitter epithets against Holden. Abuse of Holden and those
who take his paper, in my opinion, will only be adding fuel
to the flame which you wish to extinguish, and at the same
time exposing you to worse than useless personal danger.”

Again, on August 13: “The political elements are in bad
fix in this State. The masses are for peace on any terms.

Holden knows this, and his paper takes like wild fire. The
Governor stands firm by the position taken by him in his

840

VANCE BREAKS WITH HOLDEN

Worth, 254

The demand
of the North

inauguration ; the split is unfortunate. There is no nobler
spirit in North Carolina than Governor Vance, but the
masses are determined the war shall cease. As soon as this
spirit extends from the people to the Army the end will
come. I believe there is no virtue in the ruling powers,
North and South, and don’t feel like fighting in such a
contest. ”

By a constant and strenuous campaign Holden and his
coadjutors, some men whose names carried much weight,
had, by denouncing the former Democrats as Destructives,
and by magnifying every mole hill into a mountain of op¬
pression and odious tyranny, succeeded in turning many
people against the Confederate government. But while in
every heart there was a longing for peace, this natural long¬
ing, universally felt, was misinterpreted by such men as
Worth and Holden and others, who personally were ran¬
corous against the Old Democrats. On the Conservative
platform of “the last man and the last dollar” they had
succeeded at the August election of 1862; and, as Worth
said in August, 1863 — the Governor and the Legislature
stood pretty square on the Conservative platform, “the last
man and the last dollar.” But now the Standard and men,
who, like Worth, contributed to enlarge its circulation (and
doubtless there were many engaged in the propaganda),
undertook to lead the people into an effort to attain peace
through measures that offered no hope of success except by
abandoning their platform. This Vance would not do. The
Federal government had declined every overture. It was
resolved to conquer the South into submission. There was
no alternative. Even Seward — who himself had been a
slaveholder and who rated the negro reasonably and had no
sentimental attachment for the race, and who had honestly
sought to avoid the fratricidal war that Lincoln and his
malignant advisers so wantonly inaugurated — even Seward
was brought at length to the declaration, made in his Auburn
speech, “So long as they propose no surrender, they are en¬
titled to ask no terms.” Thad Stevens and Lincoln and
Stanton made the platform: “Surrender; no terms; sub¬
mit to the conqueror.”

HALE PLEADS FOR FORBEARANCE

841

Holden’s proposition was for the people of this State to
appeal to the people of the North to stop the war and make
peace, as the governments would not do so. Those who
wished independence saw in that proposition only a stim¬
ulant to the Federal government to persist. It was regarded
by the North as a sure sign that North Carolina was ready
to yield.

In fact, Andrew Johnson, the Military Governor of
Tennessee, himself a Raleigh boy, whose career and political
activities had been entirely on a line with Holden’s until
Secession, advised the Federal War Department in Septem¬
ber that he “had some communications from North Caro¬
lina, and especially from Holden, and the people of the
whole State, and particularly of the western portion, are
true to the Union and will seize the first opportunity to
free themselves from* the Confederate government.” And
Holden claimed that “two-thirds of the people and two-
thirds of the soldiers approved the course of the Standard,”
and declared, “We cannot have peace by the governments ;
it must be by the people.”

The course of the Standard was not approved by Vance
and many other Conservative leaders. Governor Graham
unavailingly appealed to Holden to forbear; and Mr. Hale,
in the Fayetteville Observer, August 17, made a strong ap¬
peal of the same tenor. “The Standard has very recently
denied with emphasis that it favors a reconstruction of the
Union. What it said on the 20th of May, 1861, it still
wisely holds to: that North Carolina then ‘acted finally and
wisely.’ But some of its friends have gone beyond it on
this question. Witness the treasonable resolution that dis¬
graced the action of the meeting in Surry County, and which
we were mortified to find in the Standard of the nth instant.
That resolution will do more for the Yankees than any army
that they have can effect. The Standard may not possibly be
aware of some of the influences that have led to and con¬
trolled some of these meetings. We have reason to believe
that in at least one case a meeting was in great part composed
of the immediate relatives and friends of a number of de¬
serters who are prowling about in the woods in that neigh-

Aug., 1863

Official
Records,
No. 50, 183

The Con¬
servative
leaders

Hale’s

appeal

842

VANCE BREAKS WITH HOLDEN

Holden’s

County

meetings

borhood, and that its main object was to countenance the
dastardly conduct of those deserters.

“Again, we have heard that the prime movers of some of
the meetings are men between forty and forty-five, who are
thus muddying the waters for the purpose of devising some
mode of screening themselves from obedience to their coun¬
try’s call. They held no peace meetings when younger
neighbors were carried off to the Army ; but are suddenly
great peace men now that they themselves are called to the
field. . . .

“Some may think it beneath their dignity to appeal to the
Standard. We do not. We make an appeal, the most earn¬
est we know how to frame, to discountenance those meetings ;
to discountenance their assaults upon our common adminis¬
tration and their worse than idle talk about peace, which the
Standard knows they have no prospect of obtaining by such
illegitimate and insufficient means. These meetings are pow¬
erless for good and only productive of ill blood at home,
and of encouragement to our common enemy. So far as the
Confederate administration is concerned, it is understood that
North Carolina will have no further reason to complain ; that
the late conference between Governor Vance and the Presi¬
dent led to the most cordial good feeling, producing results
perfectly satisfactory to Governor Vance.” Although the
Observer “beseechingly” made this appeal, it fell on deaf
ears. Instead of moderating his utterance, Holden now de¬
clared, “The authorities at Richmond seek to cause a breach
between Governor Vance and the great body of his friends
in North Carolina. . . . Conservatives of North Caro¬

lina, you are the special guardians, in this crisis, of constitu¬
tional liberty and the rights of the states. Stand like a rock.
If you give way all will be lost. The next Congress will
sweep away every vestige of civil liberty. We do not believe
their machinations against Vance will succeed. We believe
he will stand by his friends.”

The Army Convention

On July 24, a meeting of citizens was held in Sampson to
appoint pickets and guards for defense, at which resolutions

SENTIMENT OF THE ARMY

843

were adopted supporting the Confederate government and
Vance, and denouncing Holden’s treason.

Similar meetings were held in other counties. And meet¬
ings were held in every North Carolina regiment in the
Army of Virginia denouncing Holden and appointing del¬
egates to attend a general convention, which convened at
Orange Court House, Virginia, on August 12, and issued
an address to the people of the State, in which it was de¬
clared that ‘‘the faction was daily growing bolder in the
expression of treasonable and mischievous sentiments, and,
if persisted in, it would lead to civil war. ... If errors
in the conduct of our affairs have been committed, let us
brush them from our memory or throw over them the man¬
tle of charity.”

The Convention considered each of the criticisms made
of the administration and of the conduct of the war, and
declared that they were not well founded* The people of
Virginia had suffered much more than those of North Caro¬
lina, and the principle of the defense in carrying the North
Carolina troops to the north threatening Washington, had
relieved Eastern North Carolina from extensive invasion.
President Davis had wisely sustained Lee, Johnston, Beaure¬
gard and other generals after they had been under a tem¬
porary cloud, and he had not, like President Lincoln, dis¬
placed generals because once defeated. Considering .the
evils that would result from the course of the factionists at
home, the Convention said: “It is not impossible that these
men should succeed in lighting the blaze of intestine civil
war in our own State.” It was a conciliatory and powerful
presentation of the Confederate cause, and it was not with¬
out avail, for it checked faction among some who were giv¬
ing Holden countenance.

The other regiments in North Carolina likewise took
strong action ; but Holden was unmoved. He met the dec¬
laration of the Army with a statement that “it was an affair
of the officers only, and that the privates stood with the
Standard in large majority.” He declared that “the Army,
as well as the people at home, was with him.”

1863

The Army
acts

August 12

844

VANCE BREAKS WITH HOLDEN

Holden, dares
the issue

Holden’s

spirit

Hamilton :
Reconstruc¬
tion, 52, 53

The desert¬
ers

Vance acts

In the meantime the State press had become very bitter
against the Standard, especially the Raleigh administration
papers, these declaring that the people ought to put a stop
to Holden’s proceedings. This but served to inflame him.
Feeling secure in the support of those who surrounded him
and of his many friends in Wake and the adjacent counties,
he dared the issue, and replying, on August 19, he chal¬
lenged such action. “We now give notice to John W. Syme
and John Spelman and those leading Destructives here who
associate with and endorse them, that we have friends who
are specially prepared for them, and that if they or any of
their minions dare to lift a finger against us, their bodies
will soon adorn the trees and lampposts of Raleigh."

On Friday, hangman’s day, August 28, the people of
Charlotte hung Holden in effigy. He replied: “We sol¬
emnly warn those who may be meditating personal violence
on account of political differences the first blow struck will
lead to many blows.” Thus he firmly and boldly announced
that he had a party ready to take arms in his quarrel ; and
he gave point to his stand by declaring that “we fear that
peace cannot be conquered by force of arms” ; and he sug¬
gested a general convention of the people for peace.

The meetings Holden had planned had the effect of stimu¬
lating desertions, as well as dissatisfaction among the peo¬
ple. Soldiers left the Army at night in squads of a dozen
together, carrying with them their arms. In the mountains,
the deserters plundered and murdered at their own will.
In many other sections, they were encouraged by the in¬
habitants, and the home guard was unable to cope with
them. There were large numbers in Randolph, Catawba,
Yadkin, Iredell and other counties, while in Wilkes five hun¬
dred were in a military organization under arms.

On the other hand at Greensboro, on Saturday, Septem¬
ber 5, an unusually large meeting was held, adopting highly
patriotic resolutions, addressed by Rev. M. C. Schenck,
Colonel Rodman, Hon. John Morehead and Ralph Gorrell.

The situation, indeed, was now becoming so critical that
the Governor, on September 7, issued a proclamation, re¬
citing that “a number of public meetings have been held in
various portions of the State, in some of which threats have

WARNING TO MALCONTENTS

845

been made of combined resistance to the execution of the
laws of Congress. ’ ’ He proceeded : ‘ ‘ I command all per¬
sons to renounce such evil intentions, and warn them, to
beware of the criminal and fatal consequences of carrying
such threats into execution. Meet for lawful purposes, but
abstain from assembling for unlawful purposes” ; and he
declared, “Resistance to the law is treason.’’ He advised
the people to resort to the ballot box. “It is my great desire,
and I hope that of all* good citizens, that our people should
remain united, befall us what may. Should we triumph in
the great struggle for independence let no feelings of re¬
venge, no bitterness mar the rejoicing of that glorious day.
Should we fail, and come short of that great object for
which we have struggled so long and bled so freely, let not
our strife and domestic feuds add to the bitterness of de¬
feat. Let not our enemy rejoice to behold our strong arms
and stronger devotion turned against ourselves.

“Instead of engaging in this unholy and unpatriotic strife
and threatening to resist the laws of the land and endanger
the peace of society, let us prepare diligently and with hope¬
ful hearts for the hardships of the coming winter.” But
Holden, altogether bent on stirring up the people, persisted :
“Let the people speak. It is refreshing to hear them.”

The chief men of the State were at the front, and the
Conservative leaders generally were quiescent, and he felt
secure and that he was “riding the storm.” But he misin¬
terpreted the sentiment of the Army. In the Army there
was rancorous hostility to his course : nor was this hostility
confined to the North Carolina regiments. It was shared
by others. On the night of September 9, a Georgia regi¬
ment was passing through Raleigh, and some of the men
led by officers went to Holden’s residence, on the north¬
western corner of Nash Square, but he eluded them and
took refuge in the Governor’s Mansion at the foot of Fay¬
etteville Street. Failing to find Holden, the soldiers assem¬
bled at his printing office, on the lot adjoining his home, and
threw the type into the street, and scattered some of the
papers in the office. Vance, being notified, hurried to the
scene and addressed the excited crowd, and after great exer-

Sept. 6

Georgia sol¬
diers seek
Holden

846

VANCE BREAKS WITH HOLDEN

1863

The Alabama
brigade

tions, at some risk to himself, succeeded in quieting them
and inducing them to desist; but they passed on to Fayette¬
ville Street, searching for the office of the Progress, a paper
in line with Holden that was in the second story of a build¬
ing nearly opposite the market.

State Journal destroyed

The Standard having long done the public printing had
the largest equipment in the State and employed a consid¬
erable number of printers, and they were at one with their
employer, while their livelihood was involved. And the
mass of citizens were in sympathy in their indignation at
this act of violence. At seven o’clock the next morning,
the town bell of the little village rang to call the people
together, and under the leadership of Mark Williams, one
of Holden’s personal followers, a crowd gathered at the
market and, the Mayor and police not interfering, pro¬
ceeded to destroy the printing shop of the State Journal,
Spelman’s paper, a few steps off, facing the market ; and
it would have reached that of Syme’s paper also, but the
crowd being greatly inflamed, young C. B. Edwards ran
to the Governor’s Mansion and told Vance of what was
taking place. Vance immediately mounted a horse, stand¬
ing in readiness, and galloped to the scene. By his urgent
appeal he prevailed on them to desist. The Governor at
once communicated by telegraph these proceedings to the
President, who ordered that troops passing through should
not enter the town. But on the afternoon of the nth,
despite this order, “a large number of infuriated soldiers
from an Alabama brigade entered the village and spread
terror in their path by threatening murder and conflaga-
tion.” Vance rode with all speed to the depot to restrain
them, and they threatened his life if he interfered with
them. He advised the President ‘Tor sixty hours I have
traveled up and down, making speeches alternately to cit¬
izens and soldiers, without rest or sleep, almost, engaged
in the humiliating task of trying to defend the laws and
peace of the State against our own bayonets.” And he
threatened by proclamation, “to recall the North Carolina

CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS

847

troops from the field to the defense of their own homes.”
Probably, however, the North Carolina soldiers would not
have been answerable to the Governor’s expectations in the
issue presented, and they would gladly and vigorously have
established peace at Raleigh on their own terms.

The press of the State Journal having been battered to
pieces with sledge hammers, that paper was not revived;
but the press of the Standard was unharmed, and a month
later the Standard resumed publication. The congressional
election was to come off on November 4. The State was
divided into ten districts, the first being in the Albemarle
section, the tenth Buncombe and the mountain counties.
The contest was between Conservatives and those who did
not stand with the Conservative party. Holden, after the
publication of the Standard was resumed in October, was
much more temperate in his expressions. He urged that
the Conservative candidates could do more for the Con¬
federate cause than their opponents would. The people
want peace, but fear they will never get it as long as the
original Secessionists remain in power.

The canvass turned generally on the support by the former
members of the “twenty-negro” exemption and other un¬
popular measures of Congress — matters of administration,
not involving lukewarmness in the Southern cause.

Turner of Orange, endowed by nature with a most wan¬
dering mind, always the most obstreperous of candidates,
and whose political creed from boyhood was implacable
antagonism to the Democrats, was the candidate in the
Raleigh district, and he measured up to the expectations of
Mr. Worth. Turner had early volunteered and had served
well as captain of a cavalry company and had received a
severe wound in his forehead. He now delighted in “beino-
very Revere on able-bodied Secessionists who refused to

ght. That was the fundamental basis for his appeal for
popular support. But he would modify the tithing law
and would countenance no unjust discrimination between

•et tir?? tHe non-slaveholders ; and he would in-
‘ st on the strict observance of the Constitution and exert

The election

The cam¬
paign

848

VANCE BREAKS WITH HOLDEN

The result
of election

Nov., 1863

himself to maintain the civil law against the usurpation of
the military powers.

The Conservative candidates claimed to be quite as pa¬
triotic as the sitting members had been — and more in accord
with popular sentiment with respect to some of the measures
passed by Congress that bore hard on the people. They
did not stand as opponents of the Confederate cause, or even
of the administration, but of certain unpopular measures.

In the first district W. N. H. Smith easily won ; in the
second R. R. Bridgers narrowly escaped defeat, by Colonel
Yellowly as a Conservative. In the New Bern district
Kenan retired. Col. D. K. MacRae who had resigned as
Colonel of the Fifth Regiment and had gone abroad as an
agent of Governor V ance to purchase military stores and
had now returned, made a canvass against Dr. J. T. Leach,
a Conservative, while both Col. W. S. Devane of the Sixty-
first, and Mr. Thomas J. Faison were likewise voted for.
Though Dr. Leach polled 500 fewer than his opponents he
led the field and was elected. In the Cape Fear district the
gallant Lieut. Thomas C. Fuller who, as enthusiastically de¬
scribed by General Clingman, had fought so at the Neuse
bridge battle as to recall Horatio holding the bridge, in the
“Lays of Ancient Rome,” won by 750 majority.

Christian, in the Davidson and Anson district, led Thomas
S. Ashe by 1,500, but died soon afterwards, and James
Madison Leach was elected in his place. Gilmer in the
Greensboro district had no real opponent although Bedford
Brown, not a candidate, received some votes. Gaither was
chosen over Rev. Mr. Smith by 537 majority; Ramsay suc¬
ceeded by 147; and in the tenth district, where there were
several contestants in the field, Logan, the Conservative
candidate, presented by a convention of many delegates, fell
short of a majority by 500, but won by a plurality. The
soldiers from that district cast for Logan 328, and against
him 869. There were several small counties from which
there were no returns, but the vote as far as tabulated was
substantially : Conservative candidates, 20,500 ; administra¬
tion, 19,000 — the total vote being about 40,000, while in
1862 it was 74,871, Vance receiving 54,000. In this elec¬
tion the administration candidates fell off a thousand from

MESSAGE HIGHLY PATRIOTIC

849

Johnston’s vote and the Conservatives fell off more than
30,000. Still the Conservatives gained a majority of the
members elected.

The Legislature

The Legislature met in extra session on November 23,
Speaker Donnell being absent, the House elected M. S.
Robins Speaker. Judge Bailey having resigned in the
eighth district, Ed. G. Reade was elected judge of that
district. Governor Vance’s message was like all of his utter¬
ances, highly patriotic. There were some necessary amend¬
ments to be made to the laws, and he urged the adoption
of a recommendation made by Mr. Wiley, the Superintend¬
ent of Public Instruction, for the inauguration of graded
schools, one or more in each county ; and he disposed of the
peace meetings, while not even mentioning them, by declar¬
ing, “So far from treating with us on the basis of our in¬
dependence, or even of reconstruction, the arrogant people
of the North are tauntingly proclaiming on the hustings
that no peace can be made with us — no peace talked of —
till the last rebel had laid down his arms. An insulted and
outraged people will yet make them regret this haughty
language, which wrongs humanity and outrages civilization.
The lion, which has crouched in their path to Southern con¬
quest for three years, is still there, and though driven back
a little, he has grown more watchful, and will fight more
fiercely as he approaches his lair. We know at last precisely
what we would get by submission, and therein had our
enemy done us good service — abolition of slavery, confisca¬
tion of property and territorial vassalage. These are the
terms to win us back. Now when our brothers bleed, and
mothers and little ones cry for bread, we can point them
to the brickkilns of Egypt — thanks to Mr. Seward — plainly
in view, and show them the beautiful clusters of Eschol,
which grow in the land of Independence, whither we go to
possess it. With such a prospect before them, our people
will, as heretofore, come firmly up to the full measure of
their duty, if their trusted servants do not fail them : they
will not crucify afresh their own sons slain in their behalf,

1863

Vance for

graded

schools

His view of
Northern de¬
mands

His appeal

850

VANCE BREAKS WITH HOLDEN

His steward¬
ship

Sept., 1862

or put their gallant shades to open shame by stopping short
of full and complete national independence.”

One of the judges had decided that the Home Guard
could not be used to arrest deserters, the Governor now
asked that he have the same authority as to the guards as
over the militia. He reported that he had purchased and
stored away 50,000 bushels of corn, 250,000 pounds of bacon
and some rice. During the year he had issued only one-
fourth of the bacon, less than half of the corn, and had sold
to the Army 100,000 pounds of bacon and 20,000 bushels of
corn. The earnings of the Ad-Vance could be used to buy
more. The blockade-running had been most successful,
and considerable freight had been brought in for the Con¬
federacy. Two thousand and ten bales of cotton had been
sent to Liverpool and proceeds deposited to the credit of
the State. “North Carolina troops will be comfortably
clothed to January, 1865. I have to thank you for the
cordial and confiding support I have heretofore received at
your hands. I shall need your sustaining arm still more
in the future. The great mass, thank God, continue hope¬
ful and earnest.”

The Assembly adjourned December 14 to third Monday
in May, 1864.

Blockade runners

In 1861 the Legislature had directed General Martin, the
Adjutant General, to furnish clothing for the North Caro¬
lina troops. As the number of troops increased the task
became more and more difficult, until at length, in August,
1862, when there were sixty regiments in the field, General
Martin found the resources of the State inadequate. He
asked Governor Clark's permission to buy the supplies
abroad and to purchase a vessel to transport them.

As Governor Vance was about to be inaugurated, Gov¬
ernor Clark asked that the matter be held in abeyance until
Vance should become Governor. When General Martin
brought it to his attention, Governor Vance took the sub¬
ject under advisement, and called in Air. Moore and some
others to consider the proposition. Mr. Moore declared

BLOCKADE RUNNER BOUGHT

851

that the Governor and Adjutant General would be liable to
impeachment, if they carried out such a plan. But the Gov¬
ernor was not alarmed by the suggestion. He signed the
bonds and, on the recommendation of Maj. Thomas D.
Hogg, who had been such an efficient agent of the State,
Mr. John White, a merchant of Warrenton, was selected
to go abroad and purchase the ship and supplies; and Cap¬
tain Thomas M. Crossan, also from Warrenton, was sent to
command the ship, and Captain T. J. Hughes of New Bern
went out to be purser. The party left Charleston Novem¬
ber 15, 1862, and arrived at Liverpool on December 23.
To Mr. White had been entrusted 1,500 State bonds, in
which the State acknowledged the payment to the State of
500 pounds sterling, and bound herself to deliver to the
holder twelve bales of cotton weighing 400 pounds each,
at Wilmington or other Confederate port, on sixty days
notice. He also had $500,000 in eight per cent State
bonds. And then later in May, 1863, at his request Gov¬
ernor Vance sent him a million dollars of State bonds. The
placing of the State securities it was thought would inter¬
fere with the sale of Confederate bonds then on the market
in London, and there was a delay of some months on that
account.

Captain Crossan found a fine side-wheel steamer running
between Glasgow and Dublin, called Lord Clyde , and as
she was a first-class vessel, with good speed, on a press
making twenty knots an hour, she was purchased by him
f°r £35’°°°- Her name was later changed to Ad-Vance in
compliment to Governor Vance s wife, Mrs. Adelaide Vance.
Her name will long be perpetuated in the annals of time.

The Ad-Vance ran to Bermuda — not to Nassau — and
carried out cotton and brought in stores. James Maglenn
of Fayetteville joined her on her return to the Cape Fear,
after a few trips, as chief engineer. So perfect was the
management that at Wilmington they would say, “On such
and such a day the Ad-Vance will come in.”

Captain Crossan also entered into a contract with Alex
Collie for Collie to furnish four steamers for blockade run-
ning, the State to pay one-fourth the cost in cotton bonds,

Ad-Vance

VANCE BREAKS WITH HOLDEN

852

The State’s
vessels

The

imports

Blockade-

runners

and to be interested one-fourth. Under this contract the
Hansa and the Don. were bought and engaged in the busi¬
ness. In the meantime Governor Vance sent Col. D. K.
MacRae to make similar purchases, but on July 10, Gov¬
ernor Vance wrote to Mr. White that he now had such as¬
surance of clothing the troops with our own goods, and
had captured such a vast quantity of arms, that he did
not need any more purchases. At that date Governor Vance
could say : “Our whole prospects are better than they were
this time last year. Our people are adapting themselves
to a state of war, and our resources are developing won¬
derfully.”

The Clyde, now named the Ad-Vance, arrived in 'Wil¬
mington about July 1, 1863, and made eleven successful
trips to Nassau, Bermuda and Halifax, but chiefly to Ber¬
muda, where our North Carolina goods were sent from
England. At first the ventures were made by private firms,
but finally the Confederate States entered into the com¬
merce, and then the State of North Carolina. Such cargoes
brought in were sold at auction, and on May 20, 1863, there
were twenty-two cargoes at the three chief ports, Mobile,
Charleston and Wilmington, awaiting sale.

The general result was some supply of articles and com¬
modities that were much needed in the Confederacy, but as
those for trade were sold at auction and there was a ram¬
pant spirit of speculation, the prices rose to fabulous heights.
Coffee and such provisions were beyond the reach of ordi¬
nary families. The provisions brought in were very help¬
ful to the Confederacy, there being an immense quantity of
salt pork imported, along with military stores.

The Confederate government early purchased in England
two Clyde steamers, the Giraffe and the Cornelia, the name
of the latter being changed to Lady Davis, in honor of
President Davis’s wife. These came in April and May,
1863, and continued to ply between Wilmington and Ber¬
muda, taking out cargoes of cotton and bringing in arms
and other supplies. But the Lady Davis was captured after
her twelfth voyage. The Confederate government like¬
wise purchased the Donro, the Virginia, renamed the Cape

HIGHLY IMPORTANT COMMERCE

The

Captains

Fear , and the North Heath. The Antonia and the Owl
were also owned by the Confederate government, as well
as the Dare, R. E. Lee, Phantom, and others. The Flora
was owned in part by the State of Georgia, named for the
daughter of Capt. J. N. Maffitt.

One very fine ship was the Don. She made a dozen suc¬
cessful voyages under Captain “Roberts,” who was really
Captain Hobart of the British Navy, a son of the Earl of
Burkinghamshire, and afterwards known to history and
honorable fame as Hobart Pasha, admiral-in-chief of the
Turkish Navy in the war with Russia. On one occasion
the author was with him a few hours as the Don was pass¬
ing from Wilmington to Smithville to go out, — a stately
man, with a fine person, every inch a nobleman ; quiet in
manner, and dignified in carriage, allured to this employ¬
ment by its dangers and perils and the reward of successful
accomplishment. Nor was he alone in distinction: Capt.

Hugh Burgoyne and Admiral Murray-Aynsley, of the
British Navy, were his peers, as were Maffitt, Wilkinson,

Crossan, and other gallant spirits whose efficiency and skill
were equal to their courage and daring.

This commerce was so highly important that Colonel
Lamb at Fort Fisher applied himself particularly to aid¬
ing it by protecting the vessels seeking an entrance into the
Cape Fear. In the afternoon of June 28 the steamer Clyde
arrived at our wharves at Wilmington, bringing a cargo for
State account. Governor Vance and other State officers House jour-
went down to meet the Clyde and came up in her, but
Governor Vance had to return at once to Raleigh to meet
the General Assembly in extra session.

The defenses of the Cape Fear had been steadily im¬
proved. On July 4, 1862, Col. W. J. Lamb had been as¬
signed to the command of Confederate Point, where there
were some detached earthworks and a casemate battery of
palmetto logs protected by railroad iron ; and two small
batteries, Anderson and Gatlin, towards the head of the
sound. These had been built by the soldiers. Conditions
now admitted other construction. Negro labor could be
employed, and Colonel Lamb, by the use of five hundred

nal, 29

The defenses

854

VANCE BREAKS WITH HOLDEN

The iron¬
clads

1863

The

Albemarle

negroes and the garrison, began work of more extensive
character. At the other mouth of the river where Fort
Caswell was, similar works were in progress, but not so
extensive in design.

As the war progressed, notwithstanding the attendant
risks, blockade-runners multiplied and this commerce be¬
came greatly enlarged. The profits were so great both on the
imported articles and on the cotton and tobacco that made
up the return cargo, that adventurers hastened to engage
in the trade. There were probably a hundred ships engaged
in it at Wilmington alone during the year 1863. Some of
these made many voyages, and, first and last, while almost
one-half of them were captured or destroyed, the remain¬
ing ships escaped.

Two patriotic citizens of Georgia, Nelson Tift and his
brother, having led the way, the Navy Department had been
successful in building and equipping ironclads at the South,
that had proved very effective in their* operations ; and
now it began the construction of similar vessels in North
Carolina. Two were ordered to be built at Wilmington, one
below Kinston, one at Tarboro, and one to operate on the
Roanoke. Gilbert Elliott had some experience in such
work, and although but a young man, undertook the con¬
struction of the one on the Roanoke. The site selected was
at Edwards Ferry, twenty-one miles below Halifax and
some six miles from Scotland Neck — at a point out of dan¬
ger from the river floods, and where there was abundance
of white oak timber and labor at hand. The plan of the
ship was patterned after that of the Merrimac or Virginia,
the chief naval constructor, John E. Porter, furnishing the
specifications and drawings, and Mr. Peter E. Smith, broth¬
er-in-law of Mr. Elliot, was the chief builder. These gen¬
tlemen were of the vicinity and had ample financial means
to conduct operations. Their employment was by the day
for themselves and their hands. A navy yard was estab¬
lished half a mile below Halifax, consisting of a hospital,
drug store, supply storeroom, commissary, etc. A number
of marines formed the guard. Capt. Julius Guthrie, an ex¬
perienced North Carolina officer of the old navy, was in

FEDERALS CONTROL SOUNDS

855

command, and Robert H. Daniel was the naval storekeeper,
furnishing what was necessary for the construction of the
vessel.

The vessel was 152 feet long, 45 feet wide, from gun
deck to keel, nine feet, and drew eight feet of water; the
prow was of oak, running back solid 18 feet. Three port¬
able sawmills were operated in the neighborhood to get out
the timber, and a blacksmith forge and other facilities were
at hand. Begun early in 1863, there was delay in getting
the iron to cover the frame. This was iron plate two inches
thick. She had two propellers driven by two engines, each
200 horsepower, and her armament consisted of two rifled
Brooke guns. There were two portholes on each side of
the casemated shield that surmounted her deck, and one
at each end, and each gun could be fired through three
portholes.

The needed iron having been procured and offensive
operations being designed in Eastern North Carolina, Capt.
James W. Cooke, of the Navy, was ordered to supervise
her completion and get her ready for action. She was
launched successfully and with due formality, Miss Mary
Spotswood breaking a bottle of wine on her prow and nam¬
ing her the Albemarle. She was then carried to Halifax
for the more speedy putting on of her armor.

The Federals holding New Bern, Washington, Plymouth,
and in command of the sounds, and able to move in any
direction without serious opposition, except alone that the
force at Kinston lay in their pathway to Goldsboro and
Raleigh, were always a menace to Halifax and Weldon, and
to the bridges on the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad.
A column passed through Williamston and hurried on to
Tarboro and Rocky Mount. They burned the railroad
bridge over the Tar and the Battle cotton factory — which
had been one of the chief supplies of cotton yarn — and tore
up the railroad track. They captured two carloads of am¬
munition and 30,000 pounds of bacon.

In July prices had risen ; bacon $1 a pound, butter $2,
coffee $4, flour $50 a barrel, molasses $10 a gallon, whiskey
S20 a gallon, nails $1.50 a pound, sugar $2.

Raid on
Tarboro

856

VANCE BREAKS WITH HOLDEN

September,

1863

Lee’s letter
on dissatis¬
faction

The President having- called for all conscripts between
forty and forty-five years, Governor Vance directed the
militia officers to enroll them and bring them to Raleigh
before August i.

The Secretary of War having received Governor Vance’s
letter of August 20 with regard to the causes of dissatisfac¬
tion among the North Carolina troops in the Army, for¬
warded it to General Lee, who replied, September 9: “I
regret exceedingly the jealousies, heart burnings and other
evil consequences resulting from the crude misstatements of
newspaper correspondents, who have necessarily a very
limited acquaintance with the facts about which they write
and who magnify the deeds of troops from their own states
at the expense of others. But I can see no remedy for this.
Men seem to prefer sowing discord to inculcating harmony.
In the reports of the officers justice is done to the brave
soldiers of North Carolina, whose heroism and devotion
have rendered illustrious the name of the State on every
battlefield on which the Army of Northern Virginia has
been engaged.

“I need only to say that I will with pleasure aid Governor
Vance in removing every reasonable cause of complaint on
the part of men who have fought so gallantly and done so
much for the cause of our country; and I hope he will also
do all in his power to cultivate a spirit of harmony and to
bring to punishment the disaffected who use these causes
of discontent to further their treasonable designs.”

Gen. Cullen Battle, in an address, narrated a touching
incident of the war based on a letter from a wife, closing:
“And before God, Edward, unless you come home we must
die. Your Mary.” Such an incident was happily not illus¬
trative of affairs in North Carolina. The several counties
had means to provide food for the families of soldiers and
the State had great stores of provisions in its warehouses.

Yanlandingham

While Mr. Worth was building hopes on what the peo¬
ple of the North might say and do, Vanlandingham was
declaring in the Federal House of Representatives : “His-

FELLOWSHIP BY FORCE

8 57

tory will record our Southern brethren were to be whipped
back into love and fellowship at the point of the bayonet.
History will record that after nearly 6,000 years of folly
and wickedness in every form of government, it was re¬
served for American statesmanship, in the nineteenth cen¬
tury of the Christian Era, to try the grand experimfnt on a
scale the most costly and gigantic in its proportions, of
creating love by force, and developing fraternal affection
by war. . . . Constitutional limitation was broken down ;
habeas corpus fell, liberty of the press, of speech, of the
person, of travel, of our own house, of mails, of religion ; the
right to bear arms, due process of law, judicial trial, trial by
jury, trial at all, every badge and muniment of freedom,
in republican government, or kingly government, all went
down at a blow.” The Attorney-General, first of all men,
proclaimed in the United States the maxim of Roman servil¬
ity, “Whatever pleases the President — that is law.”

Indians at the west

On the Indian reservation there lived about 1,500 Indians
quite advanced in civilized life. Col. William H. Thomas had
long been the State Senator from the counties in which they
lived. He was an ardent Secessionist. Early in 1862 Colo¬
nel Thomas addressed himself to raising a “Legion,” which
consisted of a regiment, the Sixty-ninth, a cavalry battalion
of eight companies, a battalion of engineers, and a battalion
of infantry; in all 2,800 men. Later, this battalion of infan¬
try was recruited to a full regiment, along with two other
companies composed mainly of Cherokees. The whole num¬
ber of Cherokees enlisted numbered nearly 400. Their serv¬
ice was to be in the mountain region. They- early had sev-)
eral encounters with the Federal troops in East Tennessee;
and did excellent service in that region.

Desertions continued from the Army. These were not
restricted to North Carolina troops, and deserters from the
more southern states found it convenient to stop among
those who had established themselves in the central and
western counties, and their numbers were multiplied.

At the North

Desertions

858

VANCE BREAKS WITH HOLDEN

1863

In the
mountains

Sept., 1863

And at the west during the year 1863 very disastrous
changes were observed. The people, there as elsewhere,
while divided politically, had sprung to arms with enthu¬
siasm under the leadership of Clingman and Vance and
their respective friends ; but as the war wore on a spirit of
defection made progress in some localities, especially where
there was close intercourse with East Tennessee. Parson
Brownlow was editor of the Knoxville Whig, and his paper
had a wide circulation and considerable influence. Many
of the public men in that region espoused the Northern
cause. On the other hand others were faithful to the South.

In the North Carolina counties the people were more
united for the South, but deserters began to come into the
mountains, and companies of bushwhackers were formed.
When conscription was to be enforced a spirit of opposition
was engendered, conditions became threatening, and several
regiments were detained there for local defense, among
them the Sixty-second, Colonel Love ; Sixty-fourth, Colonel
Allen ; Sixty-ninth, a part of Thomas’s Legion, with Col.
James R. Love as a leading spirit.

In August, 1862, the Sixty-second operated in East Ten¬
nessee, and the Sixty-ninth guarded the railroad that con¬
stituted the line of communication between Virginia and the
Southwest ; while the Sixty-third was stationed at Green¬
ville, Tennessee. These and other troops in that section
were moved about from post to post, suppressing deserters
as best they could.

Martial law was declared in East Tennessee, and that, to¬
gether with the enforcement of conscription, added fuel to
the flame of discontent. So bad was the situation that on
July 7, 1863, the General Assembly provided for the organi¬
zation of Home Guards, consisting of all males between
eighteen and fifty, and on September 19, 1863, John W.
McElroy was appointed Brigadier General and assigned to
command, with headquarters at Burnsville.

On September 3, General Burnside, who had been sent
to Tennessee, occupied Knoxville, the Confederates falling
back and the Federal cavalry pressing on. The entire west¬
ern border of North Carolina was threatened.

HORRIBLE RETALIATION

859

While there was much sporadic lawlessness, perhaps the
worst region was the Shelton Laurel section of Madison
County, which was infested with bushwhackers of fierce
audacity and viciousness. In addition to the native disloyal
element, hundreds fled from Tennessee and, when hunted in
the mountains, fought and retaliated and committed many
outrages.

In the spring of 1863 a number of men, among them some
boys from Shelton Laurel, had taken possession of Marshall,
the county seat, had broken into the stores and taken posses¬
sion of the salt and other property there. Colonel Keith
was directed to go there and punish them. Arriving at
Shelton Laurel, he captured thirteen old men and boys,
made them sit on a log and shot them. While a guerilla
warfare had long been in progress in that region this sud¬
den and horrid execution by way of retaliation was followed
by its natural consequences and aroused the indignation and
wrath of the people. Governor Vance at once dismissed the
officer, but the evil influence that attended the atrocity was
not thereby stayed.

After the fall of Knoxville Burnside pressed on, and six
days later, Cumberland Gap, deemed an impregnable
position, held by the Sixty-second Regiment, the Sixty-
fourth, and other troops, under Gen. John W. Frazer,
was besieged by Federal forces on both sides of the gap.
There was opportunity for General Frazer to have re¬
tired, if he thought that necessary; but the position was
so strong that he deemed it was proper to defend it.
The siege began on September 7, and various assaults
and repulses were made. But on the afternoon of the 9th,
negotiations were opened for surrender, and at sunset Gen¬
eral Frazer announced that he had surrendered. Every
officer bitterly opposed being surrendered. Lieut. Col. B. G.
McDowell, in command of the Sixty-second Regiment,
called on all men who were willing to follow him. About
>ix hundred responded ; and, led by Colonel Slemp, they
moved out of the gap on the Kentucky side opposite Jones-
ville, and made their way to Bristol.

Shelton
Laurel *

Arthur,
W. N. C.,
603

Frazer sur¬
renders

1863

McDowell

Clark, Vol.
Ill, 524

86o

VANCE BREAKS WITH HOLDEN

In Alleghany

Arthur, 615

1863

R. B. Yance

Arthur, 610

All the while there were encounters in the western coun¬
ties. In Alleghany there were many deserters and bush¬
whackers. At first, they merely hid in the mountains to
evade military service : for doubtless, making their way
from Lee’s army, Alleghany was the first region they struck
where they found a temporary refuge. But, later, they took
to robbing and murder. The able-bodied men being in the
Army, the women and children were defenseless. Alleghany
appealed to Surry for aid, and Surry sent one hundred men
to assist the local Home Guard.

General Pierce, with some soldiers, eventually scoured the
country, capturing a number of the robbers, who were car¬
ried to Laurel Springs, where some of them were hung.
Later, a cavalry company arrived, but lawlessness was not
entirely suppressed. And so it was to some extent in nearly
all the western counties, where settlements were remote
from protection. The more patriotic the county had been,
the more denuded of its men by service in the Army, the
more exposed was it to these bands of roving marauders,
not citizens of the county, but deserters from the Army,
chiefly from other states.

Eventuallv conditions at the west became so bad that in

the summer of 1863 a military district was created, called
the District of Western North Carolina; and Brig. Gen.
R. B. Vance was assigned to the command. He was a very
capable and efficient officer and a devout man, with a kindly
heart : and having been reared in the mountains, and hav¬
ing been an old-time Whig, he had the confidence of the
people in a remarkable degree.

Elected Colonel of the Twenty-ninth Regiment in the
fall of 1861, he had been assigned to the duty of protecting
the bridges from Bristol to Chattanooga against raids, and
he operated in that region until on December 30, 1862, when
at the head of the Twenty-ninth Regiment, he opened the
battle of Murfreesboro. His gallantry won him promotion;
but falling ill, it was not until the summer of 1863 that he
could report to General Bragg for duty. The district above
mentioned was then created and he was assigned to it. He
successfully maintained himself for some months, often as¬
sailing the enemy.

CAMPAIGN IN THE MOUNTAINS

86 1

After the battle of Chickamauga Longstreet with a part of
his corps was detached from the Army of Northern Virginia
to operate against Burnside in East Tennessee. He drove
the Federals into Knoxville, where he besieged them ; but
conditions in Virginia led to his recall, and, as his force
withdrew, Burnside followed. To draw Burnside off, Gen¬
eral Vance, in January, 1864, made a demonstration by go¬
ing through Quallatown up Ocona Lufty and through Col¬
lins Gap into Tennessee. Having crossed the Smoky Moun¬
tains, he divided his force, and with some three hundred men
piessed on towards Seviersville, where, within five miles of
Burnside’s encampment he captured about eighty loaded
wagons and their teams and drivers and started back with
them ; but, pursued by a large force of cavalry, he was over¬
taken at Crosby Creek, and a large part of his command
was captured, along with General Vance himself. The other
detachment, under Colonel Thomas, then returned to Ocona
Lufty. Towards the middle of August a raid was made
on Murphy and Cherokee County by a force of 120 men. It
met with no opposition, demolished the jail, carried off fifty
guns and much ammunition stored there for the winter. The
September Term of Cherokee Superior Court could not be
held. Judge Shipp and Solicitor Merrimon, who attempted
to hold the court, retired to Asheville, saying that it was
impracticable ; many of the Southern men were leaving the
county.

During all of this period of unrest at the west the courts
except as above were regularly held, although at the great
personal risk of the court officers. The solicitor, A. S. Mer¬
rimon, firm in the performance of duty, resolute, and of un¬
usual courage, never flinched and fearlessly discharged the
functions of his office ; but he was wise, with a pure heart,
and a man of fine intelligence, and he sought to soften
animosities and compose differences ; and, having the entire
respect and confidence of the mountain people, his influence
was powerful and was always exerted for the preservation
of law and order.

Biog. Hist.,
Vol. VI, 472

1864

Arthur,
W. N. 0.,
610

CHAPTER LIII

The Confederates Hopeful

The general feeling. — Pickett’s move on New Bern. — Vance
breaks with Holden and Worth. — Vance and President Davis. —
Bragg adviser of President. — The Supreme Court. — Habeas cor¬
pus to be suspended. — George Davis Attorney-General. — E. G.
Reade Senator. — Graham Senator. — Gatlin Adjutant General. —
The Senior and Junior Reserves. — Dahlgren’s raid. — The North
Carolina cavalry. — Cheek routs Kilpatrick. — Pollard kills Dahl-
gren. — Dahlgren’s purpose to burn Richmond. — Lee’s judgment. —
Holden suspends the Standard. — Vance opens his campaign. — His
patriotic appeal. — Holden announces himself.— Vance visits the
army. — The grand review, worth 50,000 men. — The capture of
Plymouth. — The Albemarle. — The great victory. — Hoke promoted.
— The Legislature meets. — The lines drawn. — Vance’s message. —
Aycock’s fine sentiment. — To propose peace. — Judge Pearson and
habeas corpus. — The other judges declare him wrong. — The
Ad-Vance. — Roll of honor. — State activities. — Currency. — Schools.
— At the west. — The races. — Movement on New Bern. — Hoke hur¬
ries to Petersburg. — The Albemarle fails. — Grant’s campaign. —
The Wilderness. — Sheridan's raid. — Grant moves. — Spottsylvania.
— Butler advances on Petersburg. — Walthall Station. — Clingman’s
activities. — Richmond alarmed. — Hoke saves the situation. — At
Drury’s Bluff. — Jarvis wounded. — Beauregard’s disposition. — Hoke,
the Ransoms, Clingman, but Whiting does not move. — Butler
bottled up at Bermuda Hundred. — Cold Harbor. — Hoke’s Division.
— May 31, first encounter. — Death of Colonels Murchison and
A. D. Moore. — Battle of the 3d.— Lane wounded. — Barry replaces
him. — The North Carolina brigades. — Hoke and Lee. — Thirteen
thousand Federals fall. — Grant’s troops refuse to attack.

The general feeling

As the year 1864 opened diverse prospects were presented
to the vision of those who had different standpoints. By
some who, like Worth, did not regard the Confederate
cause as worth fighting for, and others who, like Holden,
had abandoned hopes of success and were casting about to
obtain favor when the Confederacy should have failed, the
persistence of the government was regarded as mere obsti¬
nacy. But fortunately these had but few sympathizers.
The general feeling was gratification that the army re¬
mained unconquered and unconquerable — that under divine

ATTEMPT TO RETAKE NEW BERN

863

favor, the enemy would be continually and constantly de¬
feated, and eventually would cease from troubling the peo¬
ple of the South.

Pickett’s moYement on New Bern

The army being at winter quarters and everything quiet
along the lines, on January 2, 1864, General Lee wrote to
President Davis : “The time is at hand when, if an attempt
can be made to capture the enemy’s forces at New Bern,
it should be done,” and he disclosed in a general way a
plan of operations. He urged : “A large amount of pro¬
visions and other supplies are said to be at New Bern, which
are much wanted by the army, besides much that is reported
in the country that will thus be made accessible to us.” The
President sent for General Hoke, and attention being di¬
rected to the unfavorable political conditions in the State,
he asked General Hoke what could be done in North Caro¬
line. Hoke promptly replied : “Arrest Holden and send
him out of the country.” “Oh ! no, I can’t do that,” said
the President, who, instead, mentioned military operations,
which at once awoke the enthusiasm of General Hoke. The
President, having in view the importance of the movement,
desired General Lee to go to North Carolina himself ; but
Lee replied : “In view of the opinion expressed in your
letter, I would go to North Carolina myself, but I consider
my presence here always necessary, especially now when
there is such a struggle to keep the army fed and clothed.
I will, however, go to North Carolina if you think it neces¬
sary.” On the 20th of January, the same day he wrote the
above letter, he wrote to General Pickett, who was in com¬
mand of the District of Petersburg and lower Virginia, and
who had a considerable army at his disposal in that district :
“From the information I have received I think the garrison
at New Bern can be captured, and I wish it tried, unless
upon close examination you find it impracticable. You can
use for that purpose Barton’s, Kemper’s and Corse’s and as
much of Ransom’s brigades as you can draw to that point.
I shall send, in addition, Hoke’s Brigade from this army.
General Hoke is familiar with the vicinity of New Bern.

Jan., 1864

Lee’s direc¬
tions

864

THE CONFEDERATES HOPEFUL

The force

He has recently returned from a visit to that country, and
it is mainly upon his information that my opinion has been
formed. He will hand you this letter and explain to you
the general plan which at this distance appears to be best.
You can modify it according to circumstances, developed
by investigation and your good judgment. General Hoke
will move down between the Trent and the Neuse, endeavor
to surprise the troops on Bachelor’s Creek, silence the guns
in the Star fort and batteries near the Neuse, and penetrate
the town in that direction ; Whitford’s Battalion, or such
other force as may be designated, to move down north of
the Neuse, occupy if they cannot capture, Fort Anderson
at Barrington’s Ferry, and endeavor to take in flank with
the batteries the line south on the Neuse, so as to lighten
Hoke’s work.

“The night previous to the land attack, Colonel Wood
of the navy, with 200 men in boats will descend the Neuse
and endeavor to surprise and capture the gunboats in that
river, and by their aid drive the enemy from their guns.
General Whiting will be requested on the day appointed
for the attack to threaten Swansboro, so> as to fix the atten¬
tion of the enemy at Morehead.

“Everything will depend on the secrecy, expedition and
boldness of your movements. General Barton should move
first, and be strong enough to resist any concentration of the
forces from New Bern and Beaufort. General Hoke with
his own brigade should move next, the force north of the
Neuse to keep pace with him. Colonel Wood will attend
to his part. Commit nothing to the telegraph that will dis¬
close your purpose. You must deceive the enemy as to
your purpose and conceal it from the citizens. As re¬
gards the concentration of troops you may put it on the
ground of apprehension of an attack from New Bern. Gen¬
eral Hoke will give out that he is going to arrest deserters
and recruit his diminished regiments.”

It is apparent that the details of the expedition were
worked out by Hoke.

Clingman’s Brigade, on November 30, 1863, had been
removed, first to Kinston and then to Petersburg, where
it arrived about the middle of December. Pickett brought

CONCENTRATING FORCES

865

with him Barton’s, Corse’s, Clingman’s and Kemper’s
brigades, while Ransom’s, operating from Weldon, joined
him, and that part of Hoke’s not already at Kinston was
brought on by General Hoke, thinking that they were go¬
ing to arrest deserters. Martin’s Brigade was encamped
near Wilmington. No pains had been spared to make the
movement a success. The prize was great and success
important.

Besides the political effect in hushing the mouths of those
who were constantly crying out against the government
that it was neglecting North Carolina, and the relief it
would bring to the distressed and oppressed people of the
eastern counties, there were immense quantities of supplies
at New Bern and in the country that were much needed
for the army. Of such particular consequences was it
deemed by the President, that besides suggesting that Lee
himself should make the movement, the naval cooperation
was confided to his own naval aide, John Taylor Wood, a
nephew of President Davis, grandson of General Taylor,
one of the most gallant, successful and efficient men of his
day, who was accompanied by Lieut. Ben. Loyall, a gallant
officer. Four cutters with picked crews were quickly
brought on the cars from Drurys Bluff and three from
Wilmington, all under excellent young officers, trained at
Annapolis, among them William A. Kerr, Williamson and
Roby, all Carolinians. The cutters under Colonel Wood
secretly made their way down the Neuse to the vicinity of
the enemy, and all being in readiness, according to the plan,
the movement began.

General Martin, leaving Wilmington with the Seventeenth
North Carolina, Lieut. Col. John C. Lamb, and the Forty-
second, Col. J. E. Brown and Paris Light Battery, was
joined at White Oak Bridge on the 29th of January by
four companies from Kenansville under Col. George Jack-
son, and two squadrons of cavalry, under Colonel Jefferds
and Maj. John W. Moore, and Captain Ellis’s artillery,
while Colonel Nethercutt and Lieutenant Farley accompanied
him as guides. Pressing on expeditiously, Martin reached
Newport, a few miles east of Morehead City, and cut -the

The details

At Newport

866

THE CONFEDERATES HOPEFUL

Barton’s

failure

Hoke’s

action

Clingman

railroad. At ten o'clock on the 30th the Federals, taken
by surprise and being vigorously attacked, were driven out
of their fort and blockhouse, and abandoned their cannon;
and a large quantity of supplies and many prisoners were
captured.

Barton, with Ransom’s, Barton’s and Kemper’s brigades
and with cavalry and artillery, arrived across the Trent
near Trenton, and went down the south side of the river
to Brice’s Creek. His movement was rapid and such pre¬
cautions were taken that the approach of his column was
a surprise ; but when the redoubts were reached, instead
of making an immediate assault, he brought up his artillery
and engaged in an artillery duel without making any further
effort to take the blockhouse that arrested his progress, al¬
though during the entire day of February 2, the skirmish¬
ers kept the Federals closely in their works.

Pickett, with Hoke’s Brigade, three regiments of Corse’s
Brigade, and the Eighth and Fifty-first of Clingman’s, and
ten pieces of artillery advanced by the Dover road. Hoke’s
advance was rapid. He, with a bevy of officers, being
considerably ahead of the troops, a Federal courier galloped
unsuspectingly up to him, and when he saw his mistake,
he hastily put a piece of paper in his mouth. Instantly
Hoke’s aide put a pistol to his head, saying: “If you swal¬
low that, I will kill you.” The courier spat it out. It
proved to be a dispatch from which information was gained
that a regiment and four pieces of artillery were being sent
to a point in the vicinity. Hoke at once dispatched a force
and captured the entire Federal detachment. The regiment
proved to be composed of deserters from the Confederate
ranks, and when that fact was discovered at Kinston
they were tried by court-martial and many of them were
executed.

Clingman’s regiments, reaching Kinston on the 30th,
marched five miles toward New Bern and camped for the
night. Next morning the march was continued, and the
night of the 31st they reached the vicinity of Bachelor's
Creek, ten miles from the city. By daybreak, preceded by an
advanced guard, they approached the bridge, defended by
a blockhouse strongly garrisoned. While this was being

CAPTURE OF THE UNDERWRITER

867

captured, so that the infantry could pass the bridge, a ball
struck Colonel Shaw, who was with General Clingman at
the head of his waiting regiment, and he instantly expired.
Colonel Shaw had been a Representative in Congress from
the First District, a man of fine parts and high character.
He was fearless, cool under fire, and always, even in the
presence of the greatest personal danger, calm and com¬
posed. He was an efficient officer and had the warm re¬
gard, confidence and admiration of all who came in con¬
tact with him. His loss was greatly deplored. Lieut. Col.
J. M. Whitson succeeded to the command. The blockhouse
being captured about daylight, the Eighth Regiment hurried
forward in pursuit of the fleeing Federals, and at a double-
quick reached the railroad in time to intercept and capture
several thousand. When Clingman reached the front of
the fortifications he moved to the right, his right being
about six hundred yards from the Trent road, while Hoke
was on his left.

General Barton was to have proceeded and crossed Brice’s
Creek, taking the forts on the banks of the Neuse, and,
crossing the railroad bridge, enter New Bern. However,
having arrived at Brice’s Creek, he did not cross it. Pickett
was apprehensive of reinforcements from Morehead to
augment the force at New Bern, but such a movement had
been blocked by Martin.

Wood, on the river, heard Pickett’s dashing attack on the
Federal outer works, and took measures to locate the posi¬
tion of the Underwriter , anchored close up to the right flank
of the outer fortification. The cutters in two divisions,
. four boats each, fell down the stream, Wood to board the
Underwriter forward and Loyall to board her aft. The
night was very dark and no lights were visible. With
muffled oars the cutters approached the ship and boarded
her. Ihe fighting was furious and at close quarters. The
enemy gave way slowly, but finally in the black night were
driven below the hatches into the ward-room, the engine
room, and under the hurricane deck ; and, after a stubborn
contest, came the cry, “We surrender.” There was not
steam enough to move her, and Fort Stevens, near by,

Shaw killed

Colonel
Wood’s suc¬
cess

868

THE CONFEDERATES HOPEFUL

Pickett

withdraws

Jan., 1864

The conten¬
tion

Worth, Vol.
II, 281

opened artillery fire on her. On consultation it was deemed
best to burn her and retire.

Pickett now awaited the assault that General Barton was
to make on the east and south of the town. But in vain.
Clingman wished to assault, and asked for support ; but
Hoke could not move in against Pickett’s positive directions.
Thus the day passed. Finding that Barton had not co¬
operated, Pickett abandoned the attack. In his report he
said: “I found we were making the fight single-handed.”
And so he withdrew. Colonel Wood, on his return to
Richmond, told President Davis that had the expedition
been under the command of General Hoke it would have
succeeded.

Vance stands for independence

With the opening of the new year Vance found he could
no longer stand with Holden. He had kept in close con¬
tact with the leaders of the Conservative party. His per¬
sonal relations had not been interrupted. But he could no
longer subordinate himself. Although he feared, what
Worth thought, that Holden had a large majority of the
people following him, he realized that the time had come
to sever political relations. On January 2, 1864, he wrote
to Governor Swain whom he had from youth venerated as
his mentor : “The final plunge which I have been dreading
and avoiding — that is to separate me from a large number
of my political friends — is about to be made. It is now a
fixed policy of Mr. Holden and others to call a convention
in May to take North Carolina back to the United States,
and the agitation has already begun. I can never consent’
to this course. Never. But should it be inevitable and I
be unable to prevent it, as I have no right to suppose I
could, it is my determination quickly to return to the army,
and find a death which will enable my children to say that
their father was not consenting to their degradation.”

In the State, Treasurer Worth was making efforts to
arouse the people to action for peace. On the 19th of Jan¬
uary he wrote to a friend: “If the people of the State make
known their wishes in unmistakable shape, by petitions, I

AGITATION FOR PEACE

869

have no doubt of the Governor’s cooperation ; but without
some such demonstration, we shall continue, I fear, to sink
deeper and deeper in the gulf of despotism and ruin to
which our rulers are now hurrying us.”

The next day he wrote to another friend: ‘‘The public
mind seems to be about ripe for any measure looking to a
close of the war on almost any terms. It is likely to result
in vigorous measures, if it gets any head; or, if nobody
heads it, to sink into apathetic despondency. The adminis¬
tration can hardly become more unpopular.” Two days
later, to another: “I did not write to A. M. Tomlinson that
North Carolina would go back into the Union, but wrote
him what you all see in the papers, that ‘many parts are for
a convention to secede from the Confederacy and negotiate
for ourselves.’ Public meetings are being held and petitions
are being got up, as I understand, for a new convention.

“It is put on the ground that the present authorities will
not negotiate, and the people want to know on what terms
peace can be had. . . . If it be true that we can have

peace only on conditions such as Wendell Phillips pro¬
poses — confiscation of property — the Confederacy would
gain strength by certain disclosure of it. Many belie ve
that, a majority of the people, North and South, would end
the war on terms honorable to both if they could negotiate ;
and this class — certainly numerous in this State — are for a
convention in order to open negotiations to ascertain what
we have to depend upon. None would secede till it should
be ascertained what terms would be granted, which should
be deemed eligible to a continuance of war.”

In conformity with the views he expressed in these let¬
ters, Mr. Worth continued, day by day, to write to Anti-
Secession Whigs, trying to put the ball in motion. To
S. A. Starbuck of Forsyth he wrote : “I think there is no
place in the State so eligible as yours to put the ball in
motion.” And with art and address he sought to bring
about action — prepared a petition for circulation. “If you
would have four or five thousand printed at your office and
sent to reliable men in all the counties,” he declared, “at
least two-thirds of the people would concur, and would go
much further.”

Worth’s

desire

Worth, II,
282

870

THE CONFEDERATES HOPEFUL

Worth, II,
289

The different
purposes

Worth, II,
297

Vance’s sug¬
gestion

Worth submitted his draft of a petition to Holden, who
approved it ; but it was thought best for it to be first pub¬
lished in Starbuck’s paper and then reproduced in the
Standard. In urging his proposition looking to a restored
Union, on the old basis, without change, he declared: “If
it succeeds, it will be a blessing to the whole land, and
will prevent that universal emancipation and the curse of
an enormous free negro population making the country
unfit to live in. . . If the North will not make peace

on this basis, it will produce unity among us which will
render us invincible. ... I would do nothing to weaken
our military arm until it can be ascertained that peace can be
made on this basis.”

Again he wrote: “I do not agree with either the Observer
(Fayetteville, E. J. Hale) or the Standard. The Observer
abhors peace on any other basis than independence. The
Standard insists on measures looking to peace, but denies
being for reconstruction. I am for peace on the basis of
the Constitution of the United States, whereby we would
preserve our slaves. . . A large majority of the North¬
ern Congress and, probably, a large majority of the North¬
ern people would make peace on the basis of reunion with
all our rights protected. If the enemy should exact terms
such as Lincoln offers, or otherwise degrading, then we
should sternly buckle on our armor and unanimously and
bravely make war the arbiter.”

Governor Vance in December, 1863, had varied somewhat
from his complaints against the Confederate administration
and represented to the President: “After a careful consid¬
eration of all the sources of discontent in North Carolina,
I have concluded that it will be, perhaps, impossible to re¬
move it, except by making some effort at negotiation with
the enemy.” A week later the President replied at great
length, with candor and entire respect : “I cannot see how
the mere material obstacles are to be surmounted. We have
made three distinct efforts to communicate with the authori¬
ties at Washington, and have been invariably unsuccessful.”
He detailed each.

“If, then, proposals cannot be made through envoys, how
is it possible to communicate our desire for peace otherwise

VANCE VERSUS DAVIS

871

than by the public announcements contained in almost every
message I ever sent to Congress? I have seen no action of
the Federal House of Representatives that does not indi¬
cate, by a very decided majority, the purpose of the enemy
to refuse all terms to the South, except absolute, uncon¬
ditional subjugation or extermination.

“But were it otherwise, how are we to treat with the
House of Representatives? It is with Lincoln alone that
we ever could confer, and his own partisans at the North
avow, unequivocally, that his purpose, in his message and
proclamation, was to shut out all hope that he would ever
treat with us on any terms.”

The President added that he feared an attempt would
be made to inaugurate movements that would be equivalent
to aid and comfort to the enemy, and “will you pardon me
for suggesting that my only source of disquietude arises
from the fear that you will delay too long the action that
now appears inevitable ; and that by an over-earnest desire
to reclaim, by conciliation, men whom you believe sound
at heart but whose loyalty is more than suspected elsewhere,
you will permit them to gather such strength as to require
more violent measures than are now needed.”

A month later, Governor Vance replied and, adverting
to the expected passage by Congress of a bill suspending
the writ of habeas corpus, said: “Of course, if Congress
and your excellency be resolved on this as the only means
of repressing disaffection in this State, it would be a mere
waste of time for me to argue the matter. Hundreds of
good and true men, now acting with and possessing the
confidence of the party called Conservatives, are at work
against the dangerous movement for a convention. I ex¬
pect myself to take the field and shall exert every effort
to restrain the revolutionary tendency of public opinion.
. . . The truth is, as I have often said before, that the

great body of our people have been suspected by their gov¬
ernment. This consciousness of their being suspected has
been greatly strengthened by what seemed to be a studied
exclusion of the Anti-Secessionists from all the more im¬
portant offices, even from promotion in the army, which
many of them had won with their blood.

The Presi¬
dent’s reply

Lincoln’s

purpose

The issue a
convention

Vance and
Davis

8/2

THE CONFEDERATES HOPEFUL

“Discussion, it is true, has been unlimited and bitter, and
unrelenting criticism upon your administration has been in¬
dulged in. . . . Though you expressed a fear that my

continued efforts to conciliate were injudicious, I cannot
yet see just cause for abandoning it." He indicated that
no convention would be called by the Legislature. This
letter contained other matter that was galling to the Presi¬
dent. He endorsed it, “For consideration and advice. The
assertions are discourteous and untrue. The rhetoric is
after the manner of the Standard. Neither my actions nor
Official my words justify the slander that I have regarded the North
Records, Carolinians with distrust or withheld due promotion to any
of her gallant soldiers.” He referred Vance’s letter to his
Attorney-General, George Davis, who never through life
could divest himself of the disagreeable impression it oc¬
casioned.

The closing days of Congress prolonged the delay, so
that it was only on the 29th of February that the President
replied :

“When you assert that there has been, ‘what seemed a
studied exclusion of the Anti-Secessionists from all the
more important offices of the government, even from those
promotions in the army which many of them had won with
their blood,’ I am compelled to characterize the statement
as unjust to my conduct, my feelings and my character.
You cannot expect me to receive such a charge from the
governor of a state without insisting on a specification. I
must, therefore, request that you give the name, not of
many, but of one officer, whose promotion has been refused
on the ground or for the reason you mention.

“In the meantime, I assert that there exists not to my
knowledge in the files of the department a single case,
among the thousands there to be found, in which the pro¬
motion of an officer has ever been recommended on the
ground of his party or political opinions or relations.” And
he denied “that any objection has ever been suggested to
me by any of my advisers, civil or military, against the ap-
Davis denies pointment or promotion of any officer of the army on the
ground of his opposition to secession or other political opin-

DAVIS REPLIES TO VANCE

873

ions held prior to the war. ... I further affirm that
the promotion of officers has been guided exclusively by
military considerations, and that they have almost invariably
been made upon the recommendations received from their
fellow soldiers and commanders.

“You say, ‘The truth is, sir, as I have often said before,
that the great body of our people have been suspected by
their government, perhaps because of the reluctance with
which they gave up the old Union.’ If by the words ‘their
government,’ you refer to the Executive Department of the
Confederate States, I deny that there is any ground for the
assertion, and invite you to specify the facts to which you
refer, and the persons to whom your frequent communica¬
tions were made.

“You ask in reference to a suspicion of the people of
North Carolina which you seem to impute to me — ‘Was
this suspicion just?’ I reply that your knowledge of the
injustice of such a suspicion should have prevented your
imputing to me the possibility of entertaining it.

“You complain of the excess and petty meanness of small
minds dressed in a little brief authority and say, ‘The
files of my office are piled up with the unavailing complaints
of outraged citizens to whom redress is impossible.’

“I have lamented such abuses and done my utmost to cor¬
rect them whenever brought to my knowledge; but I am
at a loss to conceive how you assert that these complaints
were ‘unavailing’ and that ‘redress was impossible’ if you
kept the papers in your files in Raleigh. I am sorry that
the complaints of the citizens of North Carolina were ad¬
dressed through a channel by which they failed to reach me.”

Referring to his previous letter, he added : “In that letter
I expressed, for I felt no distrust whatever of the noble peo¬
ple of North Carolina. I warned you of the error of warm¬
ing traitors into actual life by ill-timed deference or timid
concession, instead of meeting their insidious attempt to
deceive the people by tearing the masks from the faces of
the conspirators.

“Your present letter is the first intimation I have had
from any source that the people of North Carolina were

^74

THE CONFEDERATES HOPEFUL

Official
Records,
108, 824

Ibid., 108,
832

Ibid., 108,
835

Ibid., 108,
845

suspected of disloyalty, and your needless defense of them
takes me by surprise." Then, after repeating what he had
previously said in regard to '‘some bad men," he affirmed:
"I never did and do not now entertain aught but respect and
admiration for the people of North Carolina. I did and do
suspect a knot of traitors who have been conspiring at home,
while the mass of the State’s true sons were at their post of
duty in the army." And, speaking about what might be¬
come his duty, he closed: “Should that contingency occur,
I shall confidently rely for support on the mass of the good
people of North Carolina, in spite of the threats or bland¬
ishments of those who would persuade them that their
liberties are endangered, not by the wicked invaders of
their country, but by their own government and their own
fellow citizens."

This reply not only negatived the very foundation on
which the Conservative party had originally been based, but
stigmatized some of Vance’s associates as promoters of
treason. The Congressional delegation, including Judge
Reade, urged Governor Vance to have it published; but
Vance thought differently, and suggested that the substance
of some of it might be published. However, on March 9,
he replied, in very good temper, pointing out with confidence
what he regarded as specifications sustaining his charge as
to favoritism in the military service, and assuming that the
President had confessed as to the civil service. From
Vance’s premises it was a strong letter ; and he closed — as
to his recital of grievances — “Do not, I pray you, misunder¬
stand me. I know these things in a greater or less degree
are inseparable from a state of war, and it is utterly im¬
possible for you to prevent them ; but they do add to the
discontent in North Carolina."

The' President replied March 31, and utterly disproved
Vance’s allegations as to the military service, and absolutely
denied the allegations as to the civil service. Then he
suggested that the unprofitable correspondence on such mat¬
ters should cease.

When in May, Vance submitted to the Assembly for pub¬
lication his correspondence with the President, he com¬
municated copies of his own letters and the replies of the

SUPPRESSED CORRESPONDENCE

875

President; among them his letter of February 9, 1864, but
he omitted the President’s reply and the subsequent letters ;
and no reference was made to the fact that the President
had replied. And, in that shape, a part of the official cor¬
respondence was published by the State in a public docu¬
ment. Later, during the campaign much of this correspond¬
ence was published in Vance’s campaign paper, the Con¬
servative, in particular this series of letters, but still there
was no mention made of the suppressed correspondence.

Vance’s situation was, indeed, one calling for the exercise
of prudence. Men, like Treasurer Worth, around him
were positively asserting that two-thirds of the people were
supporting Holden, and the atmosphere in which Vance
lived was such that he feared he could not stem the current.
While he looked to the future with a great dread, and even
contemplated as a possible escape from degradation death
on the battlefield, yet he resolutely buckled on his armor
for the inevitable contest. To win, he must by conciliation
and address detach from Holden the Conservative leaders
and those who had been in sympathy with them. That was
his task, and1 he entered on it with resolution. Fortunately,
he had been deceived by the misrepresentations of those
around him as to the fiber of the manhood and patriotism
of the people. What relief and happiness he must have
felt when later he found everywhere the people responsive
to his appeals, and enlisted under his leadership.

Matters in North Carolina

On January 5, 1864, Congress passed an act that no person
shall be exempt from military service by reason of having*
furnished a substitute. This opened with increased violence
the old questions arising under the Conscript Act, which
Chief Justice Pearson had almost invariably decided, at
chambers, against the government. And on the 24th of
February an act was passed authorizing the President to
suspend the writ of habeas corpus where he deemed it neces¬
sary. At that time Colonel Peter Mallett was commandant
of the conscript camp at Raleigh, George V. Strong was
the District Attorney, and Asa Biggs the Confederate Dis-

Vance’s task

The situation

8/6

THE CONFEDERATES HOPEFUL

Geo. Davis
in Cabinet

Reade,
Senator
Jan., 1864

The Reserves

Clark, Yol.
IV, 5

Kilpatrick

repulsed

March, 1864

trict Judge, Governor Bragg was the Confederate States
Commissioner, and was understood to represent the Presi¬
dent and to be his special adviser as to matters in the State.

George Davis having resigned from the Senate and been
appointed Attorney-General in Mr. Davis’s Cabinet, Gov¬
ernor Vance appointed Hon. E. G. Reade to the vacancy.
Judge Reade was sworn in January 22, 1864, and was
Senator until May, when Governor Graham’s term began.
Maj. D. G. Fowle, the Adjutant General, had quarreled with
the Governor and had retired, being succeeded by Gen. R. C.
Gatlin, of the Old Army.

The young men between seventeen and eighteen years of
age, and the old ones between forty-five and fifty were, by
act of February 17, 1864, called into the service and en¬
rolled in the “Reserves.” While the old men generally
were not called to the field at first, the young men were
brought to camps of instruction and organized into light
battalions of three companies each, by Lieut. Gen. T. H.
Holmes, to whom the duty was assigned. One battalion
alone was then organized of the Senior Reserves.

Dalilgren’s raid

The North Carolina cavalry, constituting a considerable
portion of that branch of the army, rendered efficient serv¬
ice on many a field. There was an affair on March 1 that
was of particular interest.

In February, 1864, a cavalry expedition was projected to
capture Richmond and release the Federal prisoners there.
It was entrusted to General Kilpatrick. In aid of it, Lee’s
army being in winter quarters, General Custer, on Febru¬
ary 28, moved with fifteen hundred cavalry from Madison
Court House to Charlottesville, reaching there on the 29th,
and Stuart started after him. Simultaneously with this
movement, Kilpatrick with thirty-five hundred men crossed
the Rapidan at Ely’s Ford and proceeded rapidly toward
Richmond. He detached Colonel Dahlgren with 460 men,
who rushed on to the James, with orders to cross and at¬
tack Richmond from the south, on March 1, while Kilpatrick
would attack from the north at the same time. Dahlgren,

DAHLGREN’S PLOT

8 77

finding he could not cross the James, pressed on along the
north side of the river. Kilpatrick succeeded in reaching
the outer works of the city on the Brock Road about ten
o’clock, on the first, and engaged the troops there until
dark, when, hearing nothing of Dahlgren, he withdrew to
Atlee Station. Dahlgren, however, did attack on the river
road, and was likewise driven off.

In the meantime General Hampton moved from Hanover
Junction with 300 North Carolinians of Gordon’s Brigade,
under the gallant and intrepid Col. W. H. Cheek, and, reach¬
ing the vicinity of Kilpatrick about midnight, he sent Colo¬
nel Cheek with 230 men to ascertain what force the enemy
had. Colonel Cheek, finding Sawyer's Brigade asleep,
brought up one piece of his artillery, dismounted 150 men,
and directed them, when the artillery opened, to fire, shout
and advance, and simultaneously with that, Cheek with his
mounted men rushed forward, and the whole Federal brigade
was stampeded.

Cheek captured 87 prisoners, 133 horses, and a number
of arms and equipments. Kilpatrick fled from the field and
continued his flight during the night down the peninsula
and reached Williamsburg. This affair forced Dahlgren to
make a wide detour to the north, but he succeeded in cross¬
ing the Pamunkey and the Mattaponi, seeking to reach
Gloucester Point. A notable result followed on the night
of March 3. Dahlgren was ambushed by 150 men under
Lieut. James Pollard of the Virginia cavalry, and at the
first fire Dahlgren and others were killed, and 135 cavalry
and 40 negroes surrendered to Pollard.

On Dahlgren’s body was found an address signed by
him, probably to his soldiers and the prisoners when re¬
leased, directing that the city of Richmond should be burned
and destroyed and President Davis and his Cabinet killed.
Another paper containing special orders and instructions,
but without signature, was to the same effect. Photographic
copies were submitted to General Meade. General Kil¬
patrick said they were true copies, “save so far as they
speak of exhorting the prisoners to destroy and burn the
hateful city, and kill the traitor Davis and his Cabinet.”
He denied giving such orders.

Hill, 228

Cheek’s

strategy

Dahlgren’s

purpose

McClellan’s
Stuart, 401

878

THE CONFEDERATES HOPEFUL

Lee’s view

Long, 643

Feb., 1864

The Stan¬
dard sus¬
pends

Worth, II,
300

Vance’s cam¬
paign

When the subject was officially brought to his attention,
Lee, with his undeviating rectitude and with that calmness
of judgment and passionless mind that distinguished him
from all other men, even the heroic Washington, replied to
the Secretary of War: “I do not pretend to speak the senti¬
ments of the army, which you seem to desire. I presume
that the blood boils with indignation in the veins of every
officer and man as he reads the account of the barbarous
and inhuman plot, and under the impulse of the moment
many would counsel extreme measures. But I do not think
that reason and reflection would justify such a course. I
think it better to do right, even if we suffer in so doing,
than to incur the reproach of our consciences and posterity.”

Tance acts

General Hoke’s Brigade, after Pickett's fiasco at New
Bern, had remained at Kinston, and to some extent was
employed in arresting deserters and conscripts. Because
of the act suspending the writ of habeas corpus, Holden,
fearing arrest, suspended the publication of the Standard.
To take its place, Starbuck proposed to Worth to start an¬
other paper on the same line ; but Worth would not venture.
“The editor would be arrested. Judge Pearson will not
be sustained by Judges Battle and Manly. The army has
been wrought up to enthusiasm. Its officers almost unani¬
mously are for a military despotism and the veterans have
acquired the habit of obedience to the will of their leaders.’’
It was indeed a fearful time for those who had fed and
fattened on denunciation of everything that did not suit
their whims; and their chief end of life was to quarrel with
and clamor against the Confederate administration rather
than against the invaders of their country.

Toward the end of February V ance could wait no longer,
but opened his campaign with an address at Wilkesboro.
It was on a line with his idea of policy. It was for concilia¬
tion. He had in his audience many of close kin to the
deserters who, indeed, were screened, fed and hid by them.
His object was to win these men back to their duty to their
State and to the Confederacy. He praised their faithful-

APPEAL TO PATRIOTISM

879

ness to their friends in hiding and appealed to them to
redeem their friends from crime and bring them back to
the path of duty and honor. But he announced that the
law was supreme and should be obeyed. He changed his
keynote somewhat on the subject of the suspension of the
writ of habeas corpus and no longer denounced the Con¬
federate authorities; and the drift of his remarks on the
question of peace imputed to those who were agitating for
a convention the ulterior purpose of seceding from the
Confederacy and submitting to the Federal government.
He pointedly presented the question : “What does Mr.
Lincoln promise? He says if one-tenth of the people of
any state will take an oath to support his proclamation
abolishing slavery, his proclamation inciting the slaves of
your State to burn your houses and murder your families,
then he is willing to set them up as the government of the
State. Are you willing to submit ?” His appeal to patriot¬
ism was superb ; and indeed this speech was unusually ef¬
fective, for Wilkes had been almost in a condition of en¬
tire disaffection, and Vance won nearly one-half of it to
his support.

On the publication of this address Holden at once, on
March 3, issued an extra, announcing himself as a candidate
for Governor. He met the issue boldly. “He was for
peace, Vance for war." The clap of thunder had come,
the air was clarified, the coalition was dissolved. A month
later Vance made a visit to the army. On the 26th of
March he opened his campaign among the soldiers by an
address to Daniel’s Brigade. On that occasion there were
present Generals Lee, A P. Hill. Edward Johnson, Rhodes,
and the gallant Stuart. It was doubtless the occasion men¬
tioned in Dowd’s Life, where it is said that General Lee
ordered a general review in Vance’s honor, an incident
without parallel in the history of the army. On a wide
plain near Orange Court House, the army was assembled,
drawn up in two confronting lines, awaiting the coming of
General Lee and Governor Vance. Presently, cannon
boomed, and, amid a storm of enthusiastic cheers, their
loved chief and his honored guest rode slowly along the
excited lines. Then from an elevated platform Vance spoke.

The Con¬
servative,
Feb. 22

Holden
enters the
field

Vance visits
the Army

Dowd, 124

88o

THE CONFEDERATES HOPEFUL

Dowd, 125

Bat. Ora¬
tions, 25

Under the influence of his varied imagery, his happy and
graphic illustrations, his stirring appeals and deep pathos,
his magnificent and resistless eloquence, all were enraptured,
inspired and carried away as if by the spell of a magician.
If aught of lukewarmness or despondency had been pro¬
duced by the machinations of a selfish faction at home it
vanished as a morning mist before a rising sun. General
Lee with enthusiasm remarked that Vance's visit to the
army was equivalent to a reinforcement of fifty thousand
men, and General Stuart said of this address : “If the test
of eloquence is its effect, this speech was the most eloquent
ever delivered.’’

On Monday, the 28th, Vance .spoke to Ramseur’s Brigade ;
to Kirkland’s on the 30th, and Laws’s on the 31st. He
doubtless made other addresses.

In February Johnston’s Brigade was detached from
Rhodes’s Division, and stationed at Taylorsville, a hamlet
some forty miles north of Richmond, to protect the rail¬
road bridge over the North and South Anna rivers. Vance
closed his campaign in the army by an address to John¬
ston's Brigade during the first week in April.

Walter A. Montgomery, a lieutenant in Company F,
Twelfth North Carolina, has written some personal memoirs
of the war, and recalls that immense assemblages from dif¬
ferent divisions and brigades attended wherever Vance
spoke. Governor Vance, he wrote, knew full well the tem¬
per and disposition of the soldiers in the trying ordeal of
arms through which they were soon to pass, and, full of
sympathy for them, he spoke seriously, eloquently and
tenderly. His anecdotes were not such as he told in his
campaign before citizen audiences to provoke laughter by
ridiculing and satirizing his opponents, but they were such
as appealed to the higher emotions and were illustrative of
the conduct of those who, in the path of duty, meet mis¬
fortune and even death with heroism — for love of country
and their friends and their honor. Patriotism, fidelity to
their living companions and reverence for the memory of
those who had died, scorn for those who would betray a
trust, the assurance of the gratitude of their countrymen

NEWSPAPERS SUPPORT VANCE

88 1

and, especially, the affectionate appreciation of their services
by the womanhood of the South, and the horrors of sub¬
jugation were his theme.

Never was an orator more effective. The courage of
the soldiers was revived and thousands of the despondent
resolved to fight it out to a finish.

The press

Col. Duncan K. McRae, after resigning from the army,
was employed by Governor Vance to dispose of some rosin
bonds abroad, and purchase needed stores. On his return
he ran for Congress in the New Bern district, there being
four aspirants, and Dr. Leach receiving the plurality. A
company, of which Governor Bragg was at the head, ob¬
tained possession of the debris of the State Journal, and
was able to repair the press ; and Colonel McRae began to Thg
publish the Confederate, more in line with the Richmond erate, May,
administration than any other paper. Upon the suspension 1864
of the writ of habeas corpus, Holden suspended the
Standard, but resumed in May. The Progress, Penning¬
ton’s paper, on the same line with the Standard, continued
to press the views of the LUtra-Conservatives. Elsewhere
the Fayetteville Observer, the Wilmington Journal, the .

Tarboro Southerner, the Western Carolinian and, indeed,
all the other papers were for Vance.

On April 20, John D. Hyman began the publication of
the Conservative. It was a campaign paper in aid of Gov¬
ernor Vance. Every issue was devoted to the advocacy of
Vance and to the dispraise of Holden. Holden’s political
wanderings and vagaries were continually aired, and Vance’s
every utterance was extolled. If Holden had denounced the
oppressions of the Richmond administration, so had Vance
— only more so ; and so on, to the end of the chapter. The
Register, edited by Seaton Gales, had been purchased by
Mr. John W. Syme of Petersburg, who continued its publi¬
cation as an administration paper.

After his return from the army Vance made some other
speeches : one at Fayetteville, April 22, before an audience
that was in entire rapport with him. “His resourceful-

882

THE CONFEDERATES HOPEFUL

April, 1864

ness," said Richard Battle, his intelligent Private Secretary,
“was developed as never before ; and I doubt whether any
orator of this country, either before or since, has displayed
greater variety in his speeches on public issues.” At Fay¬
etteville he was at his best. His treatment of Holden was
fine ; his portrayal of Holden's ingratitude was capped by
a couplet :

He come to my house, eat my bread and drunk my tea,

And run about town and talked about me!

It was known to all that he had sheltered Holden when
the Georgia soldiers had sought to hang him, and the effect
was to Holden's entire discomfiture.

The capture of Plymouth

After Pickett’s misadventure before New Bern the troops
assembled dispersed; those from Virginia returning there,
among them Clingman’s Brigade. Hoke’s Brigade remained
at Kinston, where the conscripts were daily drilled.

General Halleck supposed that Burnside’s Corps at Annap¬
olis would be sent on an expedition into lower Virginia
or North Carolina; and General Lee, learning that, sug¬
gested that General Beauregard with a portion of his troops
might prepare to oppose him. In conference with General
Hoke, he projected extensive operations in North Carolina
to begin at Plymouth.

Plymouth had been occupied by the Federals about a year,
and with the aid of negroes it had been well fortified ; strong
forts and redoubts being erected, well supplied with artil¬
lery, heavy and light batteries ; and every appliance of en¬
gineering skill had been utilized to make a perfect defense.
It was further defended by four gunboats, well manned and
equipped. Situated on the south side of the river, with
swamps and morasses above and below it, and with a deep
creek encircling it on the south and east, the approaches
were difficult, and, in addition, the forests in its front had
been cleared and the open spaces commanded by the gun¬
boats and forts. General Wessel was in command.

ADVANCE ON PLYMOUTH

883

Toward the middle of April was fixed on by Lee for the
movement, and a sufficient force was provided. There were
Kemper’s Brigade ; Hoke’s under Colonel Mercer, of the
Twenty-first Georgia, that had been assigned to Hoke’s
Brigade; Ransom’s, with the Eighth North Carolina, that
had been attached temporarily to his brigade; a squadron
of cavalry under Colonel Dearing, several batteries of artil¬
lery under Colonel Branch, all from Virginia except a sec¬
tion of Company E, Tenth North Carolina, under Captain
Miller. Fortunately the Albemarle was now nearing com¬
pletion, and Hoke urged redoubled haste. Forges were
erected on her decks, and blacksmiths and carpenters were
kept constantly at work even to the last, as she floated
down the river, her armor plates not being all in place.

All being in readiness, the troops were hastily assembled
at Tarboro and took up their march on April 15, arriving
within five miles of Plymouth on Sunday, the 17th, in the
afternoon capturing some pickets and routing a cavalry
company. General Wessel, learning of the movement, on
the night of the 18th sent down the river to Roanoke Island
in transports the women and children of the town.

Approaching from the west, Kemper’s Brigade and two
batteries turned off to engage the fort at Warren’s Neck
above the town. Hoke’s Brigade and Ransom gained the
road from Washington, entering the town from the south.
The former was in advance, but it moved farther to the
west, threatening the town on that side, Ransom being in
front at the south. That night Colonel Faison erected
works for his artillery to engage the two principal forts de¬
fending the town, Fort Anderson to the west, and Fort
Williams immediately in Ransom’s front. Various move¬
ments were made against Forts Warren, Sanderson, and the
other points during the day ; the lines steadily advancing
under a heavy artillery fire. At length the brigades reached
the open, nearly a mile wide, that had been cleared up in
front of the fortifications. Steadily Ransom’s Brigade ad¬
vanced, his skirmishers driving those of the enemy inside
their breastworks. The action, begun almost at sunset, was
•continued with vigor till ten o’clock, the night being per¬
fectly clear, with a full moon. The air was filled with

The Albe¬
marle

The attack

April, 1864

884

THE CONFEDERATES HOPEFUL

The Albe¬
marle in
battle

Graham :
Reg. Hist.,
Vol. IV,
175-185

screaming, hissing shells, appearing like comets, the gun¬
boats aiding the batteries. But the Albemarle did not come
as expected. Farther west Hoke's Brigade gallantly charged
on Fort Sanderson, but, although surrounded, it was im¬
pervious to assault with its deep ditch, high parapets and
strong stockade, and in its defense hand grenades were used
with effect. In one of the charges the intrepid Colonel
Mercer fell mortally wounded at the head of his men.
Finally, the artillery was advanced to within two hundred
yards of the fort, which already was surrounded by the in¬
fantry, and, its commanding officer being killed, its garrison
surrendered. It was about two o’clock that night that the
guns of the Albemarle and the Miami gave notice that the
Albemarle had arrived. On the morning of April 18, the
Albemarle left the town of Hamilton and floated stern fore¬
most down to three miles from Plymouth, and anchored
near Thoroughfare Gap where obstructions had been placed
to prevent her passage. Fortunately a great freshet was
in the river, and she avoided the obstruction, and at one
o'clock, despite the fire from Fort Warren and from Boyles's
Mills, passed on to Plymouth. The Miami and the South-
field , lashed together with long spars and chains festooned
between, steamed up stream hoping to enclose her, but the
Albemarle steered close to shore, and then suddenly turned
to mid-stream, and at full speed dashed her prow into the
Southfield. The Miami at close cpiarters opened her heavy
guns on the Albemarle, but without damage. An attempt
to board the ram was then repelled : and the Miami hastily
escaped. The other vessels had not remained to contest
with the ironclad, but made good their escape. So on the
morning of the 19th, Hoke received this desired reinforce¬
ment, and the Federal force was weakened by the absence
of the gunboats.

During the next day heavy firing was maintained against
the fortifications by the Albemarle and by the artillery at
Fort Sanderson, now turned against the enemy, and, later,
General Hoke made dispositions to assault from the east.
While continuing to demonstrate against the western and
southern points, he directed Ransom to withdraw and, mak¬
ing a detour of several miles, to approach up the Columbia

The Ironclad Albemarle

PLYMOUTH TAKEN BY ASSAULT

885

road that runs near the river. That approach was difficult
because a deep stream, Conaly’s Creek, had to be crossed,
and canals and swamps were additional obstacles, while it
was well fortified by Fort Comfort, Conaly Redoubt, and
other fortifications. Aware of these obstacles, and probably
bearing in mind General Barton’s failure to proceed at New
Bern, General Hoke gave particular and positive directions
to General Ransom, and made every preparation necessary
to meet the anticipated difficulties. About sunset Ransom
gained the Columbia road at a point five miles from the
town, and by dark had reached Conaly’s Creek, less than
a mile from the forts, finding the bridge destroyed and the
stream well guarded by the watchful Federals. Col. S. D.
Pool, however, soon got his pontoons in the water, and a
heavy detachment crossed and dislodged the opposing skir¬
mishers. By midnight the crossing had been effected and the
line formed from near the river across the eastern front,
and a slight breastwork had been erected. Skirmishers be¬
ing thrown out well in advance, throughout the bright moon¬
light night there were often sharp and terrific encounters ;
but the body of troops took good rest. At daybreak on the
20th rockets gave notice to General Hoke that Ransom was
ready, and Ransom’s Brigade being now in position, the
movement began. Four batteries galloped forward and
opened on the fortification, but the infantry soon passed
them, receiving the enemy’s fire without returning it.
Simultaneously the artillery at the west likewise opened fire,
and demonstrations were made both on the western and
southern fronts. The Twenty-fourth happened to be on the
Columbia road, with the other regiments in line on its right
and left, and when only a hundred and fifty yards from the
fortifications, the order to assault being given, the men
rushed forward, the artillery withholding its fire. ,

The first man to mount the parapet of Fort Comfort, the
strongest advanced post, was Col. J. P. Jones of the Thirty-
fifth, and, later, General Ransom called it Fort Jones in his
honor. The Twenty-fourth took the adjoining fortifications.
The Eighth captured Conaly Redoubt still farther on, and
then pursued the flying detachments to the very moat of

Fort Jones

886

THE CONFEDERATES HOPEFUL

At Fort
Williams

Clark, IV,
175-185

The spoils

Fort Williams. The Fifty-sixth, under Maj. John W.
Graham, after suffering much in their advance, entered the
town, driving the enemy through the streets, from house to
house, until, passing the western suburb, it engaged the
intrenched camp. There, likewise, the Twenty- fourth had
penetrated ; and the garrison, taken in rear and further re¬
sistance being unavailing, surrendered. Major Graham,
mounting the breastworks, waved the triumphant standard
of the Forty-sixth to Hoke's Brigade, amid shouts of re¬
joicing.

On the southern front there still remained Fort Williams,
well advanced, where many who had been driven from other
fortifications had found refuge. Riflemen took position to
prevent the use of its artillery, and the Confederate artillery
was posted to assail it. Wessell, with bulldog tenacity, held
out, but General Hoke notified him that if he required an
assault, with its useless sacrifice of life, not a man in the
garrison should be spared. Then Wessell, too, surrendered.
Plymouth was taken.

Among the fortunate results of this most brilliant feat of
arms was the cheering effect it had on the people of North
Carolina, turning despondency into hopefulness and allaying
that spirit of dissatisfaction which some of the Conservative
leaders had diffused among the people ; and, in particular,
it wrested some of the eastern counties from the dominion
of the despoilers and revived among the inhabitants devoted
patriotism, and opened up a large territory which could
supply provisions for Lee’s army. The immediate fruits of
the victory also were important. There fell into the hands of
Hoke 2,500 prisoners, 28 pieces of artillery, 500 horses,
5,000 stands of arms, 700 barrels of flour, and a large quan¬
tity of other stores, and, particularly, an immense supply of
ordnance stores.

General Wessell reported 127 officers and 2,707 men killed,
wounded and taken; while the loss of the Confederates was
125 killed and about 500 wounded.

On receiving information of Hoke’s achievement, the
President sent the following telegram : “In the name of the
Confederacy, I thank you for your success. You are a
major-general from the date of the capture of Plymouth.”

ALL LONG FOR PEACE

887

Tlie Legislature meets

The time for the meeting of the General Assembly, May
1 7, was now approaching. When the body convened the
absence of Governor Graham, who took his seat in Congress
May 2, and of Mr. Ramsay was observable, John Berry and
Nathaniel Boy den succeeding them, respectively. Thereto¬
fore the Conservatives had been very much of a unit. While
there were many varying shades of opinion and sentiment
they had acted together, united in their opposition to the
Confederate administration, and to their old party antag¬
onists, the Secession Democrats, whom they stigmatized as
Destructives. Now, a new question had arisen. The pro¬
priety of calling a convention of the people of the State to
deal with the subject of peace. All wanted peace; all longed
for peace ; all deplored the continuance of the bloody and
distressing war. But while all of that faction persisted in
their attitude toward the Confederate administration, now
there were divided counsels. It was not that any were willing
to abandon the cause. It was not that any were willing to
submit to any terms that might be required : but some hoped
and expected that some terms might be obtained that would
be acceptable. Holden had not declared that he was favor¬
able to a return to the Union, only that he wanted peace.
Vance stood for war until independence should be gained.
Worth early ascertained that not ten men in the Assembly
followed Holden ; his dominancy no longer continued. Vance
was the leader. Vance’s message was lengthy — 7,500 words
—and while a considerable part was devoted to fault-find¬
ing with the administration, 1,500 words were given to the
question of peace.

“If,” said he, “our enemy were really willing, under any
circumstances, to compromise with us upon any terms short
of our absolute independence, they would certainly say so,
and that to those whom they know to be authorized to en¬
tertain their propositions. The insidious attempts to invoke
separate, individual State action proves this conclusively,
and can have no other intention than to plunge us into civil
war and to subjugate us beyond redemption. How strange,
then, to think as some of our people honestly do, that the

May 17,
1864

Vance’s

position

888

THE CONFEDERATES HOPEFUL

Yance’s

views

very plan proposed by the enemy for our destruction is the
best way to secure a speedy and honorable peace. I respect¬
fully submit that my plan, based on the wisdom and patriot¬
ism of Washington and his immortal teaching of history,
to strengthen and sustain the army, and negotiate through
the proper channels is the safer and better one. . . .

I confess I am not of those who seem to think the greatest
danger to our rights and liberties is from our own people
and our own government.

“While struggling to resist the inevitable tendencies of
revolution to destroy civil freedom at home, I cannot for¬
get that the danger from without threatens the destruction
of everything; that there comes from the North a rank and
bloody despotism, fierce and fanatical, gory with our people’s
blood and blackened by the smoke of their burning homes,
with hordes of armed slaves thirsting to complete the de¬
moniac work of wasting and destroying, and panting to
sow salt in the furrows of the plowshares of desolation, in
whose march forms of law, constitutions, free governments,
life, home/prosperity, all go down to rise no more till
God shall implant in the bosoms of a new generation the
principles of liberty and the love of peace, which this in its
madness has cast off.”

He recommended that the Assembly should lay down a
basis for peace, and call on the Confederate authorities to
neglect no fitting opportunity of offering such to the enemy.
“I presume that no honorable man or patriot could think
of anything less than independence. Less would be sub¬
jugation, ruinous and dishonorable. Nobody at the North
thinks of reconstruction, simply because it is impossible.
With a Constitution torn into shreds, with slavery abolished,
with our property confiscated and our children reduced to
beggary, our slaves put in possession of our lands, and in¬
vested with equal rights, social and political, and a great
gulf yawning between the North and the South, filled with
the blood of our murdered sons and its waves laden with
the debris of our ruined homes, how can there be any re¬
construction with the authors of these evils, or how can
it be desirable if it were possible? Lincoln himself says it

LINCOLN’S TERMS DEGRADING

889

is not possible ; so does Mr. Fillmore, a man whom we once
respected, and so do nine-tenths of their orators and presses.

“The only terms ever offered us, contained in Mr. Lin¬
coln’s infamous proclamation, were alike degrading in mat¬
ter and insulting in manner, being addressed not to the
authorities, Confederate or State, but to individuals, who
by the very act of accepting its terms would have proved
themselves the vilest of mankind.”

He referred to the brilliant victories that had crowned
our army and particularly to the capture of Plymouth by
North Carolina troops and extolled the very great loyalty
and patriotism of the people within the enemy’s lines.

Vance’s friends in the Assembly requested him to lay his
letter book before the body so that it could be published
and the people could see how earnest had been his com¬
plaints. Words of praise or sustaining the Confederate au¬
thorities were few, but there was no tendency to soften
animosities with respect to the enemy. Vance’s denuncia¬
tions on the hustings were repeated with emphasis, while
Holden's plan to seek peace in some unusual way was dis¬
couraged.

But while Holden had only ten members in sympathy with
his peace projects, the habit of the majority of the Assembly
to quarrel with the Confederate administration was inveter¬
ate. The Governor had called attention to the conscript and
exemption laws of the Confederate Congress, and that part
of his message was referred to a committee composed of
Nathaniel Boyden, Mont. Patton, Thomas J. Pitchford, of
Warren, Benjamin Aycock of Wayne, and James Holleman
of Person. The last three named made a report, present¬
ing a resolution that “in the opinion of this Legislature,
Militia and Home Guard officers, and justices of the peace
within the conscript age are not proper subjects of exemp¬
tion from military duty.” The minority report, presented
by Boyden and Patton, was accompanied by a resolution
that the acts of conscription without the consent of the State
are unconstitutional. Mr. Aycock was a staunch supporter
of the government. On every roll call his name always led
those who upheld the administration. In this report, in
which he united, it was declared that “the present is not

The con¬
script act

Aycock

890

THE CONFEDERATES HOPEFUL

The action
of the As¬
sembly

Other states

the time or place to decide on the constitutionality of the
acts of Congress.” Mr. Boyden went far afield, with much
learning about the King and Parliament of Great Britain,
and “the gigantic power of conscripting the whole militia of
a sovereign state, placing them in the regular army and
sending them to distant lands to fight the battles of the
Confederacy.”

Mr. Aycock’s keynote was, ‘‘Shall the noble-hearted vol¬
unteers in the army in Virginia be suffered to call and die
in vain, while a man is left at home who can or ought to
render aid ?”

The Senate by a small majority sided with Mr. Boyden.
On the same line all other similar questions were settled.
But at the end of the session, in response to the Governor's
recommendations about peace declarations, both houses
adopted a resolution urging the Confederate government,
after some signal success in the field, to make an official
offer of peace on the basis of independence and nationality;
and “renewing our pledges of the resources and powers of
this State to the prosecution of the war until the independ¬
ence and nationality of the Confederate States is estab¬
lished.’’ It was Vance’s recommendation, and the platform
on which he stood for reelection. In the House only eleven
members voted against the resolution ; in the Senate there
was no vote recorded. There was apparently no party seek¬
ing a return to the Federal Union: individuals were at points
with the administration, in this State as elsewhere. In
South Carolina, Barnwell Rhett had retired to his planta¬
tion. In Georgia, Vice-President Alexander Stephens, after
his unpatriotic speech to the Georgia Legislature, March
16, also sought the quietude of his home. Governor Joseph
Brown was too enamored of states’ rights to cooperate with
enthusiasm with President Davis. Gen. Robert Toombs,
after two years of fighting, had resigned and had taken
charge of Governor Brown’s militia. He, too, on May 10,
wrote a long and elaborate exposure of Confederate wicked¬
ness. Both attacks on the Confederate administration were
published in the Conservative. Somewhat later, when
Sherman was marching through Georgia, some wicked
North Carolinian said: “Bob Toombs, fearing lest the

NO UNION SENTIMENT

891

Georgia militia should fall into the enemy's hands, assem¬
bled them at Athens and burnt them up.” Certainly that
was a mere figment of the imagination. After Appomattox,
General Toombs fled the country.

In North Carolina, in 1862, Judge Badger declared that
there was no Union sentiment among the people. Some
developed in the northeastern counties, when occupied by
the Federal forces, and some developed in a part of the
region contiguous to Tennessee. There may have been a
trace here and there among the Quakers and others. Boldly
standing out as a man who had no expectation of ultimate
success and having no sympathy with the secession move¬
ment was Hon. B. F. Moore, one of the great lawyers of
his generation. When Judge Biggs opened the Confederate
District Court in 1862 at Raleigh and the members of the
bar attended, Judge Biggs desired them to take the oath
to support the Constitution of the Confederate States, and
Mr. Moore took his green bag and hat and walked out,
never to return. But Mr. Moore accepted employment from
the State and rendered service notwithstanding his senti¬
ments and opinion.

At Elizabeth City was George W. Brooks, who was of
the same mind. Doubtless, there were others, but the num¬
ber of men who were not favorable to independence was
very small.

Many cases were brought before Chief Justice Pearson
on habeas corpus at chambers, and the Chief Justice had,
in probably every case, decided against the Confederate
States and discharged the prisoner. At length, at the June
term, 1864, the case of Gen. R. H. Gatlin v. Walton that
he had decided as usual, was brought before the full bench
at chambers. It involved the validity of the act of Con¬
gress, approved January 4, 1864, to put an end to the exemp¬
tion from military service of those who had theretofore
furnished substitutes. Judges Battle and Manly held that
the Chief Justice was wrong, and that the act was not un¬
constitutional. That to some extent clarified the atmosphere.
The Supreme Court of the State was no longer a prop to
those who habitually denounced Confederate legislation as
unconstitutional.

The Union¬
ists

Pearson

overruled

892

THE CONFEDERATES HOPEFUL

March, 1864

The Roll of
Honor

Conditions in the State

The State had sold one-half of the steamer Ad -Vance ;
it originally paid for the Ad-Vance one-half in cotton, the
other half in bonds; and it had one-fourth interest in three
other ships. It had sold 4,080 bales of cotton abroad at
204,000 pounds and had there about 1,000 other bales for
sale. It had many thousand bales bought and stored in this
country to meet its obligations with. It had sold to the
Confederate government and others goods to the amount
of $2,500,000; and had on hand goods to the amount of
$1,325,000, consisting of cloth, blankets, shoes, cotton and
wool cards, machines and findings and other such merchan¬
dise in the islands in transit.

The report of the Adjutant General for the eighteen
months ending March 31, 1864, shows that originally there
were turned over to the Confederate service 64,636 North
Carolina troops, and later the enlistments had been 20,608.
That the number of conscripts was 14,460 and the State
had in its service 2,903.

The Roll of Honor which the Legislature had ordered
was begun under Maj. James H. Foote. In a measure it
preserved the details relative to each regiment. An illus¬
tration is given: “Regiment A. B. : Volunteers 1,515, con¬
scripts 37, substitutes 16. Total enrolled 1,568. Died in
service 289, killed in battle 150, discharged 129, deserted
80, missing in action 30. Total loss 723. ” The number of
men each county furnished to the regiment is stated, and
the several battles in which the regiment participated are
recorded. The Roll of Honor was thus a most admirable
record as to every regiment for which full returns were
obtained. The excellence of Major Foote’s work received
many encomiums.

Clothing1 and provisions

The disbursements for clothing for the eiehteen months
was $6,862,043. The bounty paid out was $669,970. The
department had paid out over $2,000,000 for cotton. The
troops had been abundantly supplied with comfortable cloth¬
ing, and, indeed, much clothing had been supplied to troops

SPECIE AND CURRENCY

893

from other states. Over a million dollars had been used to
purchase provisions, much of which had been supplied to
the county commissioners for the poor, there still being on
hand provisions to the value of $410,070.

About a million dollars had been spent in the purchase
and manufacture of arms and ammunition, etc. The powder
produced at the mill at Raleigh, not otherwise used, was sold
to the Confederate government for $1.75 a pound.

The currency

The banks suspended specie payments in November,
i860, although they had in their vaults over a million dol¬
lars in specie, and had out between two and three millions
of their bank notes. The State had on September 30, 1863,
$3,325,898, notes, while the Confederate government had
issued so many millions of Confederate notes that the coun¬
try was flooded with them, and they had depreciated so that
it took about thirteen dollars in Confederate money to ex¬
change for a dollar in specie; and its value was now declin¬
ing still more.

In February, 1864, the Bank of Cape Fear was paying
one dollar in gold and four dollars in Confederate money n'°29o Vo1
for five dollars of its currency ; and the Bank of North
Carolina was paying one dollar in gold for four dollars of
its currency. Bank currency had fallen 75 per cent.

Although the rate of taxation had been increased, as
prices had still more largely increased the taxes were easy
to pay. Thirteen invaded counties had not paid in their
taxes, but the others had fully settled by October 1, amount¬
ing to $1,808,399, while the receipts of public funds for the
year were $15,208,440 and the disbursements were $15,-
078,992. The bonded debt September 30, 1864, was $21,-
192,000, which represented expenditures for the soldiers,
which by March, 1864, had been only $15,000,000; while
the Confederate government owed the State $4,000,000.

But what bore harder on the people than the depreciation of
the currency were the taxes in kind imposed by the Confed¬
erate government and the impressment of provisions, and
even of the slaves, when needed.

894

THE CONFEDERATES HOPEFUL

Report of
Sept., 1863

Salt

Schools

For the year 1863 the report of the Superintendent of
Common Schools is not full, as statistics were reported for
only some counties, and these were not entirely perfect.
Thirty-six reported 95,259 children of school age. Fifty
counties reported 1,176 schools taught ; the attendance being
35,495. In forty-seven counties there were 2,145 districts.
The receipts in fifty-four counties were $240,685. The ad¬
mirable and devoted superintendent remarked in his report :
“The future historian will add, as our crowning glory, that
in the darkest hour of the Confederacy, when every nerve
and muscle of the country were wrought to the highest
tension in a terrible and unexampled struggle for existence
and independence, North Carolina still supported a vig¬
orous and beneficent system of free and public schools, and
that they were attended by 50,000 of the children of her
patriotic citizens.”

The Superintendent urged the establishment of graded
schools and of higher schools.

The supply of schoolbooks was no longer available, and
Mrs. Moore, a daughter of the publisher, Mr. Branson, at
Raleigh, prepared a series of primers, readers and other
books for use in the schools. Print paper was so scarce
that it is said some books were printed on wall paper.

Davidson, Trinity and Wake Forest were suspended and
the University had in 1863 only sixty-three students and
about the same number thereafter. The students had mili¬
tary exercises.

Saint Mary’s and the seminaries at Salem and Greensboro
were continued. The building of Peace Institute was
finished, but .it was used as a hospital.

Salt being so necessary, early an ample provision was
made for a supply. Not only were works established along
the coast, but the State bought the right to manufacture at
the salt beds in Virginia, and wagon trains brought the salt
to the different counties of the State.

SUBJECTS OF PLUNDER

895

At the east

Except in the extreme east and extreme west, the war
was felt only by its inconveniences and sacrifices and sor¬
rows, and these were borne in a spirit of hopefulness and
devotion and without any thought but of success. But in
the east, where the country was afflicted by the recurring
incursions of the Federal raiders, there was particular suf¬
fering. Among the thoughtful officers employed in that
region was Maj. John W. Moore, whose home was in Hert¬
ford County. Out of his abundant knowledge he has re¬
corded : “The condition of Eastern North Carolina grew
hourly more deplorable. Frequent invasions of the enemy
resulted in the destruction of property of all kinds. Espe¬
cially were horses and mules objects of plunder. Pianos and
other costly furniture were seized and sent North; while
whole regiments of bummers wantonly defaced and ruined
the finest homesteads in search for hidden treasure. The ‘buf¬
faloes,’ in gangs of a dozen men, infested the swamps and
made night hideous with their horrid visitations. They and
colored coadjutors by all manner of inducements enticed
from the farms such of the negro men as were fitted for
military duty. No recruiting officers were ever more as¬
siduous or desperate in their measures. To the infinite and
undying credit of the colored race, though the woods
swarmed with negro men sent back on detailed duty for
the purpose of enticing their comrades into the Federal
Army, there were fewer acts of violence toward the help¬
less old men, and women and children than could have been
possibly expected under the circumstances.

“All the murders and robberies, so abundant at that period,
were unmistakably traced to the white ‘buffaloes/ Almost
every white man able to bear arms was absent with his com¬
mand, and yet the great body of slaves, with freedom
offered as a reward for their desertion, remained in faith¬
ful and affectionate subjection, and labored for the susten¬
ance of the families at home, while the Confederate tithings
and other farm surplus long enabled General Lee to hold
his own in the face of the foe. Many colored men became
warmly attached ‘to the cause of their struggling masters.’ '*

The buffaloes

Moore’s
Hist., Vol

The negroes

896

THE CONFEDERATES HOPEFUL

Stanly’s

complaint

The negroes

Nor are these expressions exaggerated. Even earlier,
Edward Stanly, the Military Governor, bore testimony :
“That I have offended some is probable; but they were those
whose schemes of plunder I defeated ; whose oppressions of
the innocent and helpless I resisted ; whose purposes seemed
to have been to join or follow the troops and to encourage
and participate in the most shameful pillaging and rob¬
bery that ever disgraced an army in any civilized land.”
And again : “Libraries, pianos, carpets, mirrors, family
portraits, everything, in short, that could be removed, was
stolen by men abusing flagitious slaveholders and preaching
liberty, justice and civilization.” Even family burying vaults
were broken open for robbery. Such is the evidence of the
Federal Governor.

Likewise, as to the affectionate adherence of the slaves to
their masters’ families, the picture drawn by Major Moore
is not so strong as it might be. The attachment was per¬
sonal and mutual. Born together, raised together, asso¬
ciated through life, each animated by a spirit of kindness,
the slave and the master or mistress had ties that fostered
affectionate devotion. And this fact is at once testimony of
the character of the white people and of the effects and
influence of African slavery as it existed in Eastern North
Carolina.

Movement on New Bern

General Braxton Bragg was now acting as Commander-
in-Chief of the Armies of the Confederacy and was the
military adviser of the President, a position similar to that
of Lee before Johnston was wounded at Seven Pines. In¬
formation had been received by General Lee that Burnside’s
Corps at Annapolis was destined by the United States War
Department to make an expedition into Southern Virginia
or North Carolina : but in fact General Grant, on taking
command, had arranged differently, and contented himself
with transferring- 10,000 from Gilmore’s force to Butler.
The information as to Burnside's expected movement, how¬
ever, gave alarm at Richmond, and to meet it decided action
was taken. General Beauregard was ordered from Charles-

HOKE RETURNS TO PETERSBURG

897

ton to Weldon, and a new department was created embrac¬
ing the territory south of the James and all of North Caro¬
lina, and all troops that could be spared were ordered to
report to him. Beauregard reached Weldon on April 22,
the day after the capture of Plymouth ; and, being now in
command, would have called off the expedition against
Washington and New Bern had the President not been de¬
termined that it should proceed. A part of Martin’s Brigade
from Wilmington relieved Hoke at Plymouth, and the
prisoners and supplies captured were carried to Tarboro,
while Hoke proceeded toward Washington. On arriving
there an artillery duel began, but on the night of the 28th
General Palmer evacuated the post, and Hoke prepared to
move on New Bern. On May 1 General Beauregard was
at Kinston, and General Hoke requested him to take per¬
sonal command of the force and make the attack. But
Beauregard declined. However, he formulated a plan of
attack not very different from that communicated by Lee
to General Pickett, which doubtless was Hoke’s own sug¬
gestion. Hoke had awaited the arrival of the Albemarle ,
but in vain. Now near Kinston was the ironclad Neuse,
prepared for action, but fast on a shoal, and incapable of
being moved until the water in the river should rise.

Hoke, on May 2, crossed the Tar at Greenville, the Con-
tentnea Creek at Coward’s Bridge, and on. the 5th, despair¬
ing of naval aid, passed the Neuse on pontoons. Hurrying
forward, he crossed the Trent at Pollocksville, and Hear¬
ing’s cavalry and artillery moved to the south and captured
the blockhouse on Brice’s Creek that General Barton thought
impregnable. Preparations were made for putting into the
river that night, within the enemy’s fortifications, a pontoon
bridge, arranged at first along the bank of the stream, se¬
curing it at the lower end and letting the other end swing
with the current, carrying it across the river. As Hoke’s
artillery commanded the other side of the river, the cross¬
ing could have been effected with but' little loss. But the
assault had to be abandoned, for during the night General
Hoke received a dispatch requiring him to leave his opera¬
tions, no matter how far things may have progressed, and

repair forthwith to Petersburg. The next morning the with-
57

Roman, II,
544

Clark, III,
350

The orders '

898

THE CONFEDERATES HOPEFUL

Jarratt's

Clark, V,
135

drawal began, and, reaching Kinston on the morning of
the 8th, the troops were crowded on cars and taken to Wel¬
don. Then, leaving for Petersburg, they reached Jarratt’s
Station, where Kautz’s cavalry had cut the railroad line.
That night they marched twenty miles to Stony Creek, and
rushed on to Petersburg. Thus, relinquishing a golden
opportunity of fame and service, Hoke, by an unparalleled
march, reached another scene of action at a most opportune
moment.

The Albemarle fails

The failure of the Albemarle to reach Washington de¬
layed Hoke’s movements. It did not come as expected. At
length on May 5 the Albemarle being in readiness steamed
out from Plymouth and entered the sound. On proceeding
about sixteen miles she was surrounded by the Federal
squadron of seven gunboats, having a total of fifty-five guns.
In the battle that ensued the smokestack of the Albemarle
was riddled, many iron plates of her shield were injured
and broken, and her after-gun was broken off and rendered
useless. For three hours she was subjected to a terrible
fire, and in the midst of it the Sassacus rammed the Albe¬
marle and, continuing to use her wheel, pressed her side
several feet under the water, apparently successfully sink¬
ing her. But Cooke was equal to the situation, and soon
he righted his ship, and the fight continued. But the thor¬
ough destruction of' the smokestack resulted in depriving
the engine of its draft, so that power could not be gen¬
erated; and the Albemarle lay, almost helpless, a target for
the enemy, who sought to foul her propellers with a large
fishing seine, to blow her up with a torpedo, and finally to
destroy her by casting a keg of powder down her smoke¬
stack ; but all their efforts proved without avail, and, night
coming on and their own vessels having suffered severely,
they drew off. Then Cooke, by using bacon and lard as
fuel, that not needing so much draft, was able to make
enough steam to get back to Plymouth, where she was
tied up to the wharf “covered with wounds and glory.”

GRANT IN SUPREME COMMAND

899

General Grant

With the year 1864 there was inaugurated a change in
the Federal Army that boded the Confederacy no good.
Up to then each military district had its commander, all
reporting to General Halleck at Washington, and there were
seventeen of them, separate and not cooperating. Toward
the end of February, 1864, the Federal Congress restored
the grade of Lieutenant-General, and President Lincoln ap¬
pointed Gen. U. S. Grant the Lieutenant-General and in¬
vested him with the command of all the military forces of
the government. General Lee already had and, to some
extent, -exercised similar authority. General Grant at once
minimized the importance of widely separated operations;
and, devising the plan of cutting the Confederacy in twain
through Atlanta and combating Lee with superior forces,
he withdrew large bodies from distant points and concen¬
trated all available forces in the execution of his plan.
Burnside added 20,000 to Meade and Gilmore sent 10,000
to Butler. While Grant made his headquarters with Meade's
army, he did not displace Meade as its commander, but
gave directions which Meade was to carry out. Similarly,
he had authority to give directions to Sherman and all
other generals in the field; but as to Sherman, he contented
himself with merely being advised of Sherman’s plans,
which he agreed to.

There never was an army more thoroughly equipped at
all points than the Army of the Potomac then was. Com¬
posed of about 140,000 men, it would have covered a front
more than twenty-five miles long. And Grant says in his
Memoirs that there never was a corps better organized than
his quartermaster’s corps, with a wagon train that would
have extended from the Rapidan to Richmond.

Lee’s entire army, including the divisions then absent,
consisted of about 60,000 ; and poor supplies of clothing,
ammunition, forage for teams — of everything necessary.
It was merely an army of veterans. It was the disparity
in numbers that gave Grant hope of success, for he pro¬
posed to wear the opposing forces away by attrition. He

Grant in
command

Grant’s
Memoirs, II,
188, 241

900

THE CONFEDERATES HOPEFUL

Confederate

needs

Long, 648,
649

Federal

activities

could lose two to Lee's one, and still maintain the larger
force ; while he could increase his numbers always at will.

General Lee was well informed of what was passing on
the Federal side, and would have taken measures to inter¬
rupt and defeat the general plan of operations, but he was
hampered by conditions that he could not control. In Jan¬
uary he wrote : “The want of shoes and blankets in this
army continues to cause much suffering and to impair its
efficiency. In one regiment, I am informed, there are only
fifty men with serviceable shoes, and a brigade that recently
went on picket was compelled to leave several hundred men
in camp who were unable to bear the exposure of duty, be¬
ing destitute of shoes and blankets.” In April, he advised
the President: “My anxiety on the subject of provisions
for the army is so great that I cannot refrain from express¬
ing it to your Excellency. I cannot see how we can operate
with our present supplies. Any disarrangement in their
arrival, or disaster to the railroads, would render it impos¬
sible for me to keep the army together, and might force a
retreat into North Carolina. . . . We have rations for

the troops today and tomorrow. I hope a new supply ar¬
rived last night.” Three days later, April 15, he reported:
“If I am obliged to retire from this line, either by a flank
movement of the enemy or the want of supplies, great
injury will befall us."

Grant’s measures required active cooperation along all
the Federal lines : by Sherman, by Sigel in the Valley, and
Butler, reinforced with 10,000 men by Gilmore. Butler was
to seize City Point and operate against Richmond from the
south. With these purposes in view Grant brought to his
aid every available man, strengthening every column that
was to cooperate, as well as Meade’s.

Lee had Longstreet and Hoke away ; the former he re¬
called. Whiting was brought north, and Beauregard was
assigned to the command of Petersburg and the defense of
Richmond. Simultaneously with his own movement, Grant
directed Butler that same night, May 4, to push on to his
task. On the 6th, Butler was in position at City Point and
had begun intrenching; and he sent cavalry from Suffolk

O O J

90i

THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN

and succeeded in cutting the Weldon road. Of these move¬
ments, however, Grant was not informed on the day.

Sheridan’s raid

On the 8th of May, when both armies were moving on
Spottsylvania, Grant directed Sheridan with 12,000 cavalry
to pass around Lee’s army, cut his communications and
harass him as much as possible, making his way to Butler
on the James, and, if practicable, taking Richmond. Stuart,
on learning of this movement, threw himself with but a
handful of cavalry in Sheridan’s path, and in an encounter
with a few men at Yellow Tavern on the 10th, received a
mortal wound. Sheridan successfully raided Lee’s com¬
munications, but the small force left to defend Richmond
had time to man the lines, and although Sheridan carried
the first’ line, he recoiled from the second, and retired to¬
ward the Chickahominy. On the 24th, he rejoined Grant
near North Anna.

On the night of May 3 Grant began his movement from
the Rapidan. His route after crossing at Germania Ford
was slightly to the southeast, pursuing roads that would
carry him to Spotsylvania Court House. Lee at Orange-
Court House moved east, approaching Grant’s route on two
roads, the Orange turnpike leading to the Wilderness Tav¬
ern, and the Plank road, about two miles lower down, on
which he would reach Brock’s road leading south to Spotsyl¬
vania. Lee sought to command and occupy the Brock road ;
and while Ewell with his corps engaged the enemy on the
upper road, Lee massed his forces on the Plank road to inter¬
cept Grant, and it was there that the heaviest fighting took
place.

The North Carolinians engaged were Daniel’s Brigade, and
Ransom’s with Ewell, Kirkland’s, Cooke’s, Lane’s, Scales’s
with A. P. Hill, and also the Fifty-fifth Regiment, Maj.
James Graham. “On May 5, Cooke’s Brigade, being the
leading brigade of A. P. Hill’s Corps, struck the Federal
Army at the intersection of the Plank road, along which they
were moving, and the Brock road by which Grant was pass¬
ing: and the battle of the Wilderness began. In the fight

May, 1864

Death of
Stuart

Grant moves

The North

Carolina

brigades

The Wil¬
derness

902

THE CONFEDERATES HOPEFUL

James

Graham

Reg. Hist.,
IV, 507

The thicket

of the afternoon, our loss was severe, being 1,080 out of
about i, 800 carried in. On the morning of the 6th of May
Grant attacked us in force and broke the troops on both
sides, when Longstreet’s Corps arrived and saved the day !

Ewell’s Corps, which had advanced on an upper road,
had likewise struck the enemy. Daniel’s Brigade, how¬
ever, was not engaged. On the afternoon of the 4th Ram-
seur’s Brigade went into camp in “The Wilderness.” The
next morning it took up the line of march and presently
was halted and drawn up in line of battle. “It was,” says
Cyrus B. Watson, “a beautiful May morning. Some Con¬
federate troops were in our front. Suddenly we heard a
heavy volley a few hundred yards in front of us. Soon the
woods were filled with demoralized men. Jones's Brigade
had been broken and its regiments were quitting the field
in the utmost confusion. We halted and let the men pass.”
Daniel gave the command to advance, and the brigade
moved at a quick-step through the underbrush. We had
not advanced far when through the dense, thick bushes
came an almost deafening crash of musketry. We had
not up to this time seen an enemy. The aim was too high
and hardly a man in the regiment was touched. Without
waiting for a command every gun was leveled and into the
line of smoke we poured a terrible volley, and with a shout
went at them. On reaching a little narrow thicket, which
with clubbed muskets was instantly leveled, we discovered
a thin line of the enemy in full retreat, with dead and
wounded lying before our eyes, indicating that something
like one-half of their line of battle had fallen at our first
fire." Such was the opening on Ewell’s front, and the battle
raged there until darkness intervened and each side with¬
drew. The battle was continued on the 6th and the 7th.

In this first encounter Lee lost 7,000 men, and Grant over
15,000. Lee had but 28,000 infantry present, but the dis¬
parity was neutralized by the character of the country in
which the operations were being conducted. The Wilder¬
ness was an extensive thicket with dense undergrowth of
low timbered pines, chinquapins, scrub-oaks and hazel. “A
region of gloom and the shadow of death. ... A land
of undergrowth, jungle and ooze where men could not see

DEATH GRAPPLE AT NIGHT

903

each other seventy yards oft. . . . Death came unseen ;

regiments stumbled on each other, and sent quick destruc¬
tion into each other’s ranks guided by the crackling of the
bushes. . . . Here, in blind wrestle as at midnight, did

two hundred thousand men clutch each other — bloodiest and
weirdest of encounters.” It was in this battle that an inci¬
dent occurred that should be here narrated. The divisions
of Hetli and Wilcox had been so exhausted during the day
that Lee proposed to relieve them by substituting Long-
street’s Corps that had been brought from Tennessee in
time, and now was but five miles away, and Longstreet was
ordered up ; but in the early morning the Federal assault
was renewed with increased vigor, and Longstreet had not
arrived. The situation was critical, till at length Long-
street’s Divisions came, making the last mile and a half in
parallel columns at a double-quick. The bullets of the
enemy were beginning to sweep the field in the rear where
Lee was giving directions and assisting Hill in rallying and
reforming his troops. Gregg’s Texans, coming up, lustily
cheered as they swept past Wilcox’s disordered columns.
“Much moved by the greetings of these men and their
magnificent behavior, Lee spurred his horse through an
opening in the trenches and followed close in their line as
it moved rapidly forward. The men did not perceive he
was with them, until they had advanced some distance in
the charge. Then there came from the entire line, as it
rushed on, the cry: “Go back, General Lee, go back!”
and a sergeant seized his bridle rein. “Just then,” says
Colonel Venable of his staff, “I turned his attention to Gen¬
eral Longstreet, whom he was seeking and who sat on his
horse on a knoll to the right of the Texans, directing the
attack. He yielded with evident reluctance to the entreaties
of his men, and rode up to Longstreet’s position, and he,
with affectionate bluntness, urged General Lee to go farther
back. The Texans went in eight hundred strong and lost
half their number on that bloody day.”

The conditions on that field are illustrated by this incident :

At the battle of the Wilderness a man from North Caro¬
lina precipitated a severe fight by asking a very simple and
reasonable question. The line of battle had been pressed

Longstreet

Long, 330

Lee

McCarthy,

104

9°4

THE CONFEDERATES HOPEFUL

Hancock

repulsed

Longstreet

wounded

The fire

forward and was in close proximity to the enemy. Every¬
thing was hushed and still. It was evening and growing
dark. As the men lay on the ground, keenly sensible to
every sound, and anxiously waiting, they heard the firm
tread of a man walking along the line. They heard the
jingle of a string of canteens around his neck. He ad¬
vanced near the line and brought on a terrific fight by quietly
saying: “Can any of you fellows tell a man wha’ he can
git some water ?” Instantly the thicket was illuminated by
the flash of a thousand muskets, the men leaped to their
feet, the officers shouted, and the fight was on. Soon, how¬
ever, the reserve brigade began to make its way through
the thicket. The first man to appear was the brigadier,
thirty yards ahead of the brigade, parting the bushes with
both hands. Eager for the fight, his countenance lit up
with fury, his first word was, “Forward !” and forward the
line went.

When Hancock entered the battle, his corps flushed with
easy victory, was attacked with great vigor by Longstreet’s
fresh troops, who rolled up its right flank at the same time
a heavy onslaught was being made on its front. Hancock’s
Corps was completely defeated and sent reeling back, so
that Longstreet afterwards declared that he thought he
“had another Bull Run on them.” But Longstreet rode
forward in front of his advancing line, and was fired on
by a portion of his own flanking column, who mistook his
party for Federal cavalry. He was struck and fell from
his horse severely wounded. This incident, bearing a strik¬
ing resemblance to the wounding of Jackson in these same
woods, put a stop to the advance.

On being informed that Longstreet was wounded, Lee
hastened to the spot and took command in person ; but
some time elapsed before the assault could be renewed, and
in the interim Hancock had been strongly reinforced and
had reached intrenchments. The columns of Hill and Long¬
street, now under Lee in person, made a vigorous assault,
the battle raging with great fury. The woods caught fire,
and the smoke and flames enwrapped the field of carnage.
Then the wooden breastworks of the Federals became a
mass of seething fire, and through the smoke and flames

SPOTSYLVANIA

9°5

the victorious Confederates charged, driving out the enemy,
who in turn drove them out ; and thus ended the action on
that part of the battlefield.

Early on the night of May 7, Grant having begun his
movement toward Spotsylvania, Lee moved quickly and
quietly and occupied that field before him. The topography
of Spotsylvania was entirely different from that at the
Wilderness. Here there was open country, farms and fields,
with ridges and rolling country. Both armies began to pre¬
pare intrenchments. On the morning of the 10th the battle
began. At three o’clock a severe attack was made by Grant
that was repulsed with heavy loss. But it was not until five
that afternoon that the chief assault was made. It was re¬
pulsed with terrible slaughter. Some 5,000 Federals lay
dead on the field. On the 10th the Thirty-second Regiment
suffered heavily and Colonel Brabble and many officers and
men were killed.

On the nth it rained hard and there was no fighting;
but on the 12th was probably the most desperate fighting of
the war. At early dawn the Federals captured the salient
of the Confederate works occupied by General Edward
Johnson’s Division, and in checking them Daniel’s and
Ransom’s Brigades fought with unsurpassed heroism. On
a reconnaissance Grant had considered that the position held
by Doles’s Georgia Brigade could be carried, and accord¬
ingly a heavy force was hurled against it. Doles’s three
regiments were overrun, and the assailants poured through
the gap. • When the Federals were pouring through the
lines and disaster seemed imminent, Lee rode forward and
took a position ahead of Gordon’s column, then preparing
to charge. But Gordon sprang forward and, seizing the
reins of his horse, excitedly cried : “General Lee, this is no
place for you. Do go to the rear. These men have never
failed and will not now.” And the men cried out: “No,
no, General Lee to the rear. We will drive them back if
General Lee will go to the rear.” And Gordon at the head
of his division sang out: “Forward! Charge!” And the
men, carried away with a spirit of devoted patriotism, each
man a hero in a sacred cause, offering their lives with a reso-

Spotsvl-

vania

go6

THE CONFEDERATES HOPEFUL

General

Daniel’s

death.

Clark, II,
531

Long, 541

lution that illustrates the sublimest action of human en¬
deavor, moved forward in their charge.

Daniel’s Brigade was to the left of Doles's, and under
the pressure of the terrific onslaught when Doles’s Brigade
was overrun, they fell back with a front perpendicular to
the line of works. Suddenly Ewell, the corps commander,
galloped up alone, and cried out to the Forty-fifth, “Don’t
run, boys. I’ll have enough men here in five minutes to
eat up every d - d| one of them.” Then Battle's Alabam¬

ians rushed by, and they all charged together, and the works
were recaptured. It was in this encounter that Colonel
Brabble of the Thirty-second fell.

The nth was quiet ; the night was dark and drizzly, the
two lines being very close together. Just at dawn the Fed-
erals rushed again on the right of the angle, rushing over
the line held by Edward Johnson’s Division, capturing nearly
his whole division. Again Daniel's Brigade was thrown
at right angles to the works, and, dropping on their knees,
they poured volley after volley into the enemy. A battalion
of artillery fifty yards in the rear, and some feet higher,
opened fire with grape and canister into the enemy over
their heads. The Federals came sweeping down on them,
but Ramseur’s Brigade moved up, and, enveloped in smoke,
the carnage went on for hours, many other brigades par¬
ticipating in the fight. It was there that the lamented Gen¬
eral Daniel was killed and Ramseur wounded, and their
brigades perhaps did the most bloody fighting of the war.

The Confederates, stretching across the base of the salient,
confined the assailants within the triangular area, while the
artillery from the surrounding hills hurled shell and can¬
ister on them, the dense fog and smoke concealing the
interior. From four o’clock in the morning till night the
battle continued. Fresh troops were constantly brought
up on each side. “Of all the struggles of the war this was
perhaps the fiercest and most deadly.” As on the ioth, so
on this occasion, General Fee rode to the front of a column
as it prepared to charge, at a moment when the need was
urgent. And again the men called out: “If you will go
back, General Lee, we will do all you desire,” and made
him retire. At last, the Federals abandoned further efforts.

BUTLER ON THE JAMES

90 7

Grant reported his losses up to May 1 1 at 20,000 men ;
on the 1 2th they were at least 10,000 more. While the
Confederate casualties were much less, they lost Johnson’s
Division.

Petersburg and Drury’s Bluff

General Clingman’s Brigade, being on the line of the rail¬
road from Petersburg to Suffolk, was on May 3 called back
to Petersburg.

Simultaneously with these movements, Butler began his
expected operations. With about 30,000 men he occupied
City Point and Bermuda Hundred on the night of May 5.
These are at the confluence of the Appomattox with the
James: Bermuda Hundred being on the north of that
stream, and some eight miles from Petersburg and eighteen
in a direct line from Richmond. The lower courses of both
rivers are tortuous and the streams deep and wide. The
railway ran almost due north from Petersburg to Richmond,
and about a mile west of Drury's Bluff, which was the
naval station, about seven miles below Richmond and forti¬
fied with intrenchments. At Walthall Junction, six miles
from Petersburg, the James comes within three or four
mile§ of the railroad. Butler, unopposed, proceeded on the
6th to intrench himself on the narrow neck between the two
rivers, about three miles from the railroad. There was but
a very small force at Petersburg and Drury’s Bluff. Butler
threw out at once a brigade to destroy the railroad at Wal¬
thall Station. A few companies of Hagwood’s Brigade
hastened from Petersburg, and as they jumped from the'
train they saw the enemy advancing only a thousand yards
away. The engagement resulted in the Federals retiring.
The Fifty-first North Carolina, under Clingman, also reached
the scene, and, during the night, General Bushrod Johnson,
having heard the firing, came from Drury’s Bluff with
eleven hundred men, and Hagwood arrived from Petersburg
with fifteen hundred. When the battle was renewed the
next morning the Federals were driven off with the loss
of about a thousand men, and Petersburg was saved from
capture. On the 7th Clingman was recalled to meet a

May 3

Butlex- moves

Walthall

Station

May, 1864

908

THE CONFEDERATES HOPEFUL

At Rich¬
mond

Hoke

Drury’s

Bluff

Clark, III,
136

column advancing on Petersburg by the City Point road ;
and on the 9th, with his own brigade and another, he made
a reconnaisance on that road and struck the enemy about
two miles and a half from the city. Butler, failing in this
movement, continued to intrench himself. The alarm at
Richmond was now at fever heat, and it was increased by
the approach of Sheridan with twelve thousand cavalry and
the calamity of the death of the brave Stuart, who had
fallen at Yellow Tavern. It seemed as if it had been thought
that orders for the assembling of reinforcements could be
instantly carried into effect, whereas transportation facili¬
ties were lacking and the railroad line interrupted. Only
about four thousand men could be mustered at Richmond.
The peril certainly was great.

But Hoke's activity in North Carolina and the unsur¬
passed quickness with which his victorious brigades were
transferred to Petersburg saved the situation. Then Butler
was cautious. Abandoning the attack on Petersburg, he
turned to Drury's Bluff. On the 10th both Beauregard
and Hoke reached Petersburg from Weldon; and troops
continued to arrive. On the morning of the nth Hoke
moved out from Petersburg with six brigades and eight
batteries to fight his way, if necessary, through to Drury’s
Bluff, and he succeeded in reaching there.. On the ‘13th
the Federals, being now ready, assaulted the Confederate
outer lines around Drury’s Bluff. Gen. Matt. W. Ransom
with his brigade held the extreme left, where the principal
attack was made. As the first assault was being repulsed
in front, a Federal force that extended beyond Ransom’s
right passed beyond him and opened a galling fire from the
rear. The Forty-ninth and Twenty-fifth North Carolina
leaped over the works and poured a destructive volley into
the ranks of the flanking party, under which the Federal
line melted away. The day was won, but in the encounter
General Ransom was so severely wounded that he had to
relinquish his command. Hoke, however, withdrew to an
inner line, and in that movement the Fifty-sixth was hotly
assailed and lost heavily. At Petersburg, General Whiting
had arrived and, Pickett being ill, Whiting was given his
command. General Beauregard, having taken order for the

IVHITING FAILS TO ADVANCE

909

defense of Petersburg, with an escort of 1,000 men pro¬
ceeded to Drury’s Bluff, having to make a wide detour, and
to squeeze in between Butler’s force and the river, which he
fortunately succeeded in doing, arriving at three o’clock in
the morning'.

The lines were now very close, the pickets being in rifle
pits, and they could be relieved only at night. It was while
on picket duty here that Capt. Thomas J. Jarvis received the
wound that disabled his arm through life.

Both General Bragg and President Davis came to confer
with Beauregard; but it was not until the 15th that Gen.
Robert Ransom’s force of 5,000 men at Richmond was
ordered to Drurys Bluff, augmenting Beauregard’s force
there to 15,000. These he hastily threw into three divisions,
under Ransom, Hoke, and Colquitt; and, proposing to strike
the enemy at daybreak on the 16th, he sent instructions to
Whiting, to take position on Swift Creek with the brigades
of Wise, Martin, and Dearing, and with two regiments of
Colquitt’s and twenty pieces of artillery; and “at daybreak
you will march to Port Walthall Junction, and when you
hear an engagement in your front you will advance boldly
and rapidly, by the nearest road in the direction of the
heaviest firing, to attack the enemy in rear or flank.”

With Whiting was Gen. D. H. Hill, serving as a volun¬
teer aide on his staff, and with Beauregard was Col. T. M.
Logan, as a volunteer aide. Colonel Logan had been sent
by Beauregard to carry his order to Whiting, and he re¬
mained with Whiting that night. In the morning Logan
and General Hill urged Whiting to obey Beauregard’s in¬
structions and advance and attack, but in vain. Colonel
Logan wrote : “General Whiting, however, could not be
induced to advance, and while intimating that he would do
so later in the day, when he felt that he could do so with
safety, both General Hill and myself felt perfectly satisfied
that for some reason he would not do so.”

Martin’s Brigade was with Whiting and Wise’s. Charles
G. Elliott was temporarily on Whiting’s staff. He says :
“General Hill, General Martin and General Wise urged
him to go forward, but he would not give the order.” It is
remarkable that General Martin did not put Whiting under

Robert

Ransom

Orders to
Whiting

Roman, 558

Reg. Hist.,
Vol. IV, 530

910

THE CONFEDERATES HOPEFUL

Roman, 209

The force

Whiting

fails

arrest, assume command, and obey the order. General Wise
said of Whiting: “He was an able and brave officer, and
failed only from his too long indulged habit of inebriety.
Had he been sober that day General Beauregard would have
achieved the most decisive victory of the war.” Indeed,
had it been so, “Lee would have had his 45,000 in Grant’s
front, with Beauregard’s 20,000 on his left flank and rear.”
And under those conditions the result would have been of
great importance.

The left was assigned to Ransom and the right to Hoke.
Thus the battle was fought by these two North Carolina
major-generals, and there were on the field Ransom’s,
Clingman’s and Hoke’s Brigades, while elsewhere there was
Martin’s. In Ransom’s Division was Hoke’s Brigade under
Gaston Lewis. At daybreak on the 16th, notwithstanding a
dense fog, Lewis opened the battle, and was followed by
Gen. Bushrod Johnson on his right. Hoke then moved in
Clingman’s and Corse's Brigades. Rushing over the en¬
emy’s rifle pits, they charged the main line of battle, and
broke the line, but themselves suffered from the heavy col¬
umns that remained on their flanks, and were obliged to
withdraw to their first intrenchments. But Butler realized
that his movement had failed; and, as his position was
perilous, he determined to withdraw.

Whiting had advanced beyond Walthall Station, and at
nine in the morning of the battle, Beauregard telegraphed
him : “All has been going on well. Ransom is driving them
on the left. We are pushing them on our right. Press in,
and press over everything in your front, and the day will
be complete.” And again at four in the afternoon, Beaure¬
gard sent him a dispatch: “The enemy has been driven
back on our right. Corse and Clingman have moved to the
line of works on the hill west of the railroad. We are about
making a general advance with all forces. Can you not
aid in this movement at once ?”

All during the day Beauregard waited with impatience
for Whiting to advance, but in vain, and at four o’clock in
the afternoon, he realized that Whiting had failed him, and
his plan to crush Butler and capture his army had miscar¬
ried. That night Beauregard informed General Bragg:

BEAUREGARD PURSUES BUTLER

911

“The movement will be prosecuted without variation, com¬
mencing at daylight in the morning, and I hope to have the
cooperation of General Whiting."

On the night of the 16th Butler began to retire, Beaure¬
gard in pursuit. At one o’clock of the 17th Whiting joined
Beauregard who, after a severe engagement, drove Butler Butler
back into his intrenchments at Bermuda Hundred. Across
the neck near Dutch Gap Beauregard erected a line of
works known as the Howlitt Line, and Butler being con¬
fined by that, he was bottled up. When on the 17th Whit¬
ing reported to Beauregard, on whose staff he had served in
preparing to attack Fort Sumter, there were subsisting be¬
tween them most cordial relations, he expressed sincere gridf,
accepting the blame, admitted his error and asked to be re¬
lieved from his command. Accordingly, Beauregard as¬
signed him to the command of the Petersburg District, and
assigned Gen. D. H. Hill to the command of his division.

But while Beauregard was of that kindly disposition, Bragg,
a strict martinet, never afterwards placed reliance on
Whiting.

Cold Harbor, 1864

After the repulse of Grant at Spottsylvania he remained
inactive till the 18th of May, when two fresh divisions ten
thousand strong came up and assailed Ewell, who drove
them back with heavy loss. He now readjusted his army
and sent back to Washington over one hundred pieces of
artillery with their horses and caisson. Then, a few days
later he again largely reduced his artillery. Having received
reinforcements to the number of forty thousand, about his
loss, on the 20th Grant silently withdrew. Lee, divining
that his objective point was Hanover Junction at the inter¬
section of the railroads on the North Anna, himself occupied
that position on the 22d, and when Grant arrived on the
23d he found Lee well intrenched. After an ineffectual at¬
tack, Grant, on the night of the 26th, withdrew and moved
to the Pamunkey; and Lee, keeping pace with him, took
post on the Totopotomoy, in the neighborhood of the Chicka-
hominy. On the night of the 30th Lee’s left was near

912

THE CONFEDERATES HOPEFUL

Hoke’s
Division
Holds Grant

Death of
Murchison

Death of
Moore

Lane

wounded

North Caro¬
linians

Atlee’s Station on the railroad, about three miles north of
the Chickahominy, and extending down parallel with that
stream ; while Grant’s advance lay near his immediate front,
south of the Totopotomoy, and north and east along the
Pamunkey.

After Butler was bottled up the brigades of General
Clingman and General Martin, along with those of Colquitt
and Hagood were associated as a division and assigned to
Major-General Hoke: and on the night of May 30 this di¬
vision was directed to proceed to Richmond, and then to
join Lee. Hoke reached the vicinity of Cold Harbor on
the afternoon of May 31, and Lee’s line, not having been
extended to that point, when Grant’s column approached
Hoke and the cavalry received the shock of the first en¬
counter. But they held their position and soon Lee’s infan¬
try came up and the lines were established. On this occa¬
sion Capt. Edward White, the brave, gallant and efficient
Adjutant General of Clingman’s Brigade, was wounded, and
Capt. W. W. Burgwyn succeeded him. The brigade at once
began to intrench in its new position, using bayonets and
tin cups as their implements. About five o’clock in the
afternoon of the 1st, a large force having gained Clingman’s
rear and approached, Clingman faced to the rear and drove
them off. In this encounter Captain Burgwyn was himself
wounded, and Lieut. Col. John R. Murchison, leading his
regiment, fell in the attack. Martin’s Brigade was on Hoke’s
extreme right, when just at dawn the enemy advanced. It
was a great Confederate victory from the start, but Col.
Alexander Duncan Moore of the Sixty-sixth fell — a most
brilliant officer. Farther down the line in Heth’s Division,
Cooke’s and Kirkland’s Brigades were engaged. General
Lee telegraphed to the Secretary of War that they had hand¬
somely repulsed the enemy. Then Hill’s Corps was placed
on Hoke’s right, and the battle of the 3d opened. On that
day, General Lane having been wounded, Col. John D.
Barry commanded the brigade, and continued in command
of it for some months, as temporary brigadier-general.

In the battle of Cold Harbor, running through three days,
North Carolina had ten brigades, Martin’s, Clingman’s,
Grimes’s, Cox’s, Johnston’s, Kirkland’s (under McRae),

HOUR OF DREADFUL CARNAGE

913

Lane’s (under Barry), and Hoke’s (under Lewis), and be¬
sides six more regiments, containing more than a fourth
of Lee’s army; and North Carolina brigades opened the
battle and were at its close. Lloke’s ground was never
changed. It was the important key to the position. At
that time General Lee was ill, and had been for some days.
As he could not be on the line, and as Hoke’s Division was
composed of men who had not been with the Army of
Northern Virginia in its trying vicissitudes, Lee felt un¬
easiness lest they might not be as steady as his tried vet¬
erans, and, knowing that they would have to stand the brunt
of the assault, he sent to Hoke asking him to come to his
tent and see him. Hoke, however, replied that he was expect¬
ing an attack momentarily and could not then leave, but that
General Lee need not be under any apprehensions. After
the attack had been repulsed Hoke hurried to the tent, and
found Lee on his cot sitting up, and, despite his illness,
“bold and with the spirit of a game cock” ; and that, indeed,
was the key to Lee's military character and achievements.
Lee’s line, with some 45,000 men, was from the Totopoto-
moy to new Cold Harbor; Grant’s 110,000 men were massed
from Bethesda Church through old Cold Harbor to the
Chickahominy. While Grant prepared to assault all along
the line, his principal attack was to be by Hancock, Wright
and Smith on his left. Grant ordered his corps to move at
half past four. Necessarily much time was consumed be¬
fore the near approach ; and by half past seven the fighting
was over. At every point he met with the same disastrous
results. On the Confederate right where Hoke’s Division
was, and others equally effective, rank after rank of the
assaulting columns was swept away, and as attack followed
attack the Federals fell in thousands under the murderous
fire of the steady Confederates. The dreadful carnage
lasted but a short hour, and thirteen thousand lay dead
and dying on the field. Later, an order was given to renew
the assault. It was transmitted to the men, but was not
obeyed. Not a man stirred. The troops stood silent. At
eleven o’clock Grant visited his front, conferred with his
commanders, and was advised that they could not succeed ;
and at 12:30 he issued an order suspending the advance.
The Confederates lost but little more that one thousand men.

Hill, 251

Lee and
Hoke

Biog. Hist.,
I, 317

Grant’s
Memoirs, II,
272

The Federals
decline

Long, 348

CHAPTER LIV

Ramseur

June, 1864

Grant Held in Check

Early moves on Washington City. — Grant’s new plan. — Peters¬
burg. — Clingman in time. — Lincoln’s Gettysburg address. — His
reply to peace propositions. — His answer to Holden and Worth. —
The campaign. — The result. — The State election. — Reams Station.
— The capture of the Ad-Vcmce. — Cushing. — Destruction of the
Albemarle. — In the army. — Battle of Winchester. — Death of Ram¬
seur. — The Assembly meets. — The Junior Reserves at Belfield. —
Butler’s Bridge. — Election at the North.

Raid on Washington

General Early, having succeeded to the command of
Ewell’s Corps, Ramseur was promoted to be Major-General
and given Early's Division. On June 13 Early was directed
to take his corps to the Valley to withstand Hunter, and
with him were Grimes’s Brigade, Johnston’s Brigade, and
Lewis’s, then commanded by General Godwin ; and the en¬
tire cavalry was commanded by Maj.-Gen. Robert Ransom.
In this corps were fourteen North Carolina regiments of
veteran infantry, and Ransom was major-general. After the
Valley was cleared Early crossed the Potomac on July 5,
and threatened Washington. At Frederick he found Gen.
Lew Wallace with a force of ten thousand men, about equal
to his own; but he brushed it aside and after the fight the
Federals spread the rumor that they were overcome by thirty
thousand Confederates. Early, with Ransom’s Division,
now proceeded by rapid marches to within cannon shot of
Washington, where the greatest consternation prevailed.
The Confederates took position at Silver Springs, Mont¬
gomery Blair’s residence on Seventh Street extended, and
Mr. Lincoln himself went out on the lines. The clerks were
organized into companies, and engaged in the defense while
troops were being hurriedly brought to the city. But Early
had then only about eight thousand men, and he could not
have held the city had he entered it. He succeeded in his
purpose to withdraw Federal troops from other points to the
defense of the Capital and then he returned to the Valley.

FEDERALS SOUTH OF THE JAMES

91S

Grant’s new plan

After Cold Harbor Grant determined not to assail Lee
again, but to seek to cut Richmond off from the South, and
to that end he proceeded to transfer his army to the south
of the James. Smith’s Corps was first dispatched to join
Butler, followed by Hancock, and an attack was made on
Petersburg early on the morning of the 15th of June. The
movement had been veiled in secrecy, so that no additions
had been made to Beauregard’s meager garrison holding
his extended lines of advanced earthworks. But the assault
was not sufficiently pressed and was defeated. Early in the
morning of the 16th the brigades of Hoke's Division, after
a forced march, arrived just in time to man the lines, for
on that evening Grant in person, with seventy thousand
troops, moved to the assault. Clingman’s Brigade had been
the first to arrive, and held the lines against all assaults un¬
aided, until Ransom’s Brigade reached the works that night.

For three hours the battle raged furiously along the whole
line with varying success, nor did the contest subside until
after nine o’clock, when it was found that Birney, of Han¬
cock's Corps, had effected a serious lodgment. For two days
now there was a constant conflict ; charges and counter
charges, all highly creditable to both armies, but so confused
as to defy description, save that the Confederates were
driven in. “At dusk the Confederate lines were pierced
and, in the disorder, disaster was imminent, when suddenly
in the dim twilight Gracie’s Alabamians, mounting from
ravines in the rear, with fierce cries swept over the works,
captured fifteen hundred of the enemy and drove the others
pell-mell from disputed points. Then the battle raged with
great fury until past midnight and Beauregard was in trou¬
ble, when a courier galloped up with a note from Hoke
that he had easily repulsed Smith and could lend a helping-
hand. Beauregard now selected a new and shorter line in
the rear, which was occupied and held until the defense
closed. On the 18th Anderson’s and Hill’s Corps arrived,
and came into the Confederate works — division after divi¬
sion, battery after battery, among them being Cooke’s,
Lewis’s, McRae's and Scales’s Brigades — and the Army of

Petersburg

Clark, IV,
495

Long, 373

Ibid., 374

GRANT HELD IN CHECK

Northern Virginia was again in front of the Army of the
Potomac.

In these four days of unequal contest Grant admitted a
loss of more than ten thousand men. It was but a repetition
of his former experience. Grant’s purpose to transfer his
army beyond the James being comprehended, the Confed¬
erate cavalry was ordered to harass him in making the
movement. On the 7th of June the North Carolina brigade,
„ . First, Second, Third and Fifth Cavalry, under Gen. Rufus

Barringer, who the day before had been commissioned
Brigadier-General, hastened to the lower fords of the
Chickahominy. During its rapid movements it had severe
June, 1864 skirmishes at five points, indeed wherever it could strike the
enemy. By the 18th the brigade had passed from before
Richmond and taken position two miles south of Petersburg.

On the 1 8th of June General Lee, having arrived at Peters¬
burg, was in command, but Beauregard continued with him
The siege till the middle of September. Grant now settled down to
the siege of Petersburg, which became largely a trial of
endurance. The North Carolina troops, like those from
other states, all behaved admirably. Martin’s Brigade occu¬
pied the salient in front of the Hare House, called "Fort
Steadman” by the Federals, and “Colquitt’s Salient” by the
Salient Confederates, for Colquitt’s Brigade was the relief of
Martin's. When Martin’s withdrew to recuperate after
three days service, Colquitt’s went in ; and vice versa. Be¬
fore many days General Martin became so physically weak
that he had to be relieved by Colonel Zachary, and in August
Gen. W. W. Kirkland was assigned to the command. Ma¬
larial fever, diarrhea, scurvy, and other diseases, casualties
from shot and shell, soon thinned the ranks. The lines there
were closer than elsewhere, and while the sharpshooters were
constantly at work, mortar shells rained down incessantly.
On June 20th there were 2,200 men reported in the brigade.
In September when relieved the total force was 770 living
skeletons. There was no shelter from the sun or rain. The
rations consisted of one pound of pork and three pounds of
meal for three days. No coffee, no sugar, vegetables, to¬
bacco, nor grog, only a little meat and bread. No food
could be cooked there, but the scanty provisions were

EXPLOSION OF THE CRATER

917

brought in bags on the shoulders of men from the cook
yards some miles in the rear. “No wonder,” said Lieut.
Charles G. Elliott, “that the list of officers in the brigade
was reduced to three captains and a few lieutenants.” The
brigade was commanded by Capt. George B.- Daniels of
Granville County, and Elliott was the only staff officer.
While such was the condition with Martin’s Brigade, it was
similar as to all other brigades. What horrors could the
heroic souls of Cooke’s, Lane’s, Clingman’s, McRae’s, Ran¬
som’s and Scales’s and of every other brigade reveal ! On
the 30th of June General Grant exploded a mine along the
Confederate line, and thousands of Federal troops rushed
into the crater. The Twenty-first North Carolina and the
Twenty-fourth* Twenty-fifth, Forty-ninth and Sixty-first
were among the regiments that drove the enemy back. The
chief result was a loss of 3,500 lives h> the Federal Army.

On the 1 6th of August Lane’s Brigade, under Colonel
Barbour, recaptured the intrenchments on the Darbytown
road, in the presence of General Lee, and on the 19th of
August Clingman, in an attack on Warren's Corps, was
so seriously wounded that he was never able to rejoin the
brigade, Col. Hector McKethan of the Fifty-first taking
the command.

Mr. Lincoln’s address

While the campaign was in progress, on July 4, 1864, at
Gettysburg Cemetery, Mr. Lincoln made a notable address,
closing with a remarkable illustration of excellent rhetoric.
He said: “We here highly resolve that those dead shall not
have died in vain, that this Nation, under God, shall have
a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people,
by the people and for the people shall not perish from the
earth.”

One would look in vain in the Federal Constitution for
the word “nation” which Mr. Lincoln here used. He wan¬
dered outside the Constitution. As he was not advocating
constitutional government, it may be unnecessary to say
that constitutions in popular governments are adopted to
protect minorities from the arbitrary action of majorities.

Hill, 266

Clark, IV,
535

The mine

June 30

918

GRANT HELD IN CHECK

Government
by force, not
consent

No one had been proposing to interfere with the govern¬
ment existing between the states that remained in the Union ;
no one was proposing that popular government should
perish from the face of the earth. On the contrary, mil¬
lions of people, the inhabitants of a vast territory, were as¬
serting the doctrine of government of the people, for the
people, by the people; and Mr. Lincoln was engaged in op¬
position; and his utterance was in aid of his purpose to de¬
stroy the right of people of great states to self-government.
His purpose was fixed. In the name of popular government
he was seeking for government by the heaviest artillery, and
such was his "new birth of freedom." But as to popular
government in the seceded states — occupied, as to the whites,
exclusively by the kith and kin of those who had originally
settled that part of the continent, by men of the blood of
Washington, Jefferson, Patrick Henry, the Lees, and their
illustrious associates, the staunch patriots of the New World
— Mr. Lincoln ever declared like Cato, Cartago delenda est;
and, naturally enough, when the heaviest artillery had pre¬
vailed the Congress declared that the conquered had no
rights that the conquerors were bound to respect. Mr.
Lincoln was then dead and did not see the full consumma¬
tion o'f his work.

However, the Southern men who were agitating for peace
had not been misled by President Lincoln. They did not
look to him, but claimed to look beyond him to the people
of the North. His skirts were free from any taint of dis¬
simulation. Having, by denying to the South any constitu¬
tional guarantee, created the basis of the secession move¬
ment in the cotton states, and, later, having forced the non¬
seceding Southern States to withdraw from the Union, he
never offered any hope of arresting the bloodshed except
by submission. He viewed the action of eleven great states,
based on their claimed sovereignty, and almost unanimously
sustained by their inhabitants, as a mere insurrection; and
disregarding the Constitution, relying on superior force,
resolutely determined to persist to the last extremity, with¬
out blandishment or suggestion of accommodation. He never
misled any one in North Carolina. A few days after his
Gettysburg address Mr. Lincoln gave answer to Holden

LINCOLN'S POINTED ANSWER

919

and Worth, by calling for five hundred thousand more vol¬
unteers to enforce his purpose. He offered no comfort to
those Conservative leaders who were quarreling with the
Confederate government for seeking to conserve the power
and authority of the Confederacy they themselves had con¬
curred in establishing.

Indeed, Mr. Worth ever asserted that he did not look to
the Federal administration for peace but to the mass of
citizens at the North; and while his notion was apparently
impractical, yet it is to be observed that after Grant’s great
losses there was a widespread feeling at the North for
peace ; and it has been said that some of the leaders in the
administration themselves were about ready to make the
demand on Mr. Lincoln. Then something occurred to> arrest
the movement.

Inferentially, Mr. Lincoln made a more pointed answer
to the question that Worth and Holden had asked, when on
July 18, 1864, he wrote with reference to the proposition
of Clay, Holcombe, and Sanders : “Any proposition which
embraces the restoration of peace, the integrity of the whole
Union, and the abandonment of slavery” will be met by
liberal terms on substantial and collateral points.

Holden had sought the favor of slaveholders in his be¬
half on the suggestion that by obtaining some peaceful set¬
tlement they would retain their property. This announce¬
ment by President Lincoln not only required the aban¬
donment of independence but the relinquishment of slave
property, accompanied by the apprehended social evils that
might ensue. It closed the door to Holden’s hopes. His
advocacy now had nothing to rest on but his denunciation
of the Confederate authorities and a willingness to abandon
the struggle. And, what further weakened him, there was
brought to the surface the workings of a secret society, call¬
ing itself the Heroes of America, that had been introduced
among the inhabitants of many counties in the central sec¬
tion of the State, the object being to obtain personal security
from the enemy, and some of those initiated declaring that
they were to vote for Holden. From time to time the Con¬
servative published affidavits made by members with the
effect of discrediting Holden as a patriot ; and, indeed, some

Lincoln’s

terms

Holden

The Heroes
of America

920

GRANT HELD IN CHECK

Kirke’ s raid

June, 1864

Death of
Avery

claimed that he was a member and had been bribed to betray
the Southern cause. This was an additional weight for him
to carry in the race. On the other hand, the publication of
Vance's correspondence with President Davis and the Con¬
federate authorities caused some revulsion among those who
would otherwise have supported Vance. An eastern cor¬
respondent of the Conservative mentioned that some would
vote for Holden in preference. To some others Vance’s
previous attitude was, indeed, a bitter pill.

On July 23 a raid was made on the State salt works by
the Federals, and General Whiting reported that two-thirds
of the conscripts employed there were members of Holden’s
treasonable organization and he had discovered their mode
of communicating with the enemy. At the election, fifty-
three of them voted for Holden and only three for Vance.

While the political campaign was in progress an unfor¬
tunate affair in Western North Carolina stirred the people
of the west and intensified their patriotism. The Western
North Carolina Railroad was finished only to a point near
Morganton, and its extremity was Camp Vance, where al¬
most a hundred of the young conscripts were gathered for
training and where there was a considerable quantity of
stores and provisions. Col. George W. Kirke, a Federal
partisan, who had long been active on the border, having
a force of some three hundred men, left Morristown on
June 13, with the purpose of burning the railroad bridge
over the Yadkin and setting free the prisoners held at Salis¬
bury. Some ten days later they crossed the mountains, and
on the 28th of June they surprised Camp Vance and cap¬
tured the whole force there, and, at the head of the road,
took possession of a train and the depot. At once the news
spread throughout the country and a force was organized
to attack him. Kirke retired to Brown Mountain, about
fourteen miles from Morganton, but after a slight engage¬
ment there, he withdrew to the foot of Repskin Mountain
and went up the winding stairs road, two miles from Loven’s
Cold Spring. At daybreak the Confederates approached,
and in the desultory firing that ensued Col. W. W. Avery
and several others were wounded, and three days later Colo¬
nel Avery died. Kirke then returned to East Tennessee.

VANCE’S STRENUOUS CAMPAIGN

921

The death of Colonel Avery was deeply lamented. He was
one of the most esteemed men of his generation in the State.

The election

The fateful days of August were now approaching. The
great issue was with the people : Shall North Carolina con¬
tinue to stand for independence or yield her freedom and
desert the people of the South?

While the Conservative was doing yeoman's service for
him, and all the other papers, except only the Progress, were
advocating him, Vance himself made a strenuous campaign,
speaking at the towns, and more particularly in the central
counties. His addresses were always of great power and
effect, such only as Vance himself could make. And as the
campaign went on, Vance gave rein to his noble, generous
impulses, and became more and more pronounced as a Con¬
federate. Worth wrote : “I have as much abhorrence for
war as any Quaker. I regard it wholesale murder, and
hence I hate the accursed Abolitionists and the scarcelessly
less accursed Secessionists who brought on this war, and
would trust neither. The election of Governor Vance will
be a triumph of the latter faction, and will, I fear, place
them again in the ascendancy in the State. I feel no zeal
in this election and intend to take no active part in it. The
most reliable and zealous supporters of Vance are the most
ultra fire-eaters.” However, Holden had many friends.
He was ever astute, skillful, wary. He knew the chords to
strike. But as the leaders in the Assembly had fallen away
from him, so did their friends and followers at home. The
Conservatives no longer trained with him. While all were
in sympathy with his desire for peace, they saw that his
propositions were chimerical. Still the issue was uncertain.
There was doubt, even to the last ; doubts that were inten¬
sified by apprehension. It was a personal contest, but the
cause of the Confederacy was involved. When at length
the vote was taken on August 4 North Carolina vindicated
herself. Holden received some slight majority in the three
counties of Johnston, Randolph, and Wilkes : in eight coun¬
ties he received fewer than ten votes. In Wake, where he

Aug., 1864

Worth, II,
397

922

GRANT HELD IN CHECK

August 22

North Caro¬
lina brigades

Lee’s tribute

had long been the dictator, he was beaten by three hundred
votes. Of the 72,526 votes cast, he received only 14,471,
nor did this indicate other than that fourteen thousand men
were weary of war, its sorrows and privations — not that
they desired to return to the old Union. The election for
Assemblymen was similar in its results. Seldom was there
such a change in the personnel of the Legislature. Twenty-
eight new members were returned to the Senate and about
fifty new members to the House. While not all who had
been unduly captious were retired, the Legislature now was
responsive to the Stars and Bars of the Confederacy.

Reams Station

On the 22d of August Hancock's Corps was met at
Reams Station on the Weldon road by A. P. Hill, who had
Scales’s, Lane’s, Cooke’s and McRae’s North Carolina bri¬
gades and four other brigades ; and General Barringer com¬
manded W. H. F. Lee’s Division of cavalry, Colonel Cheek
having Barringer’s Brigade. The result was a brilliant feat
of arms. Hill captured twelve stands of colors, nine guns
and 3,000 stands of arms. Hancock lost between 600 and
700 killed and 2,150 prisoners, while Hill’s loss was only 750,
chiefly in Lane’s Brigade. General Lee repeatedly declared
that the whole Confederacy owed a debt of gratitude to
Lane’s, Cooke’s and McRae’s Brigades that could never
be paid. On the fourth day after the battle Lee turned
from the mass of details pressing on him and wrote to
Governor Vance a letter of appreciation. “I have frequently
been called upon to mention the services of North Carolina
soldiers in this army, but their gallantry and conduct were
never more deserving of admiration than in the engagement
at Reams Station on the 25th ultimo. The brigades of
Generals Cooke, McRae and Lane, the last under the tem¬
porary command of General Connor, advanced through a
thick abattis of felled trees under a heavy fire of musketry
and artillery, and carried the enemy’s works with a steady
courage that elicited the warm commendation of their corps
and division commanders and the admiration of the army.
On the same occasion the brigade of General Barringer bore

UNDISMAYED BY DISASTER

923

a conspicuous part in the operations of the cavalry, which
were no less distinguished for boldness and efficiency than
those of the infantry. If the men who remained in North
Carolina share the spirit of those they have sent to the field,
as I do not doubt they do, her defense may surely be trusted
to their hands/’

Major Stedman, in closing an account of this battle,
adds : “Unshaken by the fall of Vicksburg and the disaster
of Gettysburg, undismayed amidst the general gloom which
was settling upon the fortunes of the South, these North
Carolina regiments exhibited the same enthusiasm and valor
which had marked their conduct upon every field where they
stood for the honor, glory and renown of their State/’

Toward the middle of September Hoke’s Division was
moved across the James to hold the defense of Richmond
from attack in that quarter. That division, not being at¬
tached to any corps, was a separate command, and this serv¬
ice brought General Hoke into still closer association with
General Lee, whose confidence in General Hoke and ap¬
preciation of his wisdom and excellence • continued to
increase.

The capture of the Ad-Yance

The Ad-Vance, having made seven trips, was preparing
to go out again, early in September, 1864. She was the
fastest, largest and best of the blockade-runners. Her cap¬
tains, Colonel Crossan for the State, and Captain Wright,
a Scotchman, the English captain, and her officers and crew
were excellently trained in the business. Her usual trip was
to Bermuda — sometimes to Nassau — once to Liverpool. She
made her trips with such regularity that her arrival on the
day was expected.

She brought in generally enough English coal for the
round trip; but in 1864 the Confederate Navy Department
needed that sort of coal for the Tallahassee, about to go out
to prey on Federal commerce. Such an expedition was
much objected to by those interested in the blockade busi¬
ness, as it tended to make the blockade more stringent. But
notwithstanding that opposition, the expedition was deter¬
mined on, and the English coal was taken for the purpose.

924

GRANT HELD IN CHECK

The pilots

Oct., 1864

As a result, the Ad-Vance when she went out, on the
night of September 9, 1864, had to use the North Carolina
coal obtained from the Egypt mine in Chatham County,
altogether unsuited for the purpose; as, besides being an
inferior fuel, in burning it gave off volumes of black smoke.

The Ad-Vance, after trying to get out eight hours, on the
9th, passed through New Inlet successfully, although Ad¬
miral Lee, on September 15, had informed the Navy De¬
partment, “The blockade of the bars of Wilmington is now,
I sincerely believe, as close as human agency can make it
with the means at my command.”

Having passed through the cordon of blockaders, the
Ad-Vance continued on her course, but on the 10th when
well out, the Santiago de Cuba, en route to Norfolk, at
10 a.m., saw some black smoke to the northeast and, pursu¬
ing it, by 4 p.m., after a chase of nearly ten hours, sent
a shot across her stern and captured her. The Ad-Vance,
later, was utilized in the Federal Navy.

This loss was a great blow to the State and to the Con¬
federacy as well; as at that time bacon brought from abroad
was necessary for the army. And so urgent were the needs
of the army that in December, 1864, Vance sent from
Raleigh 40,000 pounds of meat for the army at Wilmington,
and turned over to the Confederacy all that remained at
Bermuda, and half of all he had stored in the State.

The pilots who brought the blockade-runners in were
often in great personal peril and always at hazard of being
captured. They rendered a service of patriotic devotion and
of great importance. Their names and the particulars of
their careers have been worthily preserved in Sprunt’s ad¬
mirable Chronicles of the Cape Fear, Mr. Sprunt himself
having shared with them the dangers of the deep and the
vicissitudes of their hazardous life and having made a con¬
tribution to historical literature that for excellence and value
stands apart from similar contributions.

Cushing's activities

Among the young officers educated at the Naval School
was William B. Cushing, who as a boy was quiet and un-

IRONCLAD RALEIGH LOST

925

demonstrative. It is often, however, that such a disposition
accompanies characteristics that later develop both boldness
of conception, fertility in expedients and efficiency in execu¬
tion. It was so with Cushing. Young Cushing was in the
winter of 1863-1864 on duty off the Cape Fear bars, and
he, with others, sometimes ventured at night into the harbor
— sometimes landed and explored the country.

About the last of February, having information from a
deserter of the location of the quarters of Gen. Louis
Hebert, the general commanding the lower Cape Fear, Cush¬
ing successfully passed into the harbor and, landing at
Smithville, raided the General’s quarters and captured some
of his official family, together with his papers, the General
fortunately being temporarily absent.

On the evening of May 6, 1864, Commodore Lynch took
the ironclad Raleigh through New Inlet to drive off the
blockaders. At about eight-thirty that night she engaged
the Britannia, which, however, eluded her. The next morn¬
ing at about five o’clock, other Federal vessels appeared and
an engagement ensued, and when the Federals drew off,
the Raleigh sought to return. In doing so, she ran on a
sand bank, and there stuck; and, eventually, the ship was a
total loss. But the Federals were not at once aware of the
mishap.

On hearing that the Raleigh had driven off the block¬
aders, Cushing, who was then at Beaufort, wrote to Ad¬
miral Lee, in command, about “the mortifying affair” and
“feeling very badly over the affair proposed to go to the
spot and carry the Raleigh by boarding her in the harbor,”
and a boarding force of one hundred men was to be provided
for him. He mentioned to Secretary Wells, .“selecting a
time when the ram is anchored at Smithville, I can, as I
have often done, take boats by the forts and up to the
anchorage.” But as the Raleigh was found to be already
destroyed no attempt was made on her.

Nor was Cushing alone in such enterprise. In May there
was constant communication by the Federal cruisers with
people on shore. On the 23d Lieutenant Brick reported that
the night before he sent two boats ashore “to gain informa¬
tion. . . . The man we wished to see will meet us

Cushing

Official
Records,
Series I,
Vol. X, 21

Loss of the
Raleigh

Official
Records,
Series I,
Vol. X,
40, 57

Brick’s ac¬
tivity

926

GRANT HELD IN CHECK

Holden’s

friends

Off. Records,
Series I,

Yol. X, 83

Cushing
near Wil¬
mington

Official
Records,
Series I,
Yol. X, 202

Oct., 1864

tonight/' and he forwarded “papers and letters found buried
on the shore at the place agreed and chosen by the parties
on shore.” One of the letters gave this information: “The
raid on the State salt works takes very well, we think, with
most of the citizens, and we know it does with the salt
hands. Will you come after us.? If so, land just above
the place where you landed on the night of April 22, and
you can get a full load.”

On the evening of the 25th, with two boats, Lieutenant
Brick made an extended tour beyond the rear of Colonel
Young’s Regiment, and got all the information he wanted.
He forwarded a tracing of Fort Fisher sent him from
ashore. There was a project to land fifteen hundred men
secretly and capture the fort by a night assault; but the
necessary small boats could not be procured.

While there were many ventures into the interior that of
Lieutenant Cushing of June 23 was the most noteworthy.

After various hazards, he landed seven miles below Wil¬
mington and spent the day there. Just after dark he took
to his boat again, captured a party of fishermen, and made
them pilot him to within three miles of the town. He took
notes of all the obstructions and of the vessels in the harbor,
there being nine blockade-runners in port. Returning down
stream, he entered a creek, and took possession of the road
between the fort and Wilmington, captured the mail bags,
destroyed the telegraph lines, and, with a boat load of pro¬
visions, he eluded the pursuit of half a dozen boats and
eventually passed out of New Inlet.

Destruction of the Albemarle

Toward the end of May an attempt had been made to
destroy the Albemarle by torpedoes, conveyed above her, and
roped together some distance apart, and brought against her
sides by the current. That had failed — and now Cushing
proposed to do it. But it was not until October that circum¬
stances permitted. In a steam launch, with a cutter in tow,
he proceeded up the river (wrhich is about two hundred
yards wide, the banks being lined with pickets) some eight
miles to where the Albemarle lay. As he approached, he

THE ALBEMARLE BLOWN UP

927

was hailed by the Albemarle ; so he loosed the cutter and
made for the ram under a full head of steam. The Albe¬
marle was fast at the wharf, with a pen of logs around her,
thirty feet from her sides. He made a circle to approach
her bow. In the meantime the Albemarle was firing rapidly,
and Cushing replied with canister. Three bullets passed
through Cushing’s clothing, Paymaster Ivan at his side was
wounded and others. Crushing into the pen of logs, he
lowered the torpedo boom and succeeded in exploding it
at the right instant. A shot from the Albemarle passed
through his launch at the moment the torpedo exploded, and
a dense mass of water was thrown into his boat. Ordering
his men to save themselves, while the Albemarle’s fire con¬
tinued, he divested himself of clothing and shoes, and sprang
into the stream. The most of his party were captured ; some
were drowned; only Cushing and another escaped.

In his report Cushing said : “Woodman, I met in the
water half a mile below the town and assisted him the best
I could, but failed to get him ashore. Completely exhausted,

I managed to reach the shore, but was too weak to crawl
out of the water until just at daylight, when I managed to official
creep into the swamp close to the fort. While hiding a few Records,
feet from the path, two of the Albemarle’ s officers passed, voi. x, 6ii
and I judged from their conversation that the ship was
destroyed. Some hours of traveling in the swamp served
to bring me out well below the town, when I sent a negro in
to gain information and found that the ram was truly sunk.
Proceeding through another swamp I came to a creek, and
captured a skiff belonging to a picket of the enemy, and
with this, by eleven o’clock the next night had made my
way out to the Valley City.”

In the army

The feeling in the army at this time was well expressed 18g4
in a letter by a young soldier from the Albemarle region.

He says there is no doubt that he is engaged “in a holy
and just war and that we will surely gain our independence,”
although Mr. Lincoln “has called for a million of men.

. . . When I first came out I knew not the hardships

928

GRANT HELD IN CHECK

Joseph

Mullen

Winchester

of a soldier’s life, but I feel now, as at the end of my first
year’s service, that the Confederacy needs my assistance as
much as any one else. It needs the help of every able-
bodied white man in its limits. ... I am getting along
very well considering my rations. They are very small now.
They cook our flour in bread and only give us a pound and
a quarter of baker’s bread a day. Our brigade is on the
right of our division and our division is on the extreme
right of the army. We have a very good place for our
winter quarters, plenty of wood and water. Near Burgess
Mills, Dinwiddie County, Virginia, November 15, 1864.”

Death of Gen. Stephen D. Ramseur

General Early had a very active command in the Wiley
to hold in check a much larger Federal force. The battles
there were very stubborn, and the North Carolina regiments
bore their part with applause but with great loss, especially
in the unfortunate battle of Winchester, where the North
Carolinians suffered relatively more than in any other battle
of the war.

Ramseur, on the morning of the 19th of September, at¬
tacked and routed a considerable body of Federals ; but
soon, Federal reinforcements arriving, the Confederates,
including the commands of Grimes, Cox, Cooke and John¬
ston, took post on a hill. But Sheridan, who had about
thirty thousand men to Early’s ten thousand, pressed on
and passed Ramseur’s flank and got in his rear. Ramseur
was forced to retire. Sheridan’s heavy columns of cavalry
and artillery now played havoc with the retreating Con¬
federates.

General Rhodes, General Goodwin and many other fine
officers were killed. The battle lasted nine hours and was
a disaster.

Near Strasburg, in the Valley, on the 19th of October,
1864, Ramseur’s Division surprised a Federal force, turn¬
ing its left flank and capturing many pieces of artillery and
many prisoners, but the enemy, being heavily reinforced,
took the offensive, and in the terrible conflict that ensued
Major-General Ramsenr was seen to fall. He was borne

WARS HARDSHIPS

929

to the rear. Presently, the enemy advancing, Captain Ran¬
dolph got him on a horse and ran alongside, supporting him.

He was put in an ambulance, but was captured and taken
to General Sheridan’s headquarters, where he died the next
morning, October 20. He told the ambulance driver to tell wilderness
General Hoke that “he died a Christian and had done his
duty.” He was from boyhood admired for his character¬
istics, much beloved, and he had won deserved promotion
by a glorious career. He was the youngest major-general.

The Assembly meets

In the fall while conditions were grave there had been
no great changes to cause alarm. Nov> 1864

Lee’s army remained holding Petersburg and Richmond.

The summer had passed and there had been no movements
in Eastern North Carolina except, after the destruction of
the Albemarle , Plymouth had been occupied by the Fed-
erals. Throughout the State quietude was broken only by
some misconduct of the deserters in a few localities. There
were increased sorrows and afflictions, and living was harder
in the towns, but in the country the people had their own
provisions and were now used to the absence of sugar and Patriotic
coffee, while sorghum syrup took the place of molasses.

Business went on, and people pursued their vocations as they
had been doing from the beginning. The hardships that
the soldiers experienced in the trenches were not entirely
realized, and thought ran along much in its accustomed
channel. Thus it was when about the middle of November
the Assembly met. There were many new members. Vance
had carried the State in August in a whirlwind, and Vance’s
friends were in control of the Assembly. Giles Mebane
and R. S. Donnell were again chosen the Speakers with no
opposition. Worth, who had made a most efficient and
excellent Treasurer, was reelected almost unanimously.

Some of Holden’s friends had been chosen representatives
from Wake County, and his name headed the list of mag¬
istrates appointed for that county. R. S. Tucker became
Clerk of the House with R. C. Badger as his assistant ;

Charles R. Thomas, Clerk of the Senate, and later Neill

930

GRANT HELD IN CHECK

Ashe,

Senator

Not captious

McKay succeeded him. This Assembly was much more
patriotic than the preceding one. It was in full line with
the cause of independence, and now that Vance had freed
himself from entangling alliances its action was in harmony
with Vance's ardent Southern views. There were but few
notable contests, the chief being over the position of Con¬
federate Senator, to succeed Mr. Dortch when his term
should expire. E. G. Reade had served about one month
from January 22, 1864, to February 17, when that session
closed, and then Graham became Senator as he had been
regularly chosen in 1862.

Reacle's record in Congress had been entirely satisfactory ;
but the members of the Assembly had personal preferences.
There were put in nomination Mr. Reade, Mr. Dortch,
W. N. H. Smith, John A. Gilmer, David Outlaw and
Thomas S. Ashe. All of these had been Vance men, and
all were men of ability, equal to the high duties of the
office.

There were many ballots. At length the vote stood,
Ashe 80, Reade 70, scattering 8 ; and by two votes Ashe was
elected. He had been an old line Whig, was elected to the
preceding Congress from the Anson District, but had been
beaten by Christian in the later election. Not excelling in
oratorical brilliancy, his character, virtues and attainments
easily ranked him among the first men of the State. In
his devotion to the Southern cause, as in every other at¬
tribute, he was worthy of the honor.

Resolutions urging the Confederate authorities to make
peace proposals after some victory, similar to those adopted
by the previous Assembly, were introduced, but failed in
the Senate by a vote of 24 to 20; and indeed there was no
disposition manifested to be captious in afifairs relating to
the Confederate authorities. On the 22d of December
Governor Vance, in the presence of both houses, was
sworn in as Governor for the approaching term by Chief
Justice Pearson, and the body took a recess to January 17,
186.S.

JUNIORS SUFFER SEVERELY

93i

The Junior Reserves

The Junior Reserves were at first organized into com¬
panies, then into battalions, some of which were consolidated
into regiments ; known as the Seventieth, Colonel Broadfoot ;
Seventy-first, Colonel Anderson ; while there were besides
four other battalions.

In December, 1864, the Seventieth was at Camp Baker,
near Hamilton, four of the companies being at Williamston ;
and the Seventy-first had been at Plymouth, but had been
moved to Weldon. In those eastern counties there had been
various encounters with Federal forces, and the Juniors
had been active and efficient. The four battalions were near
Wilmington. Early in December General Grant dispatched
some twenty thousand troops to tear up the railroad at
Belfield, where the road crosses the Meherrin some twenty
miles south of Petersburg. Hampton, with his cavalry, set
out to meet this column and arrived at Belfield before they
reached that point. The Junior Reserves were likewise
hurried to Weldon. But before the four companies at
Williamston had reached Tarboro they were recalled to
meet a raid from Plymouth. At that time the weather was
intensely cold and those troops had not been furnished with
either shoes, overcoats or tents, and they suffered severely.
At Weldon the point was made that the Junior Reserves
could not be ordered out of the State, but that was disre¬
garded, and without hesitation the four battalions now under
Colonel Leventhorpe hurried on to Belfield. The battle was
on, and after a sharp fire and repulse from the Reserves,
who had just reached the field in time, the Federals with¬
drew, leaving their dead unburied. Hampton now ordered
a pursuit, and it was in that pursuit that Paul B. Means,
in his account of those operations, particularly mentions for
gallant conduct the young Julian S. Carr, Company K,
Third Cavalry. From Belfield these battalions under Colo¬
nel Leventhorpe were rushed to Tarboro and Hamilton to
meet a Federal raid from Washington. After that service,
in that severe weather, they returned to Wilmington and
participated in the defense of Fort Fisher on Christmas
Day. How severe the weather was in its effects may be

Belfield

Julian Carr

932

GRANT HELD IN CHECK

Clark, IV,
44

Ibid., Ill,
6B4

Butler’s

Bridge

Colerain

Brigaded

Andrew

Johnson

understood from the record that about one-half of the
Juniors who went from Wilmington were, on their return,
sent to the hospital. How many fell victims to their ex¬
posure is not recorded, but among them was the gallant
Harriett Connor, the elder brother of Judge Henry G.
Connor, whose young life was full of promise. The Legis¬
lature, which was then in session, promptly recognized the
fine action of the Juniors by laudatory resolutions adopted
December 17, 1864.

On December 13, at Butler’s Bridge, the Seventieth along
with other troops had an encounter with the enemy. It
remained in that section until the entire body of Junior
Reserves was formed into a brigade at Kinston about the
close of January. The Seventy-first was likewise in that
region, and along with Millard's Battalion operated in Jan¬
uary at Colerain on the Chowan. On January 3, 1865, near
Goldsboro, the four battalions from Fort Fisher were organ¬
ized into the Seventy-second Regiment, Col. John W. Hins¬
dale, Lieut. -Col. W. F. French, Maj. A. B. Ellington. The
regiment was brigaded with the other Juniors, at first under
Colonel Armistead, and finally under Col. John H. Nether-
cutt, who was in command at the battle of Bentonville and
until the surrender.

The election at the North

When the time was approaching for preparing for the
Presidential election at the North there developed antagon¬
ism to President Lincoln by Mr. Greeley and other Aboli¬
tionists ; and Mr. Lincoln was apprehensive. In order to
fortify himself in the Republican Convention he proposed
that delegates from such portions of the South as might
send them should be admitted, and a special messenger was
sent to confer with Andrew Johnson, then Federal Governor
of Tennessee, suggesting that he should be associated on
the ticket for the vice-presidency. Johnson had been pre¬
sented by the Democrats of Tennessee for the presidency in
i860; was a member of. the United States Senate until ap¬
pointed by President Lincoln as Governor of Tennessee;
and as Governor he had organized more than forty regi-

VICTORY FOR LINCOLN

933

ments among the loyal people of East Tennessee: thus,
perhaps, being more influential in his service to the North
than any other person, except only two or three. Johnson
agreed. Representation of Tennessee and some other South¬
ern districts in the Convention was arranged for. At Cleve¬
land on May 31 the Republican opposition to President
Lincoln resulted in the nomination of John C. Fremont and
General Cockrane ; but Greeley and others saw that their
antagonism would be unavailing and it made no great head¬
way. When the Convention met at Baltimore on June 7
the Southern delegates were admitted, although Mr. Lincoln
had no particular opposition. Johnson was, however, nomi¬
nated for Vice-President, in place of Hannibal Hamlin. In
accepting he declared his adherence to Democratic prin¬
ciples, but said that all other matters faded into unimport¬
ance in comparison with “saving the Union.”

Toward the close of August the Democratic Convention
was held at Chicago. That party was divided in sentiment.
There were those who called themselves “Peace Democrats,”
holding that some steps should be taken to put an end to
hostilities; and, others, who contended for the reestablish¬
ment of the Union in its integrity. General McClellan, who
was opposed to the action of the Federal government on
the subject of slavery and the negroes, was nominated along
with George H. Pendleton, a “Peace Democrat” of ability
and high character. It has been said that many at the North
were tired of the war, and were discouraged, but two
months before the election Atlanta had fallen and Farragut
had entered Mobile, and then came the victory at Win¬
chester. The administration was boasting of victories.
The popular vote was full, 4,034,789 ; being in excess of
the popular vote in the same territory in i860. The Re¬
publicans gained 356,000 votes over their poll four years
before, and won by 411,000 majority, Mr. Lincoln receiv¬
ing 2,223,645 and Mr. McClellan 1,811,754; but McClellan
carried only three states, New Jersey, Delaware and Ken¬
tucky. In the electoral college the Southern States were
not allowed representation, but Mr. Lincoln had 213 as
against 21 for McClellan. In Congress the Republicans
maintained their absolute ascendancy.

Lincoln

McClellan

Pendleton

Grant’s

Memoirs

CHAPTER LV

December 23

Fall of Fort Fisher

The attack on Fort Fisher. — The garrison. — Bragg assigned. —
Defense measures. — The Butler idea. — The explosion. — Arrival of
Hoke. — The Federals land. — Cross to the river. — The bombard¬
ment. — The Christmas assault. — Butler withdraws. — Grant and
Porter disappointed. — iSergeant Bland. — Bragg misled. — The re¬
newed attack. — Terry occupies the peninsula. — The fall of the
fort only a question of time. — Hoke ready to charge, withdrawn
by Bragg. — The Federal assault. — The land first gained. — Both
Whiting and Lamb wounded. — The garrison withdraws to Fort
Buchanan. — The fall of the fort. — Hampton Roads Conference. —
The different views. — Frank Blair proposes peace. — Conference
arranged. — It is held. — Abortive. — Governor Graham’s attitude. —
The report. — Lee proposes negro soldiers.

Fort Fisher

“When I assumed command of Fort Fisher July 4, 1862,”
said Col. William Lamb, “it was composed of several de¬
tached earthworks, with a casemated battery of sand and
palmetto logs, mounting four guns, and with only one
heavy gun in the works.” But what had been done was
well done under the circumstances and conditions of those
first months of the war. The plan of defense prepared by
Capt. John C. Winder was simple, but it admitted of pro¬
gressive development. Necessarily the heart of the defense
was Confederate Point ; and there Colonel Lamb with five
hundred colored laborers, assisted by the garrison, con¬
structed the largest earthwork in the Confederacy of heavy
timbers, covered by sand from fifteen to twenty feet deep
and turfed. On its parapets were many heavy guns, sep¬
arated by large traverses. Farther down the point was a
tremendous mound, sixty feet high, whose guns had a plung¬
ing fire on an attacking fleet. And while Colonel Lamb
says, “it was when attacked far from complete, yet it was
the most complete fortification of its kind in the world. It
was a monument to skill and labor."

Similarly, vast labor had been expended elsewhere for
river and harbor defense. At Old Brunswick, on the west
side of the river, some miles higher up, a tremendous earth-

WINDER'S PLAN OF DEFENSE

935

work had been partially completed. In the end, this work
answered no purpose whatever. It was mere labor lost.

Captain Winder’s plan of defense for Fort Fisher in
1861 provided against danger from a land attack. He
designed a covered way from the fort to the head of the
sound, some three miles away, affording cover to infantry,
that might command the beach. Had a part of the labor
thrown away elsewhere been used to construct such an em¬
bankment along the beach, defending infantry would have
been sufficiently protected from the fire of the fleet to hold
their ground and prevent an assault by land. But Colonel
Lamb did not think it necessary. He thought that the fort
itself could withstand any land attack.

The garrison of the fort consisted chiefly of the Thirty-
sixth Heavy Artillery, that had been organized in May,
1862, for the most part in the Cape Fear country. Col.
William Lamb, the commander of the fort, was Colonel;
John D. Taylor, Lieutenant-Colonel; and James M. Steven¬
son, Major. At this time, Major Stevenson and five com¬
panies had been hurried to Savannah to serve batteries there
in the expected engagement with General Sherman ; and on
that duty Major Stevenson won credit and renown. I11 ad¬
dition, there were in the garrison 450 Reserves, being
French's, Reece’s and Millard’s Battalions, youths recently
called to the colors and without experience in battle. There
were also sixty sailors and marines at Fort Buchanan ; the
entire garrison numbering 1,431.

An expedition against Fort Fisher had long been in con¬
templation, and in August arrangements were made for a
joint naval and yarmy attack, which eventually took shape
about the middle of October, when a hundred and fifty
vessels were ready for the service. In view of this con¬
templated attack and the vast importance to the Confederacy
of Wilmington, President Davis assigned General Bragg,
who had for months been his military adviser, to the com¬
mand of the Cape Fear defense. Perhaps General Bragg,
because of General Whiting’s unfortunate failure to co¬
operate with Beauregard a few months earlier, had con¬
ceived an unfavorable opinion of the reliability of that
distinguished officer and, therefore, did not treat him with

Winder's

plan

Off. Records,
Series I,

Vol. II, 3

936

FALL OF FORT FISHER

Clark, IV,
100

Dec., 1864

Vance’s

appeal

The powder
ship

entire courtesy. But while he assumed command of the
department, Whiting remained in command of the district.

On reaching Wilmington General Bragg called on Gen¬
eral Holmes for such reserves as could be furnished and,
on November i, General Holmes sent him all that could be
supplied, the companies of Senior Reserves that later at
Masonboro were organized into the Seventy-seventh Regi¬
ment, under Col. Charles E. Shober, Erwin’s Battalion of
Reserves, three companies of Millard’s Juniors, and thirteen
other companies of Seniors, later organized into the Eighth
Reserves and Littlejohn’s Battalion.

But the quietude of the Cape Fear continued, while there
was a pressing demand for aid at Savannah. In this emer¬
gency, the Seventy-seventh Regiment and ten companies of
heavy artillery were sent to Savannah.

Then, on December 18, information was received that
the expected expedition had sailed from Fortress Monroe,
and on the 20th General Bragg telegraphed Governor Vance
that the head of the fleet had arrived off Confederate Point.
But the State had been denuded of troops. Vance at once
issued a proclamation, “adjuring all good people who may
be able to stand behind the breastworks and fire a musket,
of all ages and conditions, to rally at once to the defense
of their country, and hurry to Wilmington ; and I do ap¬
peal to every man who has the spirit of a freeman in his
bosom, who has a spark of fire, a drop of the blood of the
heroes of Lee’s great army in his veins, to come, and come
at once.” “Your Governor,” said Vance, “will meet you
at the front, and will share with you the worst.” The
Armory Guards at Fayetteville were at once dispatched to
the scene by Colonel Childs.

In arranging this expedition, Gen. B. F. Butler, who was
in command of the department, proposed to accompany it,
but General Grant selected General Weitzel to have charge
of the troops, and Admiral Porter was in command of the
fleet. General Butler, apparently was the first to propose
that a powder ship should be exploded with a view of de¬
stroying the fortification. That suggestion was submitted
to the highest expert authorities in the army, who decided
against its efficiency ; but G. V. Fox, now the Assistant

POWER SHIP BLOWN UP

937

Secretary of the Navy, espoused the idea, and on Novem¬
ber 23 he assembled six experts, three of the army and three
of the navy, who, after mature consideration unanimously
resolved that “the explosion would injure the earthworks
to a very great extent, render the guns unserviceable for a
time, and probably affect the garrison to such a degree as
to deprive them of power to resist the passage of naval
vessels and the carrying of the works by immediate assault.”
The proposition thus became a naval operation. The Louis¬
iana had been brought up from Albemarle Sound for the
purpose and made ready, and the navy offered to furnish
the necessary powder. She was towed to Beaufort on De¬
cember 13, and there received additional powder.

Admiral Porter, in his instructions concerning the ex¬
plosion, said : “I do not anticipate such a dreadful earth¬
quake as some suppose will take place, destroying every¬
thing, but that it would stun the men, tumble the magazines,
destroy the mound, that the houses of Wilmington will
tumble to the ground and much demoralize the people. And
if the rebels fight after the explosion they have more in
them than I give them credit for.” The vessel had on board
235 tons of powder — 470,000 pounds.

The expedition was ready to sail December 9, but was
delayed by heavy storms. On the night of the 23d the
Louisiana was towed into the position she was to occupy,
and at about two o’clock in the morning the explosion oc¬
curred, “producing no more effect than the bursting of a
boiler anywhere in the Atlantic would have done.”

On the 24th the fleet attacked the fort, but made no se¬
rious impression, notwithstanding the severity of the bom¬
bardment.

On receiving information of this expedition, General
Lee hurried Hoke’s Division to Wilmington. The Forty-
second North Carolina, Kirkland’s Brigade, ordered to
march on the 23d, packed in box cars, with the thermometer
at zero, coming by way of Greensboro, was the first to ar¬
rive, reaching Wilmington on the 24th, and hastening to
Sugar Loaf. From there Company A was advanced by
General Kirkland to Flag Pond Battery, or Battery Gatlin,

Off. Records,
Series I,

Vol. II, 216

Ibid., 222

The explo
sion

Grant’s

Memoirs

391

Clark, II
802

Ibid., IV,
540

93§

FALL OF FORT FISHER

The troops
land

Deeds of
daring

near Masonboro Sound, where there were no guns ; and
pickets were thrown out.

On the next morning, under cover of the gunboats, the
Federal troops were landed on the beach, out of range of
the guns of the fort, and they at once formed a line from
the beach to the river. General Kirkland, having observed
that the Federal troops were landing, deployed his small
force along the edge of the woods that lined the beach.
Thereupon, the Federals threw up breastworks in the sand,
which, under the protection of their gunboats, they held.
On establishing themselves, the Federal force divided, one
part, under General Ames, moving northward up the beach ;
the other, under General Curtis, accompanied by General
Weitzel, advanced toward the fort. Company D, First Bat¬
tery, Heavy Artillery, Capt. James L. McCormick, had
reached the fort that morning, and in the afternoon Colonel
Lamb moved it out to the marsh near Stephenson's Battery,
where it engaged Curtis’s Sharpshooters and drove them
back. General Ames, in his advance, captured some two
hundred Junior Reserves at the Half Moon Battery, and
Captain Glesson, of the Santiago de Cuba, shelling the
woods in the rear of the Flag Pond Battery and, cutting
Company A of the Forty-second off from retreat, captured
that company.

From them the Federal generals learned that Hoke’s Di¬
vision had arrived and other troops were coming to the
defense. General Weitzel approached to half a mile of the
fort and, being satisfied that it had not been damaged, so
reported. Nevertheless, General Weitzel’s skirmish line
was within fifty yards of the fort, and three or four of
his men ventured on the parapet and through the sally¬
port, killing an orderly and capturing a horse and dis¬
patches, and brought away a flag from the parapet. This
was done under the protection of the navy’s fire ; and
they were acts of individual heroism. But if there were
examples of heroism and endurance on the Federal side,
there were similar examples of heroism and -endurance on
that of the Confederates. The bombardment was fearful,
but the men at the guns fired the last shots each day of the
prolonged battle.

FEDERAL DISAPPOINTMENT

939

Christmas Day was signalized by a still heavier bombard¬
ment and by the approach of the land force to almost hail¬
ing distance ; but, if it began with doubt, it ended with joy.
With jubilant hearts the garrison saw the battle was ended.
The “Malakoff” had added a new page to history and had
brought glory to its resolute defenders.

General Butler now withdrew his troops, and on Decem¬
ber 28, himself, was back at Fortress Monroe. He reported
that the works had not been injured, they could not be car¬
ried by assault.

The lesson that was learned from the easy landing, and the
establishment of an enemy line from surf to river, all dom¬
inated by the fire of the Federal gunboats, was now under¬
stood. Steps were begun to guard against such a situation
should a subsequent attack be made. But, if the Confed¬
erates rejoiced, General Grant was more than disappointed,
and Admiral Porter complained bitterly of having been
abandoned by the army, when the fruits of victory were in
his grasp. In his opinion what developed “was that the
fleet with six hundred guns, commanding a level plain not
two miles wide, and able to cover for miles any number of
troops that might be landed, could drive off three hundred
thousand troops intrenched or attacking.”

After the discomfiture of Butler, Governor Vance, on
December 29, visited Fort Fisher and was received with
hurrahs ; and General Bragg, the Ladies Relief Society and
many of the Wilmingtonians came down to mingle with the
successful garrison and exult with them in their victory.

And now there were busy days on the lower Cape Fear.
New defenses arranged, new guns put in position, and
changes made as dictated by experience within the fort.
Whiting and Lamb and the brave garrison were joyful over
their triumph; and, on January 2, Lamb felt still more se¬
cure when the battalion of the Thirty-sixth, which, under
Major Stevenson had been engaged at Savannah, returned
to their post. But the gateway to a land assault, notwith¬
standing the belated effort to close it, was still open.

Christmas

Day

Off. Records,
Series I,

Vol. II. 267

940

FALL OF FORT FISHER

January 15

Grant’s
Memoirs, II,
396

Kit Bland’s heroism

During the terrific bombardment an incident occurred
similar to that which has made Sargeant Jasper famous.
The garrison flag was shot away. To replace it by raising
one at the mound battery was not only dangerous but dif¬
ficult. On a call for volunteers for that purpose young Kit
Bland, a private in Company K, Thirty-sixth Regiment,
responded. Amid shot and shell, flying thick and fast
around him, he climbed the staff and tied the flag to its
pole. On coming down, he observed the flag flapping by
one corner, and he again climbed to the top and, after se¬
curing it safely, descended, although a shell brushed his
hair. Later he lost a leg', and was surrendered when the
fort fell. He was a native of Pitt County, but was a res¬
ident at Calabash, Brunswick County, when he enlisted.
After peace he was a farmer in Pitt and Edgecombe coun¬
ties and became a minister of the Gospel, a Baptist minister.
He died at his home at Ayden in 1917, aged seventy-three
years.

The fall of Fort Fislier

On the return of Butler to Fortress Monroe Grant at once
determined to try it over again, and he now selected Gen¬
eral Terry to command. The greatest secrecy was observed.
The object and destination of the proposed expedition were
kept so secret that even General Terry himself had no idea
where it was going or what it was to do, until he opened his
sealed orders at sea. Indeed, this movement was veiled in
such secrecy that although General Whiting and others rea¬
sonably expected that some attempt would be made to re¬
pair the mistake of General Butler, yet General Bragg was
misled, and he proposed to make a hurried attack on New
Bern while Hoke’s troops were unemployed and at his com¬
mand. So Hoke’s Division, which had taken post near
Fort Fisher, was withdrawn with the purpose of captur¬
ing New Bern, and thus it was not near Fort Fisher when
suddenly the fleet began the second attack.

The transports, bearing the Federal army, arrived off
Beaufort on January 8. On the morning of January 13 the

The Fall of Fort Fisher

FURIOUS FIRING ON FORT

941

fleet took its station near Fort Fisher in three lines, close
to the beach, and boats were sent to take the troops ashore.
These were landed, with twelve days provisions, at two
o’clock p.m. The ironclads were 1,000 yards distant from
the fort, and the battle opened at 7 130 a.m. Soon traverses
began to disappear, and the guns of the fort were silenced
one after another, and only one heavy gun in the southern
angle kept up its fire.

General Terry deployed his men across the peninsula, as
had been done before, and at two o’clock the next morning
they were within two miles of Fort Fisher. By noon he
had carried an unfinished work half a mile from the fort.
The assault was arranged for the next day.

General Whiting, in his official report, says : “On Friday
and Saturday, during the furious bombardment of the fort,
the enemy was allowed to land without molestation, and to
throw up a light line of field works from Battery Ransom to
the river, thus securing their position from molestation and
making the fate of Fort Fisher, under the circumstances,
but a question of time.” That was, indeed, very evident.
As Admiral Porter said, his six hundred guns commanding
that level plain would have defended the Federal force
against three hundred thousand attacking Confederates. If
any criticism should be made, it would be that this situa¬
tion had not been foreseen by the engineers in the years of
preparation. The beach had been left open for the land¬
ing of the Federals ; and no defending infantry could stand
within the range of the Federal gunboats. “On Saturday,”
continues General Whiting, “the fire on the fort reached
a pitch of fury to which no language can do justice. It
was concentrated on the land face and front. In a short
time nearly every gun was dismantled or disabled, and the
garrison suffered severely by the fire.”

On the first intimation that the fleet had returned Gen¬
eral Bragg, taken by surprise, hurried Hoke’s Division back
to Sugar Loaf. Kirkland's Brigade was again the first to
arrive. But the Federal commanders knew the advantages
of celerity. They were prepared to operate quickly. Gen¬
eral Terry had already landed his troops, and lost no time
in intrenching a line from the beach to the river. Hoke’s

Off. Records,
Series I,

Vol. II, 432,
433

Grant’s
Memoirs, II,
397

Clark, IV,
541

942

FALL OF FORT FISHER

Division at once threw up a line along his front, Sugar Loaf
being the base, but necessarily his line was enfiladed by the
ships. Hagood’s South Carolina was sent to assist Fort
Caswell, and Colquitt’s Brigade, under Graham, was ordered
to Fort Fisher. Bragg’s personal headquarters were at
Sugar Loaf.

On the second day of the bombardment, January 14, after
one o’clock, General Whiting reported that “the fire had
been and continues to be exceedingly heavy” ; that the bom¬
bardment of his land front was furious ; that it would be
continued until his guns were silenced ; that Porter would
force a passage of his ships into the river and cooperate
with the land force which had established itself from the
beach to the river; and if the Federal force was permitted
to remain at the river the reduction of the fort was but a
question of time.” Colonel Lamb expected Hoke to attack
on the night of the 14th, and made a sally from the fort
with that expectation; but Hoke did not attack, and it
does not appear that such an attack was arranged for or
ordered. For some reason General Bragg conceived the
idea that General Whiting’s condition was such that the
safety of the fort required a change in commanders, and
on January 15 Bragg assigned Colonel Colquitt to the im¬
mediate command of the fort and directed General Whiting
to report to him at Sugar Loaf, for conference and instruc¬
tions.

On Sunday, the 15th, Colonel Graham arrived at Battery
Buchanan with Colquitt’s Brigade, but he did not land them
all; only portions of the Twenty-first and the Twenty-fifth
South Carolina landed. Later in the day, about one o’clock
p.m. from Smithville Colonel Graham telegraphed General
Bragg: “As instructed by you about four hundred of my
men landed at Fisher. The rest were prevented by the
fire of the enemy. I will go there tonight unless otherwise
instructed.” Had Bragg’s orders been carried out Colquitt’s
Brigade of one thousand veterans would have been within
the fort. At three o’clock Sunday Whiting reported that
Clark iv, the enemy was moving apparently to assault. Hoke im-

542 mediately moved to attack them. Clingman’s and Kirk¬

land’s Brigades, pressing forward, drove in the Federal

MOMENT OF ASSAULT

943

skirmish line and occupied their rifle pits ; and when all, in
anxious expectancy, were awaiting the order to charge,
Bragg sent a courier to Hoke ordering him to withdraw
to Sugar Loaf.

“At three p.m. the line fell back, and Hoke’s Division
lay down, subjected to the fierce shelling of the vessels, but
hearing the musketry fire at Fort Fisher until its brave gar¬
rison was overcome at ten o’clock that night.” General
Bragg subsequently wrote : “Hoke found their line imprac¬
ticable for his small command, and I did not hesitate to
recall him.”

After a part of Colquitt’s South Carolinians had landed,
the fire of the fleet having prevented the larger part from
doing so, those on shore were conducted to the fort and
put under cover in a bomb-proof. The bombardment being
fierce, at three o’clock the Federal land force that had been
gradually and slowly making its way down the peninsula,
formed in two columns for the assault. The garrison dur¬
ing the bombardment was unable to stand unprotected on
the parapet. When the whistles of a-11 the ships sounded in
unison and the bombardment ’ ceased momentarily, it was
comprehended that the moment of assault had arrived. The
men now rushed to their stations. The western salient, be¬
ing an unenclosed battery, was held by 250 of the garrison,
and there was the point that would be assailed. The South
Carolinians were ordered to double-quick in defense of that
salient. They did not move promptly. They did not reach
the work before it was occupied by the Federals.

There were two attacking columns, one near the water’s
edge, composed of sailors and marines. This was appar¬
ently the most dangerous and the garrison gathered to meet
it. It was met valiantly and gloriously, and while its con¬
duct brought credit to the American Navy the defense was
so resolute, so devoted, that this attacking column suffered
most grievously and was repulsed. As the army column
further to the northward advanced, it divided, and one part
clinging near the river, and the other squarely approaching
the front. There torpedoes had been placed to repel the
passage of an attacking column, but the fire from the ships
had ploughed up the surface and rendered that means of

944

FALL OF FORT FISHER

defense useless, and the ships so directed their fire somewhat
in advance of the attacking column that everything was
swept away in their front. The land front at length was
gained, and the Federals succeeded in establishing them¬
selves in two compartments. Nor could General Whiting,
personally leading, dislodge the assailants. A hand-to-hand
encounter followed, both sides fighting desperately to hold
the compartments.

About four o’clock both General Whiting and Colonel
Lamb fell, and on Major Reilly devolved the command.
The murderous contest never ceased. Every inch was
fought for, but by nine o’clock further efforts were hope¬
less. The sallyport had been held. Captain Van Ben

Thuysen, of the marines, himself badly wounded, with a
squad of his men, took the General and the Colonel to carry
them to Battery Buchanan, followed by Major Reilly and
the remnant of the forces. In the dark night, lit up only
by the screaming and bursting shells, they passed out, seek-
Jan., 1865 ing safety, but on reaching Fort Buchanan, they found
neither garrison nor boats. The garrison had left. There
was now no avenue of escape. They bowed themselves to
their fate, and at ten o’clock when the Federals had made
their way to that point, they surrendered. Fort Fisher had
fallen.

It was officially found that in the first attack the Federal
Off. Records, fleet expended 20,271 projectiles weighing 1,275,299 pounds,
Voi. 11,441 and in the second attack, 19,682 projectiles weighing 1,652,-
638 pounds. The Federal loss was 1,445; that of the gar¬
rison about 500. General Whiting was taken North and
died in a Northern prison. Colonel Lamb and Major Reilly
survived.

Hampton Roads

As the war progressed without much change in the visible
conditions, at the North as well as at the South there was
an apparent desire to bring it to an end. The Democrats,
under the lead of Governor Seymour of New York and of
General McClellan, Senator Pendleton, and other men of
unchallenged patriotism, loudly protested against the arbi-

WILL OF THE CONQUEROR

945

trary measures of the Federal administration and proposed
a convention of all the states to bring about a settlement,
based on the Constitution as it was. And in the spring of
1864, President Davis commissioned Clay of Alabama,
Holcombe of Virginia, and Thompson of Mississippi, if
possible to start preliminary negotiations. These were
brought into touch with Horace Greeley, who urged peace,
It was thought that some private understanding might
open the way, but Mr. Lincoln met the approach by an
open declaration that any proposition coming by and with
an authority that can control the armies now at war against
the United States, embracing the integrity of the whole
Union, and the abandonment of slavery, will be considered
by the executive government of the United States and will
be met by liberal terms on other points. It did not provide
for a convention of states to compose differences. It in¬
volved surrender and submission to his will and the aban¬
donment of slavery. It was not the will of the Union, but
the will of the conqueror that was to be submitted to. The
intolerant, haughty spirit that marked 1861, fostered by a
sense of physical domination, again found expression. Un¬
conditional submission. It offered no basis for negotiations.
The Peace Conference of 1861 had come to naught: now
after a terrible war, it was suggested that another confer¬
ence of all the states might bring about peace, but Mr.
Lincoln would not have it that way. The parties at war
were the Northern States and the Southern States. Of the
latter three had established their independence by the Treaty
of 1783, and they were members of the Old Confederation
of 1781 which, however, fell through when in September,
1788, nine of the states formed a new Union. North Caro¬
lina, at first, did not enter the new Union, and for more
than a year was not bound to the other states by any com¬
pact whatever. The Southern States in 1861 formed a vast
empire covering a territory from the Potomac to the Rio
Grande. Their inhabitants were virtually a unit. Their
state governments and constitutions had remained unchanged
from the day of their first formation. Their action had
been as states. But President Lincoln had not recognized

their action as states, holding it unlawful and a nullity, and

Cox’s Three
Decades, 317

946

FALL OF FORT FISHER

•Jan., 1865

Blair’s visit

Stephens:
History of
U. S., 1009

holding the inhabitants to be in insurrection. However
illogical and repugnant to republican ideas this view was,
it was the basis of the action of the Northern government.
In conformity with it Mr. Lincoln would not recognize the
existence, of any government within any state of and within
the Confederacy.

But, at length, in January, 1865, Mr. Frank P. Blair, Sr.,
whose residence at Seven Springs, near Washington, had
in the previous decade been the Mecca of Democrats, the
father of Montgomery Blair, a member of the Cabinet,
having the esteem and confidence of President Lincoln and
the esteem of many friends in the Confederate Congress,
came to Richmond, hoping in some way to bring about
peace. He was received with respect and cordiality. After
an interview with President Davis and many friends, among
them a number whose hopes for a successful issue of the
war had faded away, he bore a letter from President Davis
to President Lincoln looking to peace. He then returned
to Richmond, bringing a letter to himself, in which Presi¬
dent Lincoln said he would receive any agent Mr. Davis
“would informally send with the view of securing peace to
the people of our one common country.” In his interview
with Mr. Davis, Mr. Blair, however, suggested that General
Lee and General Grant might suspend hostilities and a way
be paved for the restoration of peace. Yet, he informed
Mr. Davis that “the idea of a military convention was not
favorably received at Washington.” Mr. Davis had a con¬
ference with Vice-President Stephens, telling him that Mr.
Blair was under the firm belief that the attempt to establish
Confederate independence would certainly fail, and Mr.
Blair was looking forward to the ultimate return of the
Southern States to the Union ; and Mr. Blair’s proposition
was to pave the way to that end. It was in view of that
possible ultimate end that Mr. Davis and Vice-President
Stephens conferred. Mr. Stephens says in regard to that:
“Moreover, if such a result should ensue, it would be by
the voluntary assent of the Confederate States, and they
would secure the success of the principle for which we were
struggling. In every view this was a matter that could
safely be left to the future.”

HAMPTON ROADS CONFERENCE

947

Apparently, both Mr. Davis and Mr. Stephens looked for¬
ward to the possibility of a restoration of the Union as the
end of the proposed negotiations. Mr. Davis appointed Mr.
Stephens, R. M. T. Hunter and Judge Campbell, the latter
being “a Union man,” as commissioners. They met Mr.
Uincoln and Mr. Seward at Hampton Roads on February i,
1865. Since Mr. Blair’s first visit to Richmond the military
situation had changed. Fort Fisher had now fallen and
General Sherman was marching through the country unop¬
posed. The conference brought out no definite proposi¬
tions ; the Union must be restored and slavery abolished.
Toward its end, Judge Campbell renewed his inquiry — how
restoration was to take place, supposing the Confederate
States were consenting to it. Mr. Uincoln replied: “By
disbanding their armies and permitting the National au¬
thorities to resume their functions.” And this was said :
“In stating a single condition of peace, I mean simply to
say that the war will cease on the part of the government
whenever it shall have ceased on the part of those who
began it.” Mr. Hunter said: “There was nothing as a
basis of peace, but unconditional surrender. That there
could be no agreement, no treaty, nor even any stipulations
as to terms, nothing but unconditional submission.’'’ And
so the meeting ended.

But when Mr. Uincoln had returned to Washington he
locked himself up in his room and prepared a bill to be
submitted to Congress providing for the payment of $400,-
000,000 for the slaves if the Southern States should have
disbanded their armies before April 1. Having prepared
that bill, he called his Cabinet together and read it over to
them ; but they said it could not be gotten through and they
opposed submitting it to Congress. Mr. Uincoln with great
regret and reluctance yielded to their suggestion, and the
paper was laid aside and never presented to Congress.
Certainly Mr. Uincoln could not offer to pay anything be¬
fore Congress had authorized it, and his attitude was that
he could enter into no terms with either the Confederacy
or the government of any Southern State. The only thing
he would say was — submit, disband your armies.

Restored
Union ex
pected

New condi¬
tions

Stephens :
History of
U. S.

Submission

required

Life of
Campbell,
168

948

FALL OF FORT FISHER

Graham's

hope

The report

On the day these commissioners were appointed by Presi¬
dent Davis, January 28, Senator Graham, who in the absence
of Senator Hunter presided over the Senate, wrote to Gov¬
ernor Swain: “From several conversations with Mr. Hunter
in concert with whom I have been endeavoring to reach this
form of intercourse (with President Lincoln) since the
commencement of the session of Congress, I am satisfied
that the first effort will be to establish an armistice and then
to agree on terms of settlement. The Northern mind is
wedded to the idea of reconstruction'’ ; but Governor Graham
realized so little the state of the Northern mind that he
added: “I am convinced (the North) would guarantee
slavery as it now exists, and probably make other conces¬
sions, including restoration of confiscated property, except
slaves, and perhaps some compensation for a part of these."
He noted : “There are embarrassments attending the abdi¬
cation of a great government, such as now wields the power
of the South, especially by the agents appointed to maintain
it, that are difficult to overcome.'’

A week later the commissioners had returned, and on the
5th of February made their written report that Mr. Lincoln
had shut out all other possible results than the disbandment
of the armies and the restoration of the authority of the
United States government in such manner as he might in¬
dicate or Congress might require. It was submission to
whatever might come. Mr. Lincoln had said he could make
no terms with either any state or the Confederate States, nor
grant any suspension of hostilities without an assurance of
a complete restoration of the authority of the Constitution
and laws : and he further advised the commissioners that
Congress had passed a bill to amend the Constitution by
prohibiting slavery. After the return of the commissioners
there was no source left to hope for any terms, and Senator
Graham wrote : “I have seen but few persons today, but
the impression will be that there is no alternative but to
prosecute the war."

The situation was now becoming realized. While the
South had been holding Richmond and Petersburg and some
of the seacoast towns, the Federal armies had been increas¬
ing and the Confederate forces rapidly diminishing. The

USE OF NEGRO TROOPS PROPOSED

949

disparity now was startling. Lee suggested the use of negro
troops. Amid great excitement a public meeting was held
at Richmond at which President Davis made a speech
worthy of Rienzi or Demosthenes. Addresses were made
by Mr. Benjamin and Congressmen. Senator Graham
wrote : “They made labored arguments in favor of making
soldiers of slaves. Mr. Benjamin declared: ‘Lnless the
slaves are armed, the cause is lost.' . . . All these dem¬

onstrations are likely to pass off as the idle wind, and the
great question still remains, ‘What is to be done to save
the country?’ There is a widening breach between the
President and Congress ; a growing opinion on their part
that he is unequal to the present duties of his position, while
there is a difference of opinion as to the prospect of relief
in a different line of policy and under different auspices.
The military situation is threatening. Judge Campbell thinks
another mission should be sent. Speed in affairs is neces¬
sary. There is no time for states to act in concert (without
which they can effect nothing) nor sufficient harmony of
views here for action without the Executive, and many, per¬
haps a majority, are for the most desperate expedients.”

Ten days passed, and again Graham wrote: “A bill to
conscript negroes in the army was postponed indefinitely.
I argued it at length as unconstitutional according to the
Dred Scott decision, as well as inexpedient and dangerous.
There may be attempts to revive this fatal measure. All
the influence of the administration and of General Lee were
brought to bear, but without success. Mr. Benjamin has
been writing letters to induce the brigades of the army to
declare for it. Opinion is growing in favor of more nego¬
tiations, to rescue the wreck of our affairs, if military re¬
sults continue adverse. I shall meet some friends this even¬
ing on that topic. It is the duty of the people to sustain
the war till their authorities, Confederate or State, determine
otherwise.”

Deplorable indeed was the situation, and unhappy perhaps
were those statesmen whose clear vision had beheld in the
incarceration of some preacher of sedition only the tyranny
and despotism of the democratic element and the end of civil

The des¬
perate situa¬
tion

Mrs. Spen¬
cer, 118

To arm the
negroes

“Unconstitu¬

tional”

95°

FALL OF FORT FISHER

The

absentees

Mr. Lin¬
coln’s report

A return by
the states
not desired

liberty. If Lee and his heroic officers had failed on the
field of battle it was doubtless because his army was not
strong enough. Judge Campbell, as assistant secretary, pre¬
pared a report showing that the military resources of the
Confederacy were exhausted, and though he thought the
figure somewhat too high, he said that General Preston re¬
ported one hundred thousand men absent without leave.
Such had been in some measure the result of the partisan
hostility to the Confederate administration.

President Lincoln, being called on by resolution of the
House to communicate what passed at the Conference, re¬
plied by submitting a copy of his instructions to Secretary
Seward, who, on January 31, had been directed to go to
Fortress Monroe and meet the Confederate commissioners,
viz. : “You will make known to them that three things are
indispensable, to wit: 1. The restoration of the National
authority throughout all the states. 2. No receding by the
Executive of the United States on the slavery question
from his position in his message to Congress. 3. No cessa¬
tion of hostilities short of an end of the war and the dis¬
banding of all the forces hostile to the government.”

And in communicating this to Congress, Mr. Lincoln said:
“On my part the whole substance of the instructions to the
Secretary of State was stated and insisted on, and nothing
was said inconsistent therewith.” The ultimatum was a
continuance of hostilities until the hostile forces were dis¬
banded and the National authority should be restored
throughout all the states. “The other party,” said Mr.
Lincoln, “omitted to declare that they would never consent
to reunion. They seemed to desire the adoption of some
other course first, which as some of them seemed to argue
might or might not lead to reunion ; but which course we
thought would amount to an indefinite postponement.”

That is a reference to the proposition for an armistice,
affording an opportunity for the people in each state to
take action. In that event, it was expected by President
Davis and Mr. Stephens and the commissioners that the

SUGGESTION REJECTED

95i

states would themselves return to the Union, but the com¬
missioners had no authority to act for the states ; they could
only argue the course of events. Mr. Lincoln thought it
"amounted to an indefinite postponement." As the armistice
would have been for a definite period, the postponement
would have been limited. In that case, however, the return
of the states to the Union would have been by the action
of the people of the State, in some form ; not as if by con¬
quest. Mr. Lincoln .rejected the suggestion.

Lee confers with Hoke

It is to be recorded that somewhat earlier apprehensions
being felt lest General Lee should become incapacitated,
the President had desired General Lee to indicate who
should have command of the army.

General Lee told General Hoke that he had recommended
General Hoke to have the command : and he further said,
that he (Lee) had recommended that the negroes should be
brought in as soldiers. General Hoke disagreed to both
these suggestions.

CHAPTER LVI

Feb. 22,
1865

Wilmington Falls — End Approaches

At Wilmington. — The population. — The ladies. — Blockade-run¬
ning. — Fort Caswell abandoned.— Terry moves, but checked by
Hoke. — Cox advances on the west. — Captures Simonton and 400
men. — Hoke at Wilmington. — Cox on Eagles Island. — Hoke re¬
tires. — Wilmington occupied. — Hoke reaches Goldsboro. — 'Scho¬
field's order. — Lee made commander-in-chief. — The relative situa¬
tion. — Wheeler’s Cavalry. — Grant’s designs. — Columbia burned. —
Hardee withdraws from Charleston. — Sherman moves toward
Fayetteville. — At the arsenal. — Johnston assigned command by
Lee. — Lee suggests a conflict south of the river. — Johnston sees
that is impracticable. — Vance in full cooperation. — Sherman’s front
ravages sixty miles. — Barbarities. — Bishop Atkinson. — The ma¬
rauders shoot and hang their Victims. — The plunderers. — No Union
sentiment. — Daily life of the people. — Hampton sacks Kilpatrick’s
camp. — Salisbury prison. — Exchange ceases. — Governor Curtin re¬
pulsed. — Confederate offers rejected. — The delegation from Ander-
sonville. — The North Carolina offer. — Suffering at Salisbury. — The
exchange.

At Wilmington

The capture of Fort Fisher, carrying- with it possession
of the lower harbor and putting an end to blockade-running,
was cause for great rejoicing among the Federals. It
brought congratulations and honors to those who had the
good fortune to be engaged in the operations. Secretary
Stanton had been at Savannah. Now on his way north¬
ward, he stopped at Fort Fisher on the i6th of January, to
join in the jubilation and dispense promotions to the officers
of the army. And on the 28th, General Grant and General
Schofield arrived with their staff officers, but they came on
business. General Grant had designed to start Schofield’s
Corps in at New Bern, but now they came to determine
whether it would not be better to have him operate from
Wilmington ; and it" was so determined. On the other hand,
the fall of Fort Fisher caused wild panic at Wilmington,
and was regarded by the Confederates as a terrific blow to
the general cause.

DARK SIDE OF WILMINGTON

953

The population of the staid town of Wilmington had been
almost completely changed during the war. When the yel¬
low fever broke out in 1862 all who could move into the
up-country did so, and only a few of their families returned.
Some who were engaged in business and had no other means
of livelihood, had to remain, and among them were men in
every line of work and especially merchants of the highest
respectability and patriotism. Then came the era of block¬
ade-running, and the auction sales of the imported goods
drew there speculators from all parts of the South intent
on making fortunes ; and in the lower walks of life were to
be found rogues and desperadoes, who made a livelihood by
robbery, sometimes not stopping short of murder. It was
unsafe to venture into the suburbs of the little town by
night, and, even in daylight there were frequent conflicts in
the public streets between the crews of steamers in port and
the soldiers stationed at the post. The agents and employees
of different blockade-running companies, who were piling
up fortunes as the proceeds of each trip, lived in magnificent
style, and imported liquors enlivened every occasion. But
amid all the extravagance and dissolute conduct that set a
pace beyond the means of the actual resident, the ladies
resident in the city bore themselves in accord with their
traditions.

Convalescent soldiers passed from the hospitals in Vir¬
ginia through Wilmington, and a society, organized by Mrs.
Armand J. DeRossett, ministered to the wants of the suffer¬
ers, the trains stopping an hour or two that their wounds
might be dressed and food and medicine supplied them ; and
those self-sacrificing, heroic women patiently and faithfully
performed the offices of hospital nurses. Liberal contribu¬
tions were made at their instance, and the long tables at the
station were supplied with delicacies for the sick to be found
nowhere else in the Confederacy.

Blockade-running

In expectation of an attack on Fort Fisher there had been
some alarm among the inhabitants, but after that joyful
Christmas Day that brought a sense of security, business re-

Chronicles
of the
Cape Fear
414

954

WILMINGTON FALLS— END APPROACHES

Chronicles
of the
Cape Fear,
460

Derelicts,

218

Ibid., 266

sumed its accustomed channels. Indeed, blockade-running
was stimulated. How important that commerce was is in¬
dicated by there having been more than a hundred steamers
engaged in it. Many of these made regular trips ; the move¬
ments of the Ad-Vance was so regular that, at Wilmington,
people said: “Tomorrow the Ad-Vance will be in.” The
Siren made 64 successful trips; the Pet 40, the Confederate
steamer R. E. Lee, 21, and more than fifty others made trips
as if on regular schedules. Among the sea captains who
took the hazards of this enterprise were such Confederate
Navy officers as Maffitt and distinguished British officers as
Captain Murray-Aynsley.

In 1863 seventy-five vessels were engaged in these opera¬
tions, while of them thirty-four were captured or de¬
stroyed, yet they were practically replaced by others. What
value they were may be understood by the following refer¬
ence to the Kate, on landing at Charleston. “On Thursday
we were bound for the Northwest Channel with our regular
cargo of one thousand barrels of gunpowder, and arms and
accoutrements for ten thousand men. We ran into Charles¬
ton on Saturday night, and on Sunday morning the Con¬
federate Quartermaster pressed every horse and dray to
haul the cargo to the railroad station. The roar of the drays
and wagons was incessant. All day Sunday and Sunday
night it was kept up. As fast as a train was loaded it was
started for Johnston’s army. It may be said that the Kate
was the most important factor in the battle of Shiloh.
“Three cargoes of war stores carried in by the Kate, one
by the Mary Celeste, and the fourth by the Kate, into
Charleston, actually equipped Johnston’s army, immediately
after which came the battle of Shiloh.” While the Ad-Vance
was the largest and the finest of the blockade-runners, the
steamer Lillian was one of the most successful. Of five
hundred tons net register, the finest marine oscillating en¬
gines, boilers that drove her fifteen knots an hour, she pre¬
sented to the eye the graceful appearance of a racing yacht.
“A thing of beauty and a joy forever,” says Mr. James
Sprunt, her youthful purser, “she was to all of us on board;
and our beloved chief, John Newland Maffitt, no less, was,
we thought, the man of all men to command her.”

THE LAST OF BLOCKADE RUNNING

955

Possibly one-half of the blockade-runners met at last
with misfortune. The losses by capture and otherwise have
been estimated at $42,000,000 and it is thought the capital
involved was double that. “A steamer carrying one thou¬
sand bales of cotton sometimes realized a profit of a quarter
of a million dollars on the inward and outward run of two
weeks. . . . Cotton could be purchased in the Confed¬

eracy for three cents in gold and sold in England from
forty-five cents to a dollar a pound. ... The blockad¬
ing traffic during the war, including the cost of ships,
amounted to $150,000,000, gold standard.” The importance
of these importations cannot be estimated.

Captain Maffitt, in the Old, crossed the Western Bar after
the fall of Fort Fisher and several Federal vessels had en¬
tered the harbor. When he had dropped anchor he was
boarded by a Confederate boat that informed him of the
situation, that Fort Caswell and other stations were being
evacuated and that some Federal men of war were within
hailing distance. He slipped anchor and put to sea. The
Chameleon, Capt. John Williamson, came in later; but on
making the usual signal and getting no reply, and observing
camp fires on land, he too put to sea. However, the next
night he returned and was close in among the Federal fleet
that had crossed the bar, when again failing to get a Con¬
federate response to his signal, he turned and escaped to
Nassau.

Between the 12th and 16th of January, 1865, eight ves¬
sels left Nassau for Wilmington but Captain Maffitt, on
his escape, carried the news to Bermuda by the 21st, and
stopped half a dozen vessels then ready to sail.

Evacuation of Fort Caswell

After Fisher fell Fort Caswell was evacuated and blown
up, and the garrison made its way to Fort Anderson, at
Old Brunswick. The lower harbor was occupied by the
Federal fleet, and on the 19th Admiral Porter went on shore
at Smithville and took possession. However, the Federals
rested on their laurels and did not advance. They awaited
the arrival of Schofield’s Corps to make sure of superiority.

Chronicles
of (he
Cape Fear,
387

956

WILMINGTON FALLS— END APPROACHES

Hoke

Cox’s ad¬
vance

Clark, IY,
542

General Hoke remained in position at Sugar Loaf. At
length on February n, General Terry, reinforced by Gen¬
eral Schofield, moved forward, but was checked by Hoke
with his small force of only 4,500. Three days passed, and
then on the night of February 14 Terry sought to turn Hoke’s
left, but again failed. Schofield now determined to try
another plan and threw Cox’s Division of his corps to the
western side of the river. The ironclads began a brisk
bombardment of Fort Anderson, and Cox, while making a
feint of attacking the fort, passed around Orton Pond, gain¬
ing the rear of the fort, and thought the road to Wilmington
was open to him. But General Hagood, in command, dis¬
covering this movement, abandoned Fort Anderson and took
post behind Town Creek. Fort Anderson being evacuated,
the Federal fleet now had full possession of the river, and
Hoke’s right and rear being open to its fire, he fell back.

In the meantime on the 19th, while Terry was pressing
Hoke, Cox advanced to Town Creek and succeeded in cross¬
ing it below Hagood’s position, thus getting into his rear.
A stiff fight ensued, but Cox had the advantage and was
able to cut off Colonel Simonton, who was in command,
together with a large number of officers and about four
hundred men, who fell into his hands. Two days later
General Cox reached Eagles Island, and Wilmington was
at his mercy. As Hoke fell back, Terry advanced slowly,
Kirkland’s Brigade being the rear guard and skirmishing
behind the pines that here and there grew on the sand hills.
At length Hoke reached the outer works of Wilmington,
about four miles below the town, and there lie held the
advancing Federals in check.

Cox’s

Journal

Chronicles
of the
Cape Fear,
495

Wilmington taken

Schofield now ordered Cox to send several brigades to
the aid of Terry. But General Hoke, realizing that Cox’s
column had possession of Eagles Island and that the town
was at his mercy, destroyed such stores as would have
fallen into the hands of the enemy, and passing through
the town, retired across the Northeast River. In the harbor
was a fleet of magnificent steamers and the remains of the

FEDERALS IN WILMINGTON

957

Confederate Navy. Charleston already had been evacuated,
and Sherman was making progress toward the interior from
the south. In a few days Wilmington would have had to
be .evacuated because of his approach, but its possession by
the Federals was a great aid in Sherman’s movement.

On February 21, General Cox entered on his march across
Eagles Island toward Wilmington. “The Rebels immedi¬
ately began to burn the supplies and stores in Wilmington.
The smoke rising in columns more immense than any I
have seen. I received,” wrote Cox, “a dispatch from Gen¬
eral Schofield that General Terry had made no headway,
and orders to withdraw my command and cross the river
to Terry’s support. I started a brigade: a second dispatch
reiterated the order, and I started a second brigade at mid¬
night and prepared to move the rest, when the orders were
countermanded.” The 22d he entered the town without
opposition, and General Terry marched through.

Hoke retires

Still forming the rear guard of the infantry column, Kirk¬
land’s Brigade crossed the Northeast River on a pontoon
bridge, and burned the railroad bridge. At that point there
was a spirited afifair with the enemy. “I remember Lieut.
Wilson G. Lamb, with one of the companies of the Seven¬
tieth, as displaying conspicuous bravery.” Hoke’s Division
then marched to Goldsboro. It was of most grievous effect
on the waning fortunes of the Confederacy, and as it was
the first blow that had fallen on the people of that region,
so also was it a stunning blow in its effect. The war had
been waged afar off. North Carolina troops had largely
contributed to maintaining the battlefield at a distance in
Northern Virginia, and had saved their own State and com¬
munities from the desolation that befell elsewhere. All had
felt inconveniences ; all had suffered ; in every family there
was mourning ; but except the counties on the sounds, the
State had been saved from the horrors of hostile occupancy.

When Wilmington was occupied Rev. A. A. Watson,
rector of St. James Episcopal Church, was required to
alter the prayer prescribed by the Protestant Episcopal

Chronicles
of the
Cape Fear,
499

Jan., 1865

958

WILMINGTON FALLS— END APPROACHES

Story of
the Great
March, 37

Church of the Confederate States and to pray for the Presi¬
dent of the United States instead of the President of the
Confederate States. This the rector refused to do. Where¬
upon General Schofield seized the church building, had* the
pews and pulpit torn out and removed, and the building
converted into a hospital. Also, the Methodist Church on
Front Street was seized and turned over to a negro congre¬
gation.

Sherman in Georgia

On September i, 1864, the Confederates evacuated At¬
lanta, and the next day the Federals entered the town. Six
days later General Sherman ordered all the inhabitants to
be deported, and 446 families, consisting of 1,500 persons,
were removed. On the 16th of November Sherman began
his movement south. He gave orders for the destruction
of the town, and while some of the outlying buildings were
not destroyed, all in the heart of the city were, except
the churches and several others. Including those outside
of the city, perhaps 4,500 houses were destroyed and the
site was made desolate. There is a notable historical ex¬
ample — the destruction of Carthage by the Romans at the
end of the Punic Wars, when the Romans ploughed up the
site of Carthage. “A grand and aw.ful spectacle is pre¬
sented to the beholders of their beautiful city now in flames.
The heaven is one expanse of lurid fire. The air is filled
with flying, burning cinders. Buildings covering two hun¬
dred acres are in ruins or flames. We are leaving Atlanta.
Behind we leave a track of smoke and flame. Yesterday,
we saw in the distance a pillar of smoke ; the bridges were
all in flames. I heard a soldier say: T believe Sherman has
set the very river on fire.’ His comrade replied: ‘If he has,
it's all right.’ The rebel inhabitants are in an agony. The
soldiers are as hearty and jolly as men can be. The soldiers
are hunting for concealed things, and these searches are
one of the pleasantest excitements of our march.” Thus
wrote the aide-de-camp of General Sherman.

The consternation that was occasioned by these proceed¬
ings was immense. General Hood had withdrawn from

WAR ON THE WEAK

959

Sherman's vicinity and the Federal column had been left
to its own devices. Sherman had written to Grant, “I can
make Savannah, Charleston, or the mouth of the Chatta¬
hoochee. I prefer to march through Georgia, smashing
things, to the sea. The utter destruction of its roads, houses
and people will cripple their military resources.”

The Constable Du Guesclin, the greatest warrior of .the
centuries, being on his death bed, in 1380, and bidding
adieu to his veteran warriors who had served under him
forty years, entreated them not to forget what he had said
to them a thousand times — that in whatever country they
made war, churchmen, women, infants, and poor people
were not their enemies.

Sherman, a graduate of West Point, had been superin¬
tendent of the Louisiana Military Academy and he had such
an idea of the conditions at the South in 1859, that he wrote :
“Niggers! What can you do with niggers? They are not
fit for soldiers; they are not fit for citizens; they are just
fit for labor that white men cannot do. I would not, if I
could, abolish or modify slavery.” Now, to abolish slavery,
he was disregarding every precept of civilized warfare.

Sherman marched leisurely through Georgia unopposed,
devastating a breadth of sixty miles, like a besom of de¬
struction, burning residences and provisions, and carrying
off all animals. As he expressed it, “instead of the people
there furnishing provisions for the Confederate Army, Pres¬
ident Davis will have to supply them or they will starve.”
He said: “War is hell.” Milton’s suggestive line runs:
“Which way I fly is hell: myself am hell.” In those regions
are supposed to be His Majesty and his attendant Imps and
the unhappy victims who suffer. So it was with the un¬
fortunate women and children who were within the zone
of Sherman’s march. They were a religious, God-fearing
people. They were trained in obedience to the laws of God
and of their country ; they were the true-blue American
patriotic people : a most excellent, virtuous people, among
the most admirable of the human race. Of them Senator
Hoar of Massachusetts said: “Southern men were unsur¬
passed among the nations of the earth in courage, spirit,
hospitality and generosity to their equals. With the love

Union Por¬
traits, Brad¬
ford, 140

The Chris¬
tian women

Hoar’s view

960

WILMINGTON FALLS— END APPROACHES

No restrain¬
ing power

Halleck’s
Laws of
War, 457

and habit for truth, which becomes brave men in all com¬
mon things, they were subtle and skillful diplomats when
diplomacy was needed to accomplish any political end. My
long conflict with their leaders has impressed me with an
ever-increasing admiration of the great and high qualities
of our Southern people. Their love of home, their chiv¬
alrous respect for women, their courage, their delicate sense
of honor, their constancy, which can abide by an opinion, or
a purpose, or an interest of their states, through adversity
and through prosperity, through the years and through the
generations, are things by which the people of the more
mercurial North may take a lesson. And there is another
thing — covetousness, corruption, the low temptation of
money, has not yet found any place in our Southern politics.”

Bowed down with personal grief, amid ruin and desola¬
tion, the sorrowing women accepted their fate at Sherman’s
hands, now freed from restraint. The power of the South
had waned. In August, 1862, the author fell into the power
of the Federal authorities, and was treated by Birney, Pope,
Franklin, and at Halleck's headquarters with all the courtesy
that could have been accorded a prisoner of war. In the
fall of 1864, conditions had changed. The South no longer
had power to enforce the observance of the precepts of
civilized warfare. That restraining influence was now re¬
moved. "‘The modern usage is not to touch private property
on land without making compensation, except in certain
specified cases.” But it was not war that Sherman was
engaged in: it was to create a hell. It was a holiday excur¬
sion, virtually unopposed. “We have consumed the corn
and fodder in the region of country thirty miles on either
side of a line from Atlanta to Savannah, as also the sweet
potatoes, cattle, hogs, sheep and poultry, and have carried
away more than ten thousand horses and mules, as well as
a countless number of their slaves. I estimate the damage
done to the State of Georgia and its military resources at
one hundred million dollars, at least twenty million of which
have inured to our advantage, and the remainder is simple
waste and destruction.” Thus Sherman wrote in his official
report. His intimate letters to Mrs. Sherman were in a
more exultant strain.

BURNING, STEALING, PLUNDERING

961

Major Nichols, Sherman’s aide-de-camp, presents in
The Great March a vivid picture of the proceedings.
“Beauty and Booty” was the incentive offered for enlist¬
ments in the city of “Brotherly Love.” Sherman and his
officers at least made good the promise as to “booty.” The
people were helpless, the women defenseless : there was no
resistance. It was like Prometheus bound to the rock. Said
Sherman to his wife, December 16: “We came right along,
living on turkeys, chickens, pigs, bringing along our wag¬
ons, loaded as they started with bread, etc. I suppose Jeff
Davis will now have to feed the people of Georgia instead
of collecting provisions of them to feed his armies. . . .

The amount of burning, stealing and plundering done by
our army makes one ashamed of it.”

Nothing of value escaped the plundering horde, officers
and men often vying with one another in acts of violence,
insult, outrage, pillage, desolation and murder. Cromwell
said: “Paint me as I am.” Sherman and Nichols have per¬
fectly filled out their own pictures.

Savannah was evacuated and Sherman took possession.
On December 18, General Halleck, the Chief of Staff, from
whose Laws of W ar the author has quoted, communicated
with General Sherman : “Should you capture Charleston,
I hope that by some accident, the place may be destroyed ;
and if a little salt should be sown upon the site it may
prevent the growth of future crops of nullification and se¬
cession.” To this Sherman replied on December 24: “I
will bear in mind your hint as to Charleston, and I do not
think salt will be necessary. When I move the Fifteenth
Corps will be on the right wing, and their position will
bring them into Charleston first : and, if you have watched
the history of this corps, you will have remarked that it
generally does its work pretty well. The truth is the whole
army is burning with an insatiable desire to wreak vengeance
on South Carolina. I almost tremble at her fate. We must
make old and young, rich and poor, feel the hard hand of
war, as well as their organized armies.”

Such was the spirit of the North at that time when the
South lay prostrate. Similarly, Grant said to Halleck,

July 14, 1864: “Send everything that can be got to eat out
61

Off. Records,
Series 38,
574

So. Hist.
Papers, Vol.
XII, 306

Salt and
vengeance

962

WILMINGTON FALLS— END APPROACHES

A cheerful
heai’t

History

Nat. Intel.,
Sept. 26,
1862

of Virginia, clear and clean as they go, so that the crows
flying over it will have to carry their provisions with them” ;
and, on August 26, to Sheridan in the Valley: “Carry ofif
stock of all description, and negroes, so as to prevent further
planting. We want the Shenandoah Valley to remain a
barren waste.”

And Sheridan, in cheerful heart, reported : “1 have burned
two thousand barns filled with wheat and corn, all the mills
in the whole country, destroyed or driven off every animal,
even the poultry, that could contribute to human sustenance.
Nothing should be left in the Shenandoah but eyes to lament
the war.”

“All profess to be content in the Union if all constitutional
rights can be maintained.” Thus testified Mr. Lincoln in his
inaugural. And so it was. But the cotton states felt them¬
selves forced out of the Union; and there was no Northern
hand raised to stay the movement. They did not prepare
for war, but expected peace. North Carolina, Virginia,
Tennessee, the entire border states held back. The North
proclaimed the war. The North forced Virginia, North
Carolina and Tennessee to choose sides, and now, after four
years, during which the entire South made no demand ex¬
cept — “cease your war,” the spirit of the North was ex¬
emplified in her chief generals — “Nothing should be left but
eyes to lament the war” : and that, particularly, in the coun¬
try of Washington, Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Morgan, the
Lees, Madison, Monroe, and all those others whose lives
adorned the annals of the world.

Said Mr. Lincoln in his second annual message : “ We
cannot escape history. The way is plain, peaceful, generous
and just: a way, which, if followed, the world would for¬
ever applaud and God must forever bless.” And again said
Mr. Lincoln, in his reply to the delegation from the Chicago
chamber on September 11, 1862: “The rebel soldiers are
praying with a great deal more earnestness, I fear, than our
own troops, and expecting God’s favor on their side ; for
one of our soldiers who had been taken prisoner told Sena¬
tor Wilson a few days since that he met with nothing so
discouraging as the evident sincerity of those he was among,
in their prayers.”

GERMANS FOLLOW LINCOLN

963

A God-fearing people, who “all profess to be content in
the Union if all constitutional rights can be maintained”
were to be so harried that “nothing should be left but eyes
to lament the war” — a war which they would have gone
on their knees to Mr. Lincoln not to begin. Such was the
declaration of Mr. Gilmer.

Fifty years later the Germans adopted Mr. Lincoln's idea
and plan of warfare for Christian people, and began the
destruction of women and children as well as soldiers by
deadly gasses, as well as by bombs intended to destroy
Paris, fifty miles distant; and in the year 1925, Mr.
Lincoln's plan being accepted, it is said by scientists that
within three hours after a successful attack the entire popu¬
lation of New York City, of Philadelphia, Boston, his own
Springfield, the men, women, children born and unborn,
would be exterminated. One turns with admiration to
Du Guesclin in the dark days of the Middle Ages !

Sherman not opposed

As Sherman was preparing to leave Atlanta Wheeler’s
cavalry was thrown in his front, and the General Assembly
of Georgia, on November 18, authorized the levy, en masse,
of the people of Georgia to oppose him. But it was then too
late. The want of cooperation with the Confederate authori¬
ties led to its natural result. General Cobb concentrated about
five thousand militia, but they were as chaff before the wind.

To protect Savannah every available man was ordered
there. Five companies of the Fortieth Regiment, under
Major Holland, and five of the Thirty-sixth Regiment, under
Maj. James C. Stevenson, were hurried from the Cape Fear.
Likewise, the Fiftieth North Carolina, Colonel Wortham,
had on November 24, been ordered from Williamston to
Augusta, and then to Savannah ; also the Seventy-seventh
North Carolina, Senior Reserves, Colonel Shober (but after
January 26, under Col. E. W. Hancock), also the Tenth
Battalion, under Maj. W. L. Young. These were thrown
into a brigade, and Col. Washington Hardy of the Sixtieth,
who was present, was given command of the brigade. These
all rendered effective service.

Clark, Vol.
IV, 322

964

WILMINGTON FALLS— END APPROACHES

Wheeler’s

cavalry

Grant's
Memoirs,
Yol. II, 416

Lee in supreme command

On the 6th day of February General Lee was invested
with the command of all the Confederate forces, under the
title of Commander-in-Chief. He found Bragg in Eastern
North Carolina, Beauregard at Augusta, Hardee at Charles¬
ton. Beauregard had designed the early evacuation of
Charleston and the junction of all available troops to strike
Sherman on his march ; but Hardee delayed abandoning
Charleston. Beauregard reached Columbia on the 16th, and
assumed command of all forces in South Carolina; but it
was then too late to concentrate to advantage.

In Sherman’s march through Georgia Wheeler’s cavalry
had been in his front and on his flanks. It was cavalry
without supply wagons, having to subsist on the country,
and, being in small detachments, it soon became irregular in
its actions. In South Carolina it was the same. In par¬
ticular, it was without restraint in dealing with such maraud¬
ing detachments of Federal soldiers as they came in conflict
with. In small bodies they scouted here and there, and,
being often hotly pressed, fell into the habit of supplying
their necessities without ceremony. Perhaps, also, they
knew that the advancing Federals would sweep the country
clean. So eventually they became a terror to friend and
foe alike. Hampton, with some of his cavalry, also came
later; but that organization was under better control.

Slierman’s march

General Grant, with full information of what was passing
within the Confederate lines, finding various Federal corps
disengaged, brought Schofield’s from the west to Annapolis,
and designed that Sherman, on reaching the coast, should
proceed by water to join him before Lee. But the Con¬
federates proving so weak, his plans changed, and Sherman,
on February 1, marched into South Carolina. On Febru¬
ary 17 he reached Columbia, and on the 18th Charleston was
evacuated. “Columbia and Cheraw, farther north, had been
regarded as so secure from invasion that the wealthy people
of Charleston and Augusta had sent much of their valuable

TRIPLE CALAMITY

property to these two points to be stored. Among the goods
sent were valuable carpets, tons of old Madeira, silverware
and furniture. “I am afraid," wrote General- Grant, “much
of these goods fell into the hands of our troops." Of the
excesses of General Sherman’s troops at Columbia some ac¬
count is preserved in the memoirs of the scientist Le
Conte. “With them one day was the same as another, un¬
less it happened to be worse." The residences plundered
and burned, and Columbia destroyed as designed, Sherman
continued on his march northward.

The burning of Columbia, the evacuation of Charleston, the
capture of Wilmington, all marked the week ending Febru¬
ary 22. The steady march of Sherman’s columns northward
at about eight miles a day, leaving desolation in their path, the
uncertainty of any defense (for, indeed, none knew the loca¬
tion and movements of the separated Confederate troops at
the southward), all combined to increase the consternation
of the people in the regions of the Cape Fear and Pee Dee.
There were two points to which Sherman might march :
Charlotte and Fayetteville. Beauregard, in command, had
supposed Charlotte would be his destination, and made his
dispositions accordingly; and he himself took post there.
At Fayetteville it was not so considered, and Colonel Childs,
in command of the arsenal there, prepared for its evacua¬
tion. He also took steps to stop navigation up the Cape
Fear from Wilmington, but the flood in the river rendered
those measures somewhat abortive.

At the arsenal in Fayetteville was a company of fifty men
of the ordnance corps, acting as guard, and the operatives
were organized into companies ; the whole constituting a
battalion, of which the commanding officer of the arsenal,
Frederick L. Childs, was the Lieutenant-Colonel, and Mat¬
thew P. Taylor was the Major. When General Butler made
his attack on Fort Fisher this battalion reported at Wilming¬
ton for duty, and Company B, Capt. Armand DeRossett,
remained there. When it became evident that Sherman was
to penetrate the State all work at the arsenal was suspended,
a large amount of supplies and material and some machinery
were moved by rail to the Gulf, in Chatham County, and
thence much of it was hauled by wagons to Greensboro.

Columbia

burned

Childs’s ac¬
tion

The arsenal
guards

966

WILMINGTON FALLS— END APPROACHES

Johnston

Lee’s desire

Yance

•On the approach of Sherman, the battalion, being the
operatives, was encamped at the Gulf, and remained there
until Johnston's surrender.

Military movements

On the 23d of February, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, who
was off duty at Lincolnton, was assigned by General Lee to
the command with orders to concentrate all available forces
and drive Sherman back. By arrangement, Beauregard under¬
took to protect the railroad line from Charlotte to Danville,
and Johnston took the field. The available forces, on paper,
amounted to about sixteen thousand troops, widely scattered
from Charlotte to Cheraw and Newberry; while other
squads, the remains of Hood’s army, coming through Geor¬
gia in little parties, were eventually united at Augusta by
Lieut. -Gen. Stephen D. Lee and conducted by him to Smith-
field, North Carolina, in time to engage, later, in the battle
of Bentonville. In addition, General Lee placed Bragg’s
forces, amounting to some six thousand men, at Johnston’s
command. On the first of March it was a question, says
General Johnston, “whether Hardee from Charleston or
Sherman from Columbia would first reach Cheraw.’’ Thanks
to the high waters, Hardee won and crossed the Pee Dee
on the third. Then Johnston, convinced that Fayetteville
would be the objective point, thought it would be practi¬
cable to unite enough troops to engage one of Sherman’s
columns while crossing the Cape Fear. General Lee, also,
was of that opinion, and he sent dispatches to General John¬
ston at Fayetteville making suggestions to that end ; but
General Johnston was not at Fayetteville, and his where¬
abouts were unknown. In the emergency, the writer opened
those dispatches. General Lee expected Johnston to engage
south of the Cape Fear, mentioned particularly Hoke’s Di¬
vision as being able to take care of itself, but suggested
that Johnston should see that the other troops threw up some
breastworks and made preparation for stout defense. The
tone of his reference to Hoke’s Division was most compli¬
mentary. But there was no such concentration, General
Johnston early realizing that it was then impracticable, al-

SHERMAN'S GOLD DIGGERS

967

though Governor Vance had placed every resource of the
State at his command and cooperated with vigor and patri¬
otic endeavor.

The troops in front of Sherman, including Hardy’s Bri¬
gade, reached Florence and then Cheraw on March 3, and
crossed the Pee Dee at Wall's Ferry on the 5th. Hardee,
from Charleston proceeded with his little force to Rocking¬
ham, General Beauregard assuming that Sherman would
continue northward to Charlotte ; but Sherman, turning east,
on the 5th crossed the Pee Dee, the right at Cheraw, the
left at Sneedsboro. The swollen condition of the river had
compelled Hampton with his cavalry to detour to the fords
at Grassy Island, where he crossed two days afterwards,
thus finding himself on the left of the advancing enemy
instead of the front. Sherman’s approach was slow but
steady. His troops lived on the country and were similarly
engaged in gathering in spoils as in South Carolina and
Georgia. With a front of sixty miles they devastated the
country.

Their coming to Fayetteville was expected with dread.
Their practice of getting booty was well known, and pre¬
cautions were taken to secrete silver. Their method of find¬
ing treasure was to shove a ramrod into the earth and if
it struck an obstacle, at once the spade was used. Ladies
resorted to the expedient of making an incision into the
ground with a carving knife or similar instrument, and
putting a fork or a spoon in, then covering and packing:
the ramrod might strike and be deflected, and the spoon
thus escape.

“Wherever the army halted,” says Sherman’s aide in his
Story of the Great March, “almost every inch of the ground
in the vicinity of the dwellings was poked by ramrods,
pierced with sabers, or upturned by spades. It was comical
to see a group of red-bearded veterans punching the un¬
offending earth. Nothing escaped the observation of these
sharp-witted soldiers.” Sometimes it may have been com¬
ical, but at others it was tragical.

The venerable Bishop of North Carolina, in some respects
one of the foremost men of that period, Thomas Atkinson,
being at his home at Wadesboro on March 3 when the Fed-

Hardee

Sherman’s

march

Bishop

Atkinson

968

WILMINGTON FALLS— END APPROACHES

Mrs. Spen¬
cer, 63

Other atroci¬
ties

Mrs. Spen¬
cer, 64, 68

Story of
Grand
March, 222

erals entered the town, sat down quietly at his books in his
library, having asked the others of his family to remain in
a room in the rear of the building. A soldier having knocked
at the door, he opened it. “He at once, with many oaths,
demanded my watch, which I refused to give him. He
then drew a pistol and presented it at me, and threatened
to shoot me immediately if I did not surrender it. I still
refused, and the altercation becoming loud, my wife heard
it, ran into the room and earnestly besought me to give it
up, which I then did. He then proceeded to ride our trunks
and drawers, took some of my clothes from these, and my
wife’s jewelry/' In some instances, says Bishop Atkinson,
“defenseless men were killed for plunder. James C. Bur¬
nette, one of the oldest and wealthiest men in Anson County,
was shot at the door of his own house because he did not
give up his watch and money, which had previously been
taken from him by another party. J. P. McLean was hung
up by the neck three times and shot at once to make him
disclose hidden valuables. W. T. Horne, Jesse Hawley and
Alexander McArthur were all hung up until nearly dead.
John Waddell was shot down and killed in his own house.
The common practice, however, was not to shoot to kill, but
to hang by the neck. Dr. Hicks of Duplin suffered that way,
along with hundreds of others. Usually the residences were
stripped of all provisions, and not infrequently they were
burned down.”

At Fayetteville

The people of Fayetteville were very intelligent and patri¬
otic. The leading men had been Union men, not Secession¬
ists; but they were Confederates, and when the commis¬
sioners returned from the Hampton Roads Conference the
citizens of Fayetteville held a public meeting and declared
that they would redouble their efforts to achieve independ¬
ence. It was with such a spirit that they bore the adversities
that now befell them.

Describing his entrance into North Carolina, Major
Nichols says: “The army has passed through thirteen miles
or more of splendidly managed plantations, the corn and

INDISCRIMINATE ROBBERY

969

cotton fields are nicely ploughed and furrowed, the fences
are in capital order, the barns are well built, the dwelling
houses are cleanly, and there is that air of thrift which
shows that the owner takes a personal interest in the man¬
agement of affairs. ”

Mr. Rose says : “The Federal soldiers did not leave my
family a mouthful. They took all my clothing, even the
hat off my head, and the shoes and pants from my person.
They took most of my wife’s and children’s clothing, all of
our bedding, destroyed my furniture and robbed all my
negroes. On leaving they set fire to my fences, outhouses
and dwelling, which fortunately I was able to extinguish.
Nine dwellings were burned to the ground in this neighbor¬
hood. Four gentlemen were hung up by the neck till nearly
dead, and the women forced to yield their trinkets have
never been numbered. It has been said that the corps were
organized for spoils, and there were divisions of the spoils
among the officers and men according to some regulations
established among them. It was also understood that many
officers, as well as men, had possessed themselves of much
silver and jewelry. One officer, who subsequently married
in North Carolina, it was said, gave his wife a considerable
quantity of jewelry, rings and trinkets, some of which had
belonged to one of her acquaintances in South Carolina.
The property taken from another family, the jewelry, plate,
money, etc., was estimated to be worth not less than $25,000.“

The invading army found booty : but they did not find any
desire to be subjugated. After Major Nichols had been a
week or so in North Carolina, he wrote: “Thus far we
have been painfully disappointed in looking for Union senti¬
ment in North Carolina, about which so much has been
said. Our experience is decidedly in favor of its sister
state.’’

While such w~as the feeling in the Cape Fear country
similar conditions prevailed elsewhere. There was prevalent
a dread of Sherman, and terrible apprehension ; but daily
life continued much in its ordinary course.

Mrs. Spencer, at Chapel Hill, wrote : “On the 2d of April,
Richmond was evacuated. Our President and his Cabinet
were fugitives, our Capital City was delivered over to a

Spencer, 67

The spoils
corps

No Union
sentiment

Spencer, 132

970

WILMINGTON FALLS— END APPROACHES

The general
condition

The Confed¬
erates pass
the river

mob and in flames. But we did not even dream of it. It
was more than a week before the certain intelligence was
received in central Carolina, and even then many doubted.
Dismal rumors from Lee’s army, of the fall of Petersburg,
of the fate of Richmond, were whispered, but were con¬
tradicted every hour by those whose wish was father to the
thought that there was hope yet, that all was not lost. We
hardly realized through what an era of history we were
living. The uninterrupted order of daily life continued.
The children plan their little fishing parties, the plow-boy
whistles in the field, the wedding supper is provided, and
the daily course of external domestic life in general flows
as smoothly as ever, except immediately in the track of the
armies. So we still exchange our Confederate money with
each other. Thirty dollars a yard for calico, $10 for a
pair of cotton socks, $20 for a white straw hat, $25 for a
bushel of meal, and $10 to have a tooth pulled, and very
cheap at that, if we had only known all. Mothers were still
preparing boxes for their boys in the army : the farmer got
out his old battered tools in readiness for his spring work,
the merchant went daily to preside over his stock in the
store, and our little girls still held their regular meeting for
knitting soldiers’ socks, all unconscious of the final crash
so near, while the peach trees were all abloom, and spring
was putting on her bravery.”

Thus it was in the myriad of homes throughout the land,
where gentleness reigned, and where piety and patriotism
went hand in hand. Still there were other streams of life,
where men and women realized the calamities that had be¬
fallen their country, and their hearts were penetrated with
gloom that cannot be portrayed.

Hampton and Kilpatrick

On the night of March 9, being in the vicinity of Kil¬
patrick’s cavalry, Hampton united all of his own companies
and surprised Kilpatrick at daybreak, drove his troops into
a neighboring swamp, and held possession of the camp, the
artillery and wagons for some time. The Confederates car¬
ried off many horses and mules, and they brought off five

COTTON MILLS BURNED

971

hundred prisoners and released 173 Confederates held by
Kilpatrick. As information of this brilliant stroke spread
it brought general satisfaction, but it was only a flash of
light amid the prevailing darkness.

The morning after this affair, Hardee's infantry having
already passed through Fayetteville and the streets being
full of trains and horses but no troops, a detachment of a
hundred and fifty Federal cavalry dashed into the town.
General Hampton who had preceded his cavalry and was
at breakfast, hurrying out at the head of a dozen men,
staff officers and couriers, charged the Federal detachment,
killing two with his own hand, capturing some and putting
the remainder to flight. His cavalry soon came in ; and
presently it, too, passed the river, and on the morning of
April 11, General Sherman took quiet possession.

Sherman had by couriers requested General Schofield at
Wilmington to send him provisions by steamer, which then
arrived. For several days the Federal army rested at
Fayetteville, and an opportunity was afforded them to send
North the silver and jewelry and other valuables of which
they had despoiled the inhabitants along their route. Pur¬
suing his usual course, General Sherman destroyed the
arsenal buildings, the office of the Fayetteville Observer,
and the seven cotton factories and mills in the vicinity.
The soldiers burned dwellings to please their fancy, and
created havoc and desolation in sheer wantonness. Noth¬
ing of value was left.

General Sherman found at the residence of Col. Frederick
L. Childs, the commandant of the arsenal, Colonel Childs’s
sister Jennie, Mrs. Anderson, and his aged mother, from
whose house at Fortress Monroe Sherman had been mar¬
ried. The venerable lady was somewhat afflicted with palsy.
When the General entered, he said : “Ah ! Mrs. Childs, this
is no place for you. You must go to General Woodbury's
(one of her daughters was the wife of the distinguished
engineer, General Woodbury of the United States Army),
and you, Jennie — you should go to the Anderson’s (likewise
previously a United States Army family). I am sorry to
see you here. But as for that damn little Fred Childs — if I
catch him, Til hang him as high as Hainan.” And, then,

Johnston, *
532

Sherman at
Fayertteville

Spencer, 68

972

WILMINGTON FALLS— END APPROACHES

Curtin and
Stanton

McClure’s

Lincoln,

241

Grant’s view

in a wild burst of passion, he exclaimed: “I come through
now creating devastation. If that does not answer, I will
come through with fire and sword, and slay the people and
leave desolation; and, then, if they do not submit, I will
come through again, and leave nothing alive and sow the
ground with salt/’ And the palsied widow of General
Childs looked on aghast in horror at the spectacle.

Salisbury prison

Up to October, 1864, Salisbury prison was free from the
horrors that subsequently became so deplorable. In that
summer there were no Federal prisoners confined there ; the
inmates in July being 310 Confederate soldiers serving sen¬
tences under court-martial, 164 political prisoners, and 96
deserters from the Federal Army, not subject to exchange.
But with the opening of autumn it became necessary to
transfer Federal prisoners from other points. The Federal
government had ceased exchanging prisoners and no ad¬
equate provision had been made for the considerable number
that fell into the hands of the Confederates.

By October 5 five thousand had arrived, and soon they
increased to ten thousand. The accommodations wrere in¬
sufficient. Within the prison bounds there was not enough
shelter, nor could tents be supplied. At that time the Con¬
federates held a very great number, and the Federal authori¬
ties persisted in not exchanging.

In 1864 Governor Curtin of Pennsylvania went to Wash¬
ington on three different occasions and appealed to Stanton
and Lincoln for an exchange of prisoners, as the Southern
Confederacy proposed. Each side held about 30,000 prison¬
ers. On the third visit, Stanton grew impatient, even in¬
solent. “Do you come here and ask me to exchange 30,000
skeletons for 30,000 well-fed men?” To which Curtin re¬
plied : “Do you dare to depart from the laws of humane
warfare in this enlightened age of Christian civilization?”
Curtin failed.

Said General Grant in August, 1864: “It is hard on our
men held in Southern prisons not to exchange them, but
it is humanity to those left in the ranks to fight our battles.

EXCHANGE OF SICK AND WOUNDED

9 73

If we commence a system of exchange, which liberates all
prisoners taken, we will have to fight on until the whole
South is exterminated. If we hold those caught, they
amount to no more than dead men." That, then, was the
policy of the Federal government. The South was embar¬
rassed by the situation. Mr. Davis recognized the obligations
of a Christian soldier. The men who had surrendered were
under the Confederate law to receive the same rations and
treatment as Confederate soldiers, and under military law
were to be cared for and not subjected to unnecessary hard¬
ships. Unable to perform these obligations to his satisfac¬
tion, President Davis ofifered, during the summer, to deliver
at the mouth of the Savannah River fifteen thousand sick,
wounded or well Federal prisoners without asking any
equivalent. It was not until November that the Federal
government supplied transportation to receive these men.
In return thirty-five hundred sick and wounded Confed¬
erates were started from Northern prisons, but during the
passage about five hundred of them died. The Federal
authorities, to embarrass the South, had declared medicines
contraband of war, in violation of usage. Mr. Davis ofifered
to purchase medicine from the United States authorities to
be used only for Federal prisoners, to be brought by
United States surgeons and dispensed by them, the payment
to be made in gold, cotton, or tobacco. But the proposition
was not accepted. A delegation of Federal prisoners was
sent from Andersonville to plead their cause before the au¬
thorities at Washington; but their pleadings were without
avail, and they were told, “No, go back. You are render¬
ing your country better service by staying at Andersonville
than you would on being exchanged/’ And on their return,
bearing this message to their fellows, the hearts of the poor
prisoners failed, despair took the place of hope, and they
died faster than ever. Five thousand were sent at one time
in a batch to the nearest Federal headquarters in Florida
without any equivalent being required, and they had to
march back to their prison, as the commander, under orders,
had to refuse them.

The treat¬
ment of
prisoners

True Story
of Anderson¬
ville

974

WILMINGTON FALLS-END APPROACHES

The ex¬
change

The Legislature of North Carolina offered to supply
blankets and clothing to the Federal prisoners at Salisbury
if the Federal government would supply an equal amount
for Confederates in their hands. The offer was not accepted.
At length, however, the Federal government so far relented
that it assented to a proposition that each government might
supply its captured men with clothing, and ten thousand
suits were received at Salisbury and distributed by Federal
officers who were paroled for that purpose. “Whatever may
be said/’ remarked Mrs. Spencer, “of the treatment of pris¬
oners at Andersonville or elsewhere, it is certain that no
efforts were spared on the part of the public authorities of
North Carolina nor, we may add, of the community around
Salisbury, to mitigate as far as possible the inevitable hor¬
rors of war.” But, notwithstanding every effort that could
be made to the contrary, there was much deplorable suffer¬
ing at Salisbury, and three thousand of the prisoners died.
About the middle of February, 1865, however, the Federal
authorities assented to an exchange, and all the Federal
prisoners of war were sent away.

CHAPTER LVII

Bentonville and Appomattox

Inaugural Address of Mr. Lincoln. — His Fine Phrenzy. —
Johnston at Raleigh. — Bragg fights at Kinston. — Hardee at
Averasboro. — Atkinson’s company. — Johnston at Smithfield. —
Bentonville. — The first day; the second day. — The Confederate
organizations engaged. — The Junior Reserves. — Sherman at Golds¬
boro. — Lincoln, Grant and Sherman at City Point. — Movements
for peace. — Graham. — Separate state action proposed. — Vance not
favorable. — Appomattox. — Lee’s purpose. — Barringer at Chamber-
lain Run. — Five Forks. — Richmond evacuated. — Namozine Church.
— Barringer captured. — Lee at Amelia Court House. — Retreat
without provisions. — Grimes rear guard. — Sailor’s Creek. — Grimes
at Appomattox. — Ordered1 to retire. — Cox’s Brigade fires the last
volley. — The surrender. — The men. — Lee and Grant.

Lincoln’s inaugural

President Lincoln, in his .inaugural, March 4, 1865, said:

‘‘One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves,
not distributed generally over the Union but localized in
the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar
and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was
somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate
and extend this interest was the object for which the in¬
surgents would rend the Union even by war, while the
government claimed no right to do more than to restrict
the territorial enlargement of it.

“Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or
the duration which it has already attained. Each looked for
an easier triumph and a result less fundamental and astound¬
ing.”

While the existence of slavery at the South was a cir¬
cumstance, it had been in existence for two centuries. Then
in December, 1861, South Carolina withdrew from the
Lhiion, followed by the gulf states. Was this action taken
with the view and purpose of extending slavery? If so,
where was it to be extended ? Did those states leave the

976

BENTONVILLE AND APPOMATTOX

Union for that purpose? Certainly not. North Carolina,
Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas remained in the Union.
All was peace until April, 1861. Neither in the seceded
states nor in the border states did any one want war ; no
state was prepared for war. The Congress of the United
States did not expect war and made no provision for it, on
the contrary, it sought by a constitutional amendment to
restore the Union. But unexpectedly, in April, Mr. Lincoln
began hostilities against the seceded states without any legal
authorization. The war was Mr. Lincoln’s personal action.
Hostilities having been begun by him, the border states
took sides with the seceded states. There was resistance
to his invasion of the Southern States. It is not historical
to say that the Southern States fought for slavery. It is
historical to say that hostilities having been begun against
the few seceded states, the people of the border states cast
their lot with their Southern brethren. It is doubtless true
that Mr. Lincoln did not visualize the magnitude of the
struggle he was inaugurating, -and similarly at the South
there were those who did not suppose that the North would
be so persistent; but the Southern people were from the
first on the defensive, and the prolongation of the contest
was not with them.

It was an unnecessary war, for Congress had proposed
a settlement of differences that was intended to lead the
seceded states to return to the Union; and many statesmen
at the South thought that would result.

As for the purpose to break up the Union, there was no
thought of that or tendency that way before November,
i860; quite the contrary. And even in July, 1861, after
two months of flagrant war, Mr. Lincoln, in his message,
said that it was thought that “in all the states, except per¬
haps South Carolina, a majority of the people were for
the LTnion.” The border states so declared up to the moment
when he created a situation that led them to resist him.
It was not for the perpetuation of slavery that North Caro¬
lina and the border states resisted invasion and took sides
against Mr. Lincoln in the unauthorized warfare he had
illegally begun. The Sojith then fought the invader, with

JOHNSTON IN RALEIGH

977

true American spirit, to the bitter end, even unto subjuga¬
tion from exhaustion.

Then added Mr. Lincoln, in closing:

“Yet if God wills that it continue until all the wealth
piled by the bondsmen’s two hundred and fifty years of
unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood
drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with
the sword — as was said three thousand years ago, so still
it must be said, ‘The judgments of the Lord are true and
righteous altogether.’ ”

It was his invasion that drove the Union States of North
Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee and Arkansas out of the
Union, and his persistence that created the long struggle.
His purpose was to impose his individual will — without the
sanction of Congress — upon the resisting people of the
Southern States; upon the Washingtons, Jeffersons, Patrick
Henrys and other patriots of the South, who did not bow
down to him as their master ; the Christian people of refine¬
ment and culture, of loving sympathies and tender affection,
who represented all that was highest, noblest and best in
American life.

Mr. Lincoln’s fierceness in 1865 is in marked contrast
with his earlier utterances : nor does it seem to have been
justified by the attitude of the colored people at the South
toward the whites — by the relations of the slaves to their
masters.

The resolutions of the negro convention held at Raleigh
six months later are a speaking commentary spread on the
records of time, in singular contrast with Mr. Lincoln’s
fierceness.

Military movements

General Johnston, on his appointment by General Lee,
conferred with General Beauregard, and while each realized
that Confederate success seemed hopeless, both deemed it
incumbent on them to do what was possible to obtain the
best terms for the Confederates. General Johnston, arriv¬
ing at Raleigh, remained there, receiving the heartiest co¬
operation from Governor Wnce and the State officials. He
62

See p. 1027

March, 1865

978

BENTONVILLE AND APPOMATTOX

1865

Battle at
Kinston

Averasboro

Adkinson
fights for
home

was concentrating such troops as he could at Smithfield,
to meet General Sherman, when suddenly another danger
threatened. Schofield’s column was marching on Golds¬
boro from New Bern.

On March 6 General Bragg, at Goldsboro, informed
Johnston that a heavy Federal force was approaching Kin¬
ston and asked that the troops under Gen. D. H. Hill, being
Stephen D. Lee’s Corps of the western army, should join
him. General Hill reached Kinston the next day and, along
with Hoke’s Division, vigorously attacked General Cox,
driving him away, capturing 1,500 prisoners and leaving a
large number of the Federals dead and wounded on the
field. But Federal reinforcements having arrived, Bragg
retired to Goldsboro.

Hardee, on crossing the Cape Fear, took the road lead¬
ing to Smithfield and Raleigh. On the 15th of March he
occupied a position four miles from Averasboro, and that
evening a Federal column, being the Fourteenth and Twen¬
tieth Corps, approached and there was some skirmishing.
Hardee's position was well chosen, the Black River nearly
approaching the Cape Fear at that point, and he made ex¬
cellent dispositions, but had only some six thousand men.
Early the next morning the Federals, General Sherman be¬
ing on the field in person, attacked with vigor, using their
artillery to advantage ; but their infantry was always re¬
pulsed. In the early afternoon they moved a heavy force
farther to the east, completely flanking the left of Hardee’s
position, which necessitated a retirement of that wing about
four hundred yards to the main line. Here again and again,
every assault was repulsed. During the night the Federals
proceeded to fortify their position and threw heavy columns
across Black River; and Hardee, being thus flanked, fell
hack towards Smithfield, leaving Wheeler's men in position.
In this battle was Company H of the Fiftieth Regiment,
raised in April, 1862, in that neighborhood, by Capt. Joseph
H. Adkinson. It had served in Virginia and the eastern
counties of the State, at Savannah, and then, at the very
end of the war, it had the singular fortune of fighting there
in defense of their own homes after many wanderings and
vicissitudes.

THE LAST BATTLE

979

Bentonville

As it was uncertain whether General Sherman would pro¬
ceed toward Raleigh or toward Goldsboro, Johnston took
position at Smithfield, midway between those towns, hav¬
ing with him Bragg’s force that had been at Kinston, being
Hoke’s Division including the Junior Reserves, and Lieut. -
Gen. Stewart’s command, the remnants of the Army of
Tennessee, each numbering about four thousand. Hardee
being at Elevation, on the morning of the 18th it was dis¬
covered that General Sherman was moving toward Golds¬
boro. His right wing on a direct road had crossed Black
River; while the Fourteenth and Twentieth Corps were on
the Averasboro road and would pass near the hamlet of
Bentonville, about sixteen miles south of Smithfield and
some six miles distant from the route pursued by Sherman’s
right wing. Johnston considered that the situation offered
an opportunity to concentrate near Bentonville and strike
the enemy’s left wing to advantage. But the distance from
Elevation was greater than he thought, so that Hardee did
not arrive quite as early as desired, and the distance be¬
tween the two wings of the Federal army was less than
understood, so that eventually the right wing gave aid to
that attacked.

A field of battle was selected by General Hampton, who
caused some light intrenchments to be thrown up across the
road the Federals would travel ; to detain them until Hardee
should arrive. Johnston moved forward to the ground
selected and Hoke’s Division, leading, was formed at right
angles to the road, where its center rested. The artillery
was on Hoke’s right, commanding the Federal approach.
The Army of Tennessee was extended so as to form an
angle, within which the Federal front would be confined.
After a half hour of sharp contest at short range Hoke,
with 4,5°° men, drove the enemy back. A similar attack,
made on the Confederate right met with the same result.
Then Hardee, commanding the right, with 5,500 men,
advanced to the attack, Hoke’s Division joining and con¬
tinuing the forward movement. The Confederates car¬
ried the Federal intrenchments, took three pieces of artillery,

The Federals
driven back

g8o

BENTONVILLE AND APPOMATTOX

March 20

The other

Federal

corps

The end of
the battle

Johnston,

393

and drove the enemy a mile and a half before them. But
on the Confederate extreme left the Federals held firmly,
with the aid of breastworks and a thicket of blackjack,
which greatly impeded the Confederate advance there. In¬
deed, the thicket so interfered with all movements that John¬
ston at nightfall held up his attack. The wounded were
removed.

Early on the 20th the right wing of the Federal army had
crossed to this road and was approaching Hoke’s rear from
the east. To meet this condition, Hoke withdrew from
across the road and formed parallel to it. At noon the
Federal army, being united, made repeated attacks on Hoke
till sunset ; the last being on Kirkland’s Brigade. All their
attacks, however, were fruitless, Hoke’s troops withstand¬
ing them with unsurpassed resolution. But, eventually, the
enemy overlapped Hoke’s left, and McLaws and the cavalry
were thrown to the east to hold them ; but, later, Owen’s
Federal Division succeeded in passing the Confederate left,
and, Johnston moving troops to meet it, the scene of con¬
flict was changed to that location. While Cummings’s
Georgia Brigade attacked in front, Hampton attacked
Mower’s right flank and Wheeler assailed his rear. These
simultaneous attacks were so skillfully and bravely made
that, despite the great disparity in numbers, Mower’s Di¬
vision was driven back along the very route by which it
had advanced. At night all the wounded were removed, and
the Federal army being now united and a hazardous stream,
swollen by rains, being in Johnston's rear, he retired north
of Mill Creek. The Federals sought to follow, but after
repeated attempts had failed they abandoned the purpose.
The Confederate loss in three days was 223 killed, 1,467
wounded, 653 missing: and their losses were supplied by
the arrival on the 20th and 21st of about two thousand men
of the Army of Tennessee. The Confederates captured 900
prisoners, and the Federal loss otherwise must have largely
exceeded four thousand.

The Confederate force engaged was about fourteen thou¬
sand. Among them were these North Carolina organiza¬
tions : Clingman’s Brigade, Kirkland’s Brigade, the brigade

Western
Army

Scale
2 Inches
to a mile

''Z;/ c,

.<A

• » v

^ MAP C
“ ^BENTONVI
MARCH I9.E
1865

The Battle of Bentonville

JUNIOR RESERVES IN FIELD SERVICE

981

of Junior Reserves commanded by John H. Nethercutt, con¬
sisting of the Seventieth Regiment, Col. Charles W. Broad-
foot, the Seventy-first, Col. John H. Anderson, the Twen¬
tieth Battalion, Capt. C. M. Hall ; Col. Wash Hardy’s Bri¬
gade, Fiftieth Regiment, Colonel Wortham; Seventy-
seventh Regiment, Senior Reserves, and the Tenth Battalion
(of this battalion every officer was wounded but two) ;
parts of the Fifty-eighth and Sixtieth Regiments under
Maj. G. W. F. Harper; Starr’s Fayetteville Battery, under
Capt. George B. Atkins; Third Battalion under Maj. J. W.
Moore ; Battery A, under Capt. A. J. Ellis, and Battery B,
under Captain Badham; Ninth Battalion, under Col. John
D. Taylor (this command carried in 257 men and lost 152) ;
a section of Cummings’s Battery under Col. Stephen D.
Pool.

Maj. Walter Clark commanded the skirmish line of
Hoke’s Division.

Happily in this the greatest battle ever fought on North
Carolina soil there was nothing in the action of any Con¬
federate organization engaged to call for a sigh of regret.
That there was any battle, with its wounds and loss of life,
may well be deplored ; but there arises no suggestion of
any inefficiency on the battlefield. Well planned, it was
well fought. The veterans of the Army of Tennessee never
bore themselves better, and the same can be said of Hardee’s
troops and of the heroes of Hoke’s Division. The Junior
Reserves covered themselves with glory. General Hoke
subsequently wrote : “At Bentonville, you will remember,
they held a very important part of the battlefield in opposi¬
tion to Sherman’s old and trained soldiers, and repulsed
every charge that was made upon them, with very meager
and rapidly thrown up breastworks. Their conduct in camp,
on the march, and on the battlefield was everything that
could be expected of them, and I am free to say, was equal
to that of the old soldiers who had passed through four
years of war.”

The North
Carolina or¬
ganizations

The Junior
Reserves

Clark, IV,
594

982

BENTONVILLE AND APPOMATTOX

Grant’s
Memoirs, II,
401

At Goldsboro

Sherman now continued his march to Goldsboro, where
General Schofield’s Corps awaited his arrival. It is to be
remarked that General Schofield’s occupation of Goldsboro
had been without incident. There were no deviations from
the practices of civilized warfare. On the other hand,
Sherman pursued the same course in North Carolina as
farther south. General Grant had no idea originally of
having Sherman to march from Savannah, but, on Sherman's
suggesting it, he was only too happy to approve it — “If
North and South Carolina were rendered helpless so far
as capacity for feeding Lee’s army was concerned, it would
seriously affect Lee’s situation.” But to accomplish Grant's
military purpose, it was not necessary to deprive women
and children of their food, to burn residences, to take pos¬
session of the jewelry of the women, of their spoons and
finger rings, to put men to death while dispossessing them
of their valuables. The change from Schofield’s soldierly
action to that of Sherman’s, at and in the vicinitv of Golds-
boro, was as above indicated.

One writing of conditions at Raleigh at this time recorded :
“Raleigh was now filled with wounded and disabled soldiers;
the churches and every available space were turned into
hospitals. I did what I could, but it seemed nothing. The
Episcopal Church being nearer to me, I went there mostly;
many poor men on benches, some in high delirium, some in
the agony of death. A young soldier passed away, none
knew his name or home; as the coffin lid was being screwed
down, a dear old lady pressed her lips to his brow, and
said, ‘Let me kiss him for his mother.’ Every heart re¬
sponded and all eyes were filled with tears. Volumes of
heartrending and pathetic incidents could be written of our
four years cruel war. Although we were becoming less
hopeful, yet the fall of the Confederacy was unexpected at
last.”

EVILS BEHIND AND BEFORE

983

President Lincoln, Grant, Sherman

While these events were in progress at the south, Lee’s 1863
situation was daily becoming more untenable. President
Lincoln was toward the end of March at City Point, in
daily intercourse with General Grant. General Sherman,
after reaching Goldsboro, went by way of New Bern to
City Point to confer with General Grant as to future move¬
ments and operations, and there, on March 27th, had an
interview with the President. It seems that the President
was desirous of having the conflict to end without any fur¬
ther destruction of life, and General Sherman was impressed
with the President’s earnest desire to close the war speedily :
the prerequisite being entire submission to the Federal au¬
thority, the restoration of the Union, and the abolition of
slavery ; these being President Lincoln’s only requirements,
as understood by Sherman at that time.

Graham’s movement for peace

“As the fortunes of the Confederacy lowered,” wrote
Mrs. Spencer in her Last Ninety Days , “all men of pre- Spencer, 110
vision and sagacity turned their thoughts toward the pos¬
sibility of overtures for peace as becoming daily of greater
importance and more imminent necessity. But how could
this be done ? With a powerful enemy pressing us, with
war established by law, with entire uncertainty as to the
terms to be expected in case of submission, with the neces¬
sity imposed of making no public demonstration which
should dampen the ardor of our troops, depress still further
the spirits of our people, or excite the hopes of the enemy;
and, with such obstacles in the way, peace could not be ap¬
proached by a public man without involving the risk of inau¬
gurating greater evils than those he sought to avert.”

Responsive to the feeling among the members of the As¬
sembly who were of the peace wing of their party, in De¬
cember, 1864, Dr. Leach introduced in the Confederate
House of Representatives resolutions that when the United
States should recognize the reserved rights of the states the Reconstru’c-
Confederacy would treat for peace on any terms the com- tlon’ 67

984

BENTONVILLE AND APPOMATTOX

The action
of the former
Whigs

missioners might agree on. These resolutions were rejected
— only Josiah Turner, G. W. Logan and Dr. Leach voting
for them. The sentiment of the House was still for inde¬
pendence as the sine qua non.

It fell to Senator Graham’s lot to be a principal actor in
the last scenes. Of Graham it is to be said that, like nearly
all the other Whigs of the South, he was opposed to the
secession movement that took shape on the election of Mr.
Lincoln ; that he opposed the call for the convention in
February, 1861 ; that he stood with Badger, and also with
Chief Justice Ruffin, a Democrat, in his opposition to the
Craige Ordinance of Secession, but for Badger’s proposed
oidinance “as a measure of revolution and of national inter¬
est and safety.” Mrs. Spencer has written: “From the
date of the Secession Ordinance he endeavored in good
faith and honor to sustain the cause of the Confederate
States, but without any surrender on the part of the people
of the rights and liberties of freemen. In the convention,
in 1862, he delivered an elaborate speech in opposition to
test oaths, sedition laws, the suspension of the writ of ha¬
beas corpus, and all abridgment of the constitutional rights
of the citizens, either by State Convention, by Legislature,
or by Congress, which may be safely pronounced the clear¬
est and ablest vindication of the cardinal principles of civil
liberty presented in the annals of the Confederacy.”

He manifested “an evident determination that the country
should be free, not only in the end, but in the means.”
Senator Graham had long been one of the most distin¬
guished and eminent of North Carolinians, a man of the
highest character, unblemished virtue, and spotless integrity,
and of Revolutionary ancestry. “He gave five sons to the
army, some one of whom was in every important battle
on the Atlantic slope (except Bull Run and Chancellors-
ville), two being present when the flag of Lee went down
on his last battlefield at Appomattox, while a third then lay
languishing with a severe and recent wound at Petersburg.’’
His several sons, perhaps without preliminary training at
military schools, had, like other patriotic young men, entered
the service of their State, and had the vicissitudes that “time

DISTINGUISHED FAMILIES

98S

and chance bring to all men” ; for in those days favors
came to none, even those of distinguished connection.

“Governor Graham’s youngest sister, wife of Rev. Dr.
Morrison, the first president of Davidson College, had three
sons and four sons-in-law — namely, Maj. A. C. Avery, Gen.
Rufus Barringer, Gen. D. H. Hill, and (O prceclarum et ven-
erabile nomen ) Stonewall Jackson. Major Avery was one
of five brothers, three of whom fell in battle. Waightstill,
the oldest, the pride of the connection, was the son-in-law
of Governor Morehead and his colleague in the first Confed¬
erate Congress. He fell in Kirke’s raid, near Morganton.
Governor Morehead had two sons and two sons-in-law in
the army ; the two latter were killed. Governor Charles
Manly, another distinguished Whig, had three sons in the
army and three sons-in law, of whom two were killed.”

“There were not wanting,” says Mrs. Spencer, “those in
the dark hours of the contest who spoke of it as ‘the rich
man’s war, and the poor man’s fight.’ These examples show
that it was the war of all. The rich and the poor met to¬
gether, and mingled their blood in a common current, and
lie together among the unrecorded dead.”

Continuing, Mrs. Spencer adds, that any other method
of terminating the war than through the constituted authori¬
ties “would have been revolutionary, and have provoked civil
strife among us, and doubtless, sharp retribution.”

Governor Graham, who appears to have hoped that some
terms of peace could be obtained other than those offered
by President Lincoln — to wit, submission to the Federal
Government, including the abolition of slavery — sought ave¬
nues to peace.

On March 5, Judge Campbell, Assistant Secretary of
War, laid before the President a report demonstrating the
exhaustion of the resources of the Confederacy. This was
submitted to Congress by the President about the middle of
March, but Congress then adjourned without action.

On March 12, Governor Graham wrote to Governor
Swain: “The passing week will develop important events.
The President has requested Congress to prolong its session
to receive communications which he desires to make. In

Spencer,
106, 108

986

BENTONVILLE AND APPOMATTOX

March 12

The negroes
to be armed

Graham’s

view

State action

Spencer,

140

Ibid., 138,
139

my opinion he is powerless, and can neither make peace for
our security, nor war with success.

“The bill to arm slaves has become a law. It proposes
to take them only with the consent of their masters ; and,
in the event of failure in this, to call on the state authorities
to furnish. I trust no masters in North Carolina will volun¬
teer or consent to begin this process of abolition, as I feel
very confident the General Assembly will not.” The act
gave freedom to all slaves who should be so employed.

A week later, Congress having adjourned, Governor
Graham came to Hillsboro and, on March 20, had an inter¬
view with Governor Vance on the subject of separate state
action. Governor Vance called the Council of State to
meet on March 27, to< consider the subject of convening the
General Assembly. The Legislature of Virginia had been
in session, but had taken a recess until March 29. Governor
Graham, in view of the fact “that the war is now nearly
reduced to a contest between these two states (Virginia and
North Carolina) and the Linked States,” and that “I per¬
ceive no solution of our difficulties except through the action
of the states,” wished the Legislature to meet at the time
that of Virginia was in session. He had had confidential
conversations with a committee of the Virginia Legislature,
and wished action to be taken in concert. Six of the North
Carolina Congressmen “were ready to call a session of the
Assembly by advertisement.” He told Governor Vance
that Richmond would fall in less than thirty days, and that
would be followed by the rout or dispersion of Lee’s army.
. . . That Johnston could not raise a sufficient force to

encounter Sherman. . . . That he had conferred with

the President and had found him, though in an anxious
frame of mind, constrained by the scruple that he could
not commit suicide by treating his government as out of
existence. It should be remembered that President Davis
desired an armistice, with the understanding that slavery
being abolished, the Southern States would return to the
Union.

The Council convened. Vance submitted to it the ques¬
tion of calling the Legislature together. He did not recom-

LAST HOPE VANISHES

987

mend it, and the Council being evenly divided the call was
not made. Thus affairs rested temporarily.

Fire Forks

General Lee had an army of about thirty-five thousand
men defending Petersburg and Richmond. He and Presi¬
dent Davis realized that sooner or later he would be forced
from that position, and his purpose was to retire toward
the mountains. But the President postponed the movement.
At length, with the opening of April, General Lee directed
that provisions should be held for his army at Amelia Court
House ; and his position being no longer tenable, he so ad¬
vised General Johnston.

The North Carolina cavalry had ever been active and
efficient. It had borne itself worthily on many a contested
field. On the morning of the 31st of March, at Chamber¬
lain’s Run, General Barringer, with the Ninth, Nineteenth
and Sixty-third Regiments was engaged in “one of the
most fearful and fiercest battles.” It was a complete victory,
the Federals being broken and the Confederates in full pur¬
suit until night closed in; and it was the last Confederate
victory on Virginia soil.

On the morning of the next day General Grant succeeded
in turning Lee’s right flank, and “the last hope of the Con¬
federates went down in darkness and despair.” The battle
at Five Forks ensued. It was a terrific contest. General
Grant says: “The enemy lost very heavily, as well in killed
and wounded as in captures. Some six general officers fell
into our hands, and seven thousand men were made pris¬
oners.” Lee lost ten thousand men, one third of his army.

President Davis and General Lee had realized that the
end was being reached — that Petersburg and Richmond
would have to be evacuated, and their purpose was that
Lee should turn toward the mountains. Lee had desired to
make that movement earlier, but the authorities at Rich¬
mond delayed. He had directed that supplies should be
placed at Amelia Court House ; and his position now being
perilous, on Sunday, April 2, he notified President Davis

April, 1865

Lee’s pur¬
pose

Chamberlain
Run, March
81

April 1,
Five Forks

The disaster

Richmond

evacuated

988

BENTONVILLE AND APPOMATTOX

that he would withdraw that night. Richmond was then
evacuated.

Clark. I,
442

Meary in
Clark, III,
643

Barringer

Biog. His¬
tory, I

Lee’s disap¬
pointment

Namozine Church

On the night of the 2d General Barringer's cavalry camped
near Namozine Church, twenty-five miles from Petersburg,
covering the extreme rear of the line. Early on the 3d,
at that church, with eight hundred cavalry, Barringer
awaited the attack of Sherman with eight thousand. The
conflict fiercely raged, but there could be only one result.
The North Carolinians suffered heavily.

Among the officers killed were Lieutenant-Colonel Shaw
and Col. James H. McNeill. Colonel McNeill, a nephew of*
Chief Justice Ruffin, was a Presbyterian minister. Of him
it has been written : “The faith and the fight and the loyalty
to God of the Old Covenanter was all in him fully. I have
seen him standing under the fluttering folds of the Con¬
federate battle flag, with its blood-red field and starry cross,
a great crowd of soldiers in slouch hats and gray uniforms
sitting on the bare ground in front of him; and heard him
preaching to them, as their only salvation, the blood and
the cross of Jesus Christ. ” Like Jackson, he led his regi¬
ment in prayer and in battle ; he was right at the front of
the fight, advancing against an advancing foe, and “ready”
when God’s bugle called him.

At the very end of this battle unhappily General Barringer
himself fell into the hands of the enemy. That famous
cavalry leader had been in sixty-six engagements and was
wounded on three occasions. He was conspicuous on every
field where he was engaged. At Buchland Races he led
the charge ; at Davis Larm he was the sole commander ;
at Reams Station he commanded the division ; at Chamber¬
lain’s Run he added to his laurels.

Grant now pressed on. Lee also hurried to reach Amelia
Court House, where he had directed a supply of provisions
to be held awaiting his arrival. Arriving there on the 5th,
he found the provisions had been carried on to Richmond,
and his troops could not be supplied. Lrom that time on
his retreat was under the most adverse circumstances. With

COXFEDERATE LINE SHATTERED

989

him were the following North Carolina organizations:
Grimes’s Division, in which were Cox’s Brigade and
Grimes’s, then under Col. D. G. Cowan ; Early’s Division,
in which were Johnston’s Brigade, under Col. J. W. Lea,
and Lewis’s Brigade, under Capt. John Beard; Heth’s Di¬
vision, in which were Cooke’s Brigade and McRae’s. Brigade ;
Wilcox’s Division, in which were Lane’s Brigade, and
Scales’s, under Col. J. H. Hyman ; Johnson’s Division, in
which were Ransom’s Brigade, under Col. Lee M. McAfee,
and the remnant of Barringer’s and Roberts’s cavalry bri¬
gades ; and Miller’s, Manly’s, Ramsey’s, Williams’s and
Cummings’s batteries ; all of them much reduced in num¬
bers. These organizations with their weary companions in
arms were now subjected to the most terrible experiences.

General Grimes’s Division, being the rear guard, after an
all-night march, at Amelia Springs found the enemy press¬
ing them, and at eight in the morning General Grimes threw
his two North Carolina brigades, Cox’s and Cowan’s, across
the road, with General Roberts’s cavalry on his right. When
pressed, these brigades were to retire and those of Battle,
Cooke and Archer were to hold the enemy in check. Then
the latter were to retire, the former withstanding the enemy.
This performance being repeated constantly during the day,
the enemy was held back until Sailor’s Creek was reached.
There time was needed for the artillery to cross. Grimes
repeatedly repulsed the assaults of the enemy, until they
had flanked his division on both sides, when the Confed¬
erates were driven off in confusion, Ewell’s Divisions being
surrounded and captured, the loss to the army being ten
thousand. That night they took the road to Farmville, and
again their brigades repulsed the enemy. On the 8th the
march was not disturbed. But now Lee’s force was reduced
to only ten thousand.

It was at Sailor’s Creek, when Lee’s brigades were dis¬
organized and the swarming enemy flushed with victory
were closely pursuing, that General Lee, on his horse on a
commanding knoll, sent his staff to rally the men — when
presently an orderly column came up. A smile of momen¬
tary joy lighted up the distressed features of the General,

The North
Carolinians

Sailor’s

Creek

990

BENTONVILLE AND APPOMATTOX

Clark, IV,
456

Appomattox

Clark, I, 96

Off. Records,
95, 1277

The surren¬
der

as he called: “What troops are these?” “Cox’s North Caro¬
lina Brigade,” was the reply. Taking off his hat, and bow¬
ing his head in courtesy and kindly feeling, General Lee
said, “God bless gallant old North Carolina.”

That night the Federals gained Lee’s front. Before day¬
light Grknes passed through Appomattox Court House,
finding the enemy before him. General Grimes advanced.
General Fitz Lee attacked also with his cavalry, and the
enemy was driven back more than a mile, opening the road
to Lynchburg. The sun was now well up. General Grimes
received an order from General Lee to retire. General
Grimes ordered General Cox, in command of his brigade,
to maintain his advanced position until the other brigades
were well withdrawn, and then to fall back.

The last gun

General Cox says, “Being pressed, it became necessary to
check the advance of the enemy.” He directed the colonels
commanding the regiments to meet at the center, and, point¬
ing out a hill between them and the advancing enemy, he
directed them to about face, and at a double-quick to charge
the crest of the hill and open fire simultaneously; then to
about face and close up the column by double-quick. That
was the last infantry volley at Appomattox. Some desultory
firing continued. The last cavalry charge was made by
Roberts’s North Carolina Brigade ; and the last artillery
fire was by a North Carolina battery. It was now ten
o'clock, April 9, and General Lee had earlier surrendered.

There were paroled at Appomattox 462 officers and 4,210
men of the North Carolina organizations.

Information of the surrender reached General Grimes
when he was informed of Lee’s order for him to withdraw
his troops from the front; and he bitterly complained, as
the road was open for him to press forward, escape and
join Johnston.

The cessation of operations, the withdrawal of the troops,
the quietude of the moment, the uncertainties of the situa¬
tion, filled every heart with apprehension. The men were
willing to submit to the vicissitudes of the battle — to die on
the field with their face to the foe; but the thought of the

LEE GREAT IN DEFEAT

991

surrender of the army had never taken shape among them.
They were stricken with consternation.

On reaching his troops, one of the men asked General
Grimes if Lee had surrendered. He replied that he feared
it was a fact. The man cast away his musket, and holding
his hands aloft, cried in an agony: “Blow, Gabriel, blow!
My God, let him blow, I am ready to die.”

And so it was generally. All were ready for immolation.
Lee was adored. His will, his wish, his direction was as
the voice of the Deity. But they found it hard to yield
their assent. And some did not. Some broke through all
traditions and sought to escape from the lamentable catas¬
trophe. Individually, or two or three together, they availed
themselves of the confusion and fled. The glorious Army
of Northern Virginia was no more. With broken hearts,
Lee, his officers and men, bowed their heads to the calamity
that had overtaken them.

Lee’s bearing as depicted by General Grant was worthy
of the man and of the cause of which he was the military
exponent. He had been great in victory. He now in those
agonizing hours of disaster manifested a greatness of soul
and a strength of character beyond that portrayed in history
bv any other of the world’s heroes who had suffered mis¬
fortune.

It has not often been given to man to attain the exaltation
that it was now Grant’s fortune to enjoy. A soldier by
education, his personal merit had won him promotion and
command ; and the resources of an empire being at his dis¬
posal, he had vanquished the finest army in the world, there¬
tofore invincible. The greatest captain of the age was his
prisoner. Grant’s bearing was of a piece with his manhood
and worthy of the occasion. It was honorable to his country.

The hungry Confederates were fed, and, being paroled,
were dismissed to seek their homes. To Lee, Grant said
that he took it that most of the men in the ranks were small
farmers, and would need the horses they were riding to put
in a crop to carry their families through the next winter —
“I would instruct the officers to let every man of the Con¬
federate army who claimed to own a horse or mule take the
animal to his home.”

The men

Lee

Grant

CHAPTER LVIII

The End of the Confederacy

Movements of President Davis. — Johnston awaiting Sherman. —
News of Lee’s surrender. — Johnston confers, with President Davis.
— Stoneman’s columns. — At High Point. — Salisbury sacked. —
Stoneman retires. — The President and generals. — The President
proposes armistice that civil authorities may end war. — Swain at
Raleigh. — Safe conduct to see Sherman. — Sherman’s favorable
answer. — Yance and the Confederates retire. — Wheeler’s cavalry.
— Sherman invites Vance to return. — Davis wants his presence. —
The generals meet at the Bennett house. — Sherman’s proposal ac¬
cepted subject to ratification. — The armies. — The terms rejected.
— Davis and Vance at Charlotte. — Grant ordered to supersede
Sherman. — The capitulation. — At Charlotte.

The movements of President Davis

President Davis was at church April 2, Sunday noon,
when General Lee’s dispatch was delivered to him, convey¬
ing the information that Richmond would he uncovered that
night. I11 anticipation of that event, which had long been
imminent, he had sent off his wife and family, whose route
carried them to Washington in Georgia. A special train
was provided, and he started for Danville, where he hoped
General Lee would conduct the army. He was accompanied
by the Cabinet, except General Breckinridge, the Secretary
of War (who, on horseback, sought General Lee), and by
the chiefs of bureaus, having the government’s specie and
such records and papers as could be saved.

At Danville, on the 5th, President Davis issued a proc¬
lamation nerving the people for a prolonged struggle, and
then he waited with anxious solicitude for some news of
General Lee’s army. At length on the 10th he heard of
General Lee’s surrender and, telegraphing the information
to General Johnston, took a train for Greensboro, where
General Beauregard was.

During this period General Sherman, on his return from
City Point, rested his men at Goldsboro. On the other hand,
General Holmes was dispatched by Johnston to arrange with

THE COILS TIGHTENING

993

Lee for subsequent movements. For the moment it was
uncertain whether Sherman would march north to join
Grant at Petersburg-, or westward to Raleigh ; and General
Johnston, therefore, took a position intermediate between
those possible routes. He was now joined by several thou¬
sand veterans of the Army of Tennessee under Gen. S. D.
Lee, although many of the men were without arms.

When information was received of the evacuation of
Petersburg, Johnston expected Lee to unite with his force
in North Carolina; and Sherman, with similar information,
determined to march on Raleigh. Both expected that the
scene of operations would be in Western North Carolina.
On the morning of April io Sherman moved out and John¬
ston fell back toward Raleigh, the Federal cavalry pressing
on.

General Johnston, being at Battle Bridge on the Neuse
on the night of the ioth, received the President’s dispatch
announcing Lee's surrender. Keeping the information in
confidence, he directed his troops to continue their march to
Raleigh, where he arrived on the afternoon of the nth.
There he received a dispatch from President Davis, then at
Greensboro, desiring an interview. “As your situation may
render best, I will go to your headquarters or you can come
here. In the former case our conference must be without
the presence of General Beauregard. . . . The impor¬

tant question, first to be solved, is at what point shall con¬
centration be made.” General Johnston, complying with the
President’s desire, took the first train to Greensboro, reach¬
ing there at eight o’clock on the morning of the 12th.

Johnston and Beauregard, from their first conference
toward the close of February, had been of the same mind.
They had seen the coils tightening, the resources of the Con¬
federacy dwindling, and they had no expectation or hope
of military success. In honor they were bound to give their
best services to their fellow soldiers and to bring about the
best terms of peace they could.

The President, in addition to the general outlook of catas¬
trophe that oppressed him, was particularly disturbed at the
eruption of columns of Federal cavalry that here and there

994

THE END OF THE CONFEDERACY

Stoneman

Kii'ke

The raids

were burning the bridges of railroads, alike to the north
and south of Greensboro. Such was the situation when the
presidential train arrived at Greensboro on the nth, nar¬
rowly escaping capture by a detachment of Stoneman’s cav¬
alry. The President at once desired the presence of Beaure¬
gard and Johnston for conference.

The condition of the Confederate forces was such that
General Grant, in command of strong columns of troops at
many points, could move them at pleasure as men on a chess
board. In March lie directed General Stoneman in East
Tennessee, with a heavy body of cavalry to raid the rail¬
ways in Virginia and North Carolina. On March 20th
Stoneman moved 011 this mission with some six thousand
men, expecting to reach Lynchburg. He reached Boone on
the 26th of March and, dividing his force, sent a column
under General Gilliam to Blowing Rock and Patterson,
marching himself to Wilkesboro, where Gilliam rejoined him.
Destruction and devastation marked their course, Colonel
Kirke, following in their path to Boone, finishing that work.
Kirke, with two regiments took position at Blowing Rock,
where he sent out marauding parties to harry the people.

Leaving Wilkesboro on the 31st of March, Stoneman
moved through Surry County into Virginia, destroying the
road near Wytheville, and pushed on to within a few miles
of Lynchburg. Then turning south, he suddenly appeared
in Winston on the 10th of April. From that point detach¬
ments raided the railroad, destroying bridges. One of them
just missed capturing the special train from Danville bear¬
ing the whole Confederate government; for on the morning
of the nth it cut the road twelve miles north of Greensboro,
and then on that afternoon, both High Point and James¬
town, south of Greensboro, were raided.

It was these sudden raids of the Federal cavalry, coming
from no one knew where, there being an entire absence of
information as to the raiding detachments, that gave a new
and most gloomy aspect to the situation and led the Presi¬
dent to call for a conference with his generals.

In the meantime various bodies of men formerly with
the Tennessee army drifted through from Georgia, iticreas-

TRAIL OF PESTILENCE

995

ing Beauregard’s force ; and now, on the return of Stone-
man to the State, Johnston hurried some additional troops
to Greensboro. But at Salisbury, where was stored a vast
quantity of supplies, brought during the previous weeks
from Columbia, Charlotte, Richmond, Danville and Raleigh,
there was no adequate force to withstand this unexpected
raid by Stoneman, who, marching through Mocksville with
his main body, reached Salisbury by daylight of the 12th.
Some loaded trains hastily escaped toward Charlotte and
Greensboro — but the stiff fight made by the five hundred
Confederates there was soon over, and millions of dollars
worth of necessary supplies fell into the hands of Stoneman
and were destroyed. A strong Federal force was now dis¬
patched to destroy the railroad bridge over the Yadkin, but
Pettus’s Brigade had been hurried from Greensboro to pro¬
tect that bridge, and the attack, which began at two in the
afternoon and continued until dark, proved unsuccessful,
and that important bridge was saved.

The. premises in which the Federal prisoners had been
confined at Salisbury were burned along with other build¬
ings ; the damage to the town being over half a million dol¬
lars. Wherever the Federal detachments went they left a
trail as of a noisome pestilence, of heart-burning, and a
sense of outrage and barbarous treatment. On the even¬
ing of the 13th Stoneman moved off toward Statesville,
carrying some seven hundred persons, among them being
Colonel Stone, of the Twentieth Mississippi, and Maj. A. C.
Avery, who were eventually delivered to Colonel Kirke.
Stoneman now again divided his force. One column under
General Gilliam moved by Beattie’s Ford to Lincolnton,
heading for Charlotte, while Stoneman with the other pro¬
ceeded to Lenoir, where he remained until the 17th. He
then dispatched a column under General Palmer through
Morganton to Swannanoa Gap. Near Morganton this col¬
umn was combated by Colonel Walton with the Home Guard
and Captain Twitty’s Company of Avery’s Battalion; but
without avail. General Stoneman with the remainder of his
command, then proceeded to Tennessee through Watauga
County.

Salisbury

April 12

Clark, IV,
375

Spencer.

215

THE END OF THE CONFEDERACY

Johnston,

409

President
Davis’s ac¬
tion to end
war

Johnston surrenders — End of the Confederacy

On reaching Greensboro General Johnston found Beaure¬
gard's headquarters were in a “burden-car” and the Presi¬
dent and Cabinet were occupying cars of the special train
that had brought them from Richmond. An interview was
at once held, the President stating his view of the situation
and his purpose to prolong the struggle, which did not ap¬
pear to him to be hopeless. And, indeed, the timely arrival
of the cavalry brigades of Duke and Vaughn from Virginia
afforded protection from Stoneman’s raiders and inspired
more confidence in the situation.

General Breckinridge, the Secretary of War, had not ar¬
rived, but was, however, expected, and the first interview
closed. On Breckinridge’s arrival a few hours later, a
second conference was held, and, as in his opinion and that
of Mr. Mallory and of the two generals, an effort should
be made to end the war, President Davis dictated the fol¬
lowing communication to General Sherman : “The results
of the recent campaign in Virginia have changed the relative
military conditions of the belligerents. I am, therefore, in¬
duced to address to you, in this form, the inquiry whether
to stop the further effusion of blood and the devastation of
property, you are willing to make a temporary suspension
of active operations, and to communicate to Lieutenant-Gen¬
eral Grant, commanding the Army of the United States,
the request that he will take like action in regard to other
armies; the object being to permit the civil authorities to
enter into the needful arrangements to terminate the exist¬
ing war.” And this was signed by General Johnston.

Swain’s action

In the meantime Governor Swain, fearfully impressed
with the possible destruction of Raleigh and the Univer¬
sity by General Sherman, deemed it proper to make an
effort to prevent such devastation. On the 8th of April he
wrote to Governor Graham, desiring that they should join
in an interview with Governor Vance, saying: “Perhaps
he may be disposed not only to hear us, but to invite all his

PEACE PARLEYS

997

predecessors — Morehead, Manly, Reid, Bragg and Clark.”
Vance had been firm that, as for himself, he would take
no step that would allow the other states to point the finger
of shame at North Carolina. But Mr. Gilmer had sug¬
gested to him to solicit an interview with General Sherman
on the subject of peace. Governor Graham and Governor
Swain now agreed on a program, viz. :

That the General Assembly should be convened ; that it
should invite the other states to unite with North Carolina
in negotiations for peace ; that it should appoint commis¬
sioners to treat for peace, to report to a convention to be
called ; that in the event of Sherman’s advance, the Governor
should send a commissioner to treat with him for suspension
of hostilities.

Governor Swain spent the next day, Monday, with Gov¬
ernor Vance, who promised to carry out the scheme if Gen¬
eral Johnston would assent. Apparently General Johnston
assented ; and Governor Graham, being sent for, set out for
Raleigh. With the sanction of General Hardee, after John¬
ston’s departure, a communication was written to General
Sherman — Governor Bragg, Mr. Bat. Moore and Mr. Ray-
ner agreeing.

On the afternoon of Tuesday, April n, Governor Graham
reached Raleigh. At sunrise on the 12th he attended at
the Governor’s Mansion along with Governor Swain ; and
later in the morning General Hardee, who had been left in
command by General Johnston, met these gentlemen at the
Capitol and prepared a safe-conduct through his lines for
Governor Swain and Governor Graham, who undertook the
commission to General Sherman.

At ten o’clock, Governor Graham and Governor Swain,
accompanied by Surgeon-General Warren, Colonel Burr
and Mayor Devereaux, members of the Governor’s staff,
under Hardee’s safe conduct, started on a special train to
Sherman’s headquarters, bearing Vance’s communication:
“Understanding that your army is advancing on this Capital,
I have to request, under proper safe-conduct a personal
interview at such time as may be agreeable to you, for the
purpose of conferring upon the subject of a suspension of

Vance firm

Graham and
Swain

The commis
sion

Visits

Sherman

The com¬
munication

998

THE END OF THE CONFEDERACY

April 12

Sherman’s

response

hostilities, with a view to further communications with the
authority of the United States, touching the final termina¬
tion of the existing war. If you concur in the proposal of
such a proceeding, I should be obliged for an early reply.”

General Sherman was then about fourteen miles east of
Raleigh. After the train had left Raleigh, General John¬
ston, having had an interview with President Davis, tele¬
graphed General Hampton, who was in command of the
cavalry being the rear guard of Johnston's army in the im¬
mediate front of Sherman’s advancing cavalry, to stop the
commissioners and send them back to Raleigh. Hampton
obeyed ; but as the train was returning to Raleigh it was
captured by General Kilpatrick, who, however, took the
commissioners to General Sherman, by whom they were in¬
formed of Lee’s surrender. The commissioners were de¬
tained all day and during the night at Federal headquarters.
General Sherman answered Vance’s communications satis¬
factorily, and sent a safe-guard for Governor Vance and
any members of the State government that chose to remain
in Raleigh as follows : “All officers and soldiers of this army
are commanded to respect and protect the Governor of
North Carolina and the officers and servants of the State
government, the Mayor and civil authorities of Raleigh,
provided no hostile act is committed against the officers and
men of this army between this and the city.”

And General Sherman answered Vance’s communication :
“I would gladly have enabled you to meet me here, but some
interruption occurred to the train by orders of General
Johnston. I doubt if hostilities can be suspended as between
the armies of the Confederate government and the one I
command ; but I will aid you all in my power to contribute
to the end you aim to reach, the termination of the existing
war.”

At this interview, it is understood that Governor Swain
asked particularly that destruction of property should cease,
and General Sherman inquired if the war had ceased; and
on being answered, “Yes, the war is over,’’ he quietly re¬
sponded, “Then the destruction of property must cease.”
From that moment General Sherman changed his attitude

WALSH'S ACT OF BRAVADO

999

completely and entirely with regard to harrying the people
and devastating the country.

The next morning at seven o’clock the commissioners be¬
gan their return to Raleigh. In the meantime, while Gov¬
ernor Graham was with General Sherman, the Confederate
forces passed through the city, and Governor Vance awaited
with great anxiety the return of the commissioners, having-
no communication from them and ignorant of what had be¬
fallen them and of General Sherman’s disposition in regard
to his proposition. The Governor wrote a letter to General
Sherman, saying that the Mayor was authorized to sur¬
render the city; and he asked for the protection of the
charitable institutions and public buildings and records. As
the last of the Confederate troops were passing through,
General Hoke, in command, called at the Capitol and found
Governor Vance there awaiting developments. Governor
Vance told the General that under the circumstances he
proposed to leave the city; and at midnight he mounted
his horse, and attended by Capt. James A. Bryan and Capt.
James A. Guthrie of the navy, who were acting as aides
on his staff, he rode out, reaching General Hoke’s encamp¬
ment near Cary.

In the morning Wheeler’s cavalry passed from the east
of the city toward Chapel Hill. This command had long-
been in the front of Sherman’s devastating forces and had
the habit of providing themselves with subsistence from the
inhabitants of the country where they were operating. Since
Sherman’s troops destroyed all property as they came along,
these cavalrymen likewise helped themselves without regard
to property rights. A few of these men were at the head
of Fayetteville Street and were taking such things from the
stores as they desired, when the Federal cavalry was seen
advancing up the street. All but one Walsh, a young Texan,
hastily galloped off. Walsh took position in Fayetteville
Street and emptied his revolver at the Federals. It was an
act of bravado, senseless and unjustifiable. The Federal
cavalry made a vigorous pursuit and caught him at the
corner of West and Hillsboro streets- He was brought back
to the Capitol Square, and by Kilpatrick’s order, was im-

Vance leaves
the city

IOOO

THE END OF THE CONFEDERACY

Sherman at
Raleigh

Beauregard,

393

Vance

mediately hanged in the grove east and north of the square
now occupied by the Governor’s Mansion. A mere boy —
he died bravely.

On the arrival of the commissioners after their interview
with General Sherman, finding that Governor Vance had
left the city, Governor Graham essayed to walk to Hillsboro,
but because of difficulties returned. Governor Swain had
remained at the Capitol and had seen to its protection under
the direction of General Sherman, who expressed regret
at Governor Vance’s departure and wrote Governor Vance
a letter inviting his return, and enclosed a safe-conduct for
him and any member of the State and city government.

General Sherman took measures to have his letter deliv¬
ered to Governor Vance, and it reached the Governor at
Hillsboro ; but Governor Vance had just then received a
dispatch from President Davis, saying that he had expected
to visit him at Raleigh, but was prevented, and would be
glad to see him at Greensboro if he could come at once.
Said he, “We must redouble our efforts to meet the present
disaster. Moral influence is wanting, and I am sure you
can do much now to revive the spirit and hope of the
people.”

This was received at Hillsboro before Sherman’s letter,
and Vance determined to go on to Greensboro and see Presi¬
dent Davis before returning to Raleigh as Sherman sug¬
gested. He had, however, to await a train, and when he
reached Greensboro he found that President Davis had left
for Charlotte. •

While burnings and devastation relatively ceased, yet mills
and factories were in danger. The powder mill on Crabtree
Creek, near Raleigh, was comprised of several buildings :
that naturally was doomed. After General Sherman reached
Raleigh a sergeant and three men were sent to destroy it.
They fired the mill. The men were blown to atoms and the
sergeant was blown into a dry well on the hilltop.

General Hardee, on leaving Raleigh, had withdrawn a
part of his force by the Hillsboro road and a part by that
leading to Chapel Hill. General Johnston, setting out from
Greensboro on the 13th, met Hardee’s retiring column at

TERMS OF SURRENDER PROPOSED

1001

Hillsboro the next morning; but it continued its march to
Haw River Bridge that day, and then withdrew towards
Greensboro. The Federal cavalry, pushing on rapidly, took
posts in the vicinity of Morrisville.

On the 14th, General Johnston’s communication to Gen¬
eral Sherman was received by the latter at Raleigh, and he
replied, signifying his assent to a conference in relation to
an armistice. But there was delay in transmitting the reply,
General Johnston not receiving it until the 16th. A meet¬
ing was arranged to be held at Bennett’s house, midway
between the pickets, a few miles west of Durham. There
General Sherman showed a dispatch he had just received
announcing the assassination of President Lincoln. He as¬
serted that there could be no negotiations that would recog¬
nize the civil authorities, and offered the same terms that
Grant and Lee had agreed on. But General Johnston in¬
sisted that his situation was different from Lee’s. The
conference was then adjourned until next day ; and General
Johnston telegraphed for General Breckinridge and Mr.
Reagan, members of the Cabinet, to come to him They
did so that night. Vance also came with them from Greens¬
boro. When the conference was resumed in the morning,
General Sherman, after consideration, wrote his proposal :
The status quo to be maintained until forty-eight hours
notice; the Confederate Army to be disbanded, the men to
be conducted to their several state capitals, where they would
deposit their arms and execute an agreement to cease from
actual war; the recognition by the Executive of the United
States of the several state governments “on their officers
and legislatures taking the oaths prescribed by the Constitu¬
tion ; the reestablishment of the Federal courts ; the people
to be guaranteed their political rights and the rights of
personal property ; the executive authorities not to disturb
any of the people by reason of the late war, so long as they
obey the laws ; the war to cease, general amnesty so far as
the Executive can command.”

Necessarily, this was subject to ratification by their prin¬
cipals. Governor Vance was not brought into conference ;
he thereupon desired to return to Raleigh, but General

Johnston,

401

The confer¬
ence

The armis¬
tice

Sherman’s

terms

1002

THE END OF THE CONFEDERACY

The news of
Lee’s sur¬
render

The terms
rejected

Breckinridge, the Secretary of War, forbade that step as
it indicated a purpose to surrender this State.

The dividing line established between the armies ran
through Tyrel Mount, Chapel Hill, Durham and West Point
on the Neuse. The great event, the surrender of Lee, while
known to the Federal army and to the Confederate chiefs,
was not made public at first ; and Johnston’s army was not
informed of it, as every effort was made to keep the organi¬
zation intact for future operations, while already there was
demoralization observed incident to the apparent hopeless¬
ness of the situation. And now men who had escaped from
the surrender at Appomattox, and some of those paroled,
began to reach North Carolina, bearing news of that dis¬
aster. So when Johnston gave orders for his troops to
maintain the status quo during the armistice, there at once
prevailed apprehension that he was about to surrender, and
men began to break ranks to avoid being surrendered.

And now came days of harrowing experience — in the
homes of the people, dread and anxiety, and in the camps
a fearful apprehension that they were to be surrendered ;
that they had fought their last fight; that the cause was
lost ; and, by hundreds, they left the ranks and wandered
off away from their columns, forsaking all they had held
dear in life.

The terms of the armistice were communicated to the
respective governments, and were approved by President
Davis on the 24th; but were rejected at Washington. They
were not inconsistent with President Lincoln’s views as ex¬
pressed to General Sherman at City Point, on March 27,
nor with his action at Richmond on April 3, when he author¬
ized the assembling of the Virginia Legislature.

But, on the President’s reaching Washington after he had
given that authorization, Secretary Stanton and -others had
constrained him to yield his purpose, and he being now dead,
Stanton would have no other terms than the surrender of
the armies and the entire obliteration of all government
throughout the territory that had been in arms.

President Davis, having left Greensboro for Charlotte, on
reaching Salisbury rode forward to Charlotte on horseback.

GRANT ORDERED TO RALEIGH

1003

Governor Vance, returning from Hillsboro, rode to
Greensboro and telegraphed to the President for a confer¬
ence. He was accompanied by Major W. A. Graham, one
of his staff. The conference was held, in which Governor
Vance said: “Mr. President, I have come to see what you
wish me to do.’’ The President replied in substance, it was
the time for every man to stand to his post and do his duty.
General Breckinridge, the Cabinet being present, said: “Mr.
President, I do not think you have answered the Governor’s
question.” Mr. Davis said: “Well, what would you tell
him to do?” General Breckinridge replied: “The end is
evidently near, and we should make the best terms we can
for his people and for his State.” Governor V ance then
returned to Greensboro and proposed to return to Raleigh,
but was not allowed to pass the line. He, however, sent a
letter by Treasurer Worth, but General Schofield refused
to allow him to return. Vance remained at Greensboro
until Schofield arrived there, occupying Scott’s law office.

When Sherman’s terms were received at Washington, a
Cabinet meeting was called, and there was great consterna¬
tion. A message was sent out directing the troops not to
obey Sherman. Grant was ordered to proceed at once to
North Carolina and take charge. General Grant, leaving
Washington that night, hastened to Raleigh. He informed
General Sherman that his terms had not been agreed to and
that he was authorized to offer the same terms given to
Lee ; and then he hurried back by way of Goldsboro.

General Sherman acted accordingly; gave the forty-eight
hours notice for the termination of the armistice, of which
President Davis was promptly advised by General Johnston,
who added, “We had better disband this small force, to
prevent devastation of the country.” The immediate reply
was, “Can you not bring off the cavalry and all the men
you can mount?” Johnston’s answer, April 25, was, “We
ought to make best terms for our troops and give an escort
of our best cavalry to the President, who ought to move
without loss of a moment.” General Johnston again tele¬
graphed, “I have proposed to General Sherman military
negotiations in regard to this army.” On the morning of

Vance’s

interview

Beauregard,

403

1004

THE END OF THE CONFEDERACY

Capitulation
April 26

Johnston’s
final order

Sherman's

order

1865

tlie 26th he met General Sherman at the Bennett house and
capitulated.

General Johnston’s final order was: “I earnestly exhort
you to observe faithfully the terms of pacification agreed
on, and to discharge the obligations of good and peaceful
citizens as well as you have performed the duties of thor¬
ough soldiers in the field. By such a course you will best
secure the comfort of your families and kindred and restore
tranquillity to the whole of our country.”

Both Grant and Sherman had entertained notions that
there would be a deplorable aftermath, an extensive and
protracted guerilla warfare ; but their final actions were
kindly and considerate ; and, as far as they could, they
sought to lead the paroled prisoners into the paths of peace.
By supplemental terms of the convention of April 28,
Sherman directed that the private horses and private prop¬
erty of both officers and men were to be retained by them,
and the field transportation was to be lent to them for sub¬
sequent use in their industrial pursuits, and even the artil¬
lery horses might be so used.

On the day following the capitulation he wrote to Gen¬
eral Johnston: “I have further instructed General Schofield
to facilitate what you and I and all good men desire, the
return to their homes of the officers and men composing
your army, to let you have ten days rations for twenty-five
thousand men. I can hardly estimate how many animals
fit for farm purposes will be ‘loaned’ to the farmers, but
enough, 1 hope, to insure a crop. I can hardly commit my¬
self how far commerce will be free, but I think the cotton
in the country, and the crude turpentine will make money
with which to procure supplies. General Schofield, in a
few days, will be able to arrange all such matters.”

At Charlotte

On April 26, at the residence of Maj. William F. Phifer,
where Secretary Trenholm was confined by illness, all the
members of the Cabinet were in attendance, and the last
formal Cabinet meeting was held. Then Mr. George Davis
tendered his resignation. The end had come. George Davis,

CATASTROPHE NEAR AT HAND

1005

the Attorney-General, North Carolina's most eminent cit¬
izen, parted from the President, with anxious and affec¬
tionate solicitude.

In view of possibilities supplies had been stored on the
route to Washington, Georgia. The President, with several
members of the Cabinet rode off, accompanied by about two
thousand cavalry, toward Washington, where his wife and
family had earlier preceded him. He was three days on
the route.

At Greensboro, some soldiers sought to loot the stores and
were only deterred by a volley that killed several. There
was great demoralization, but it was mingled with intense
grief. At Charlotte, it was even worse, for there the very
life of the Confederacy was passing out, its light was being
extinguished. When the star of hope faded away, gloom
gave place to despair and black night enveloped the very
souls of men.

It was the occasion once depicted by George Davis, years
before — “when one gazed for the last time upon the sun in
the heavens, when thenceforth there was to be no more
rising or setting, no morning nor evening, no light nor heat,
no effulgent day, but only darkness and night forever.”

Eacli somber hour brought nearer and nearer, step by step,
the final catastrophe.

The sudden proximity of a division of Federal cavalry,
as if it had dropped from the clouds that hung so low and

r r o Charlotte

heavily over the scene ; the attack of a disorganized regi¬
ment on a government storehouse to distribute its contents ;
the awful news of the assassination of President Lincoln
with its attendant horrors ; the vile information that the
shocking murder was attributed to President Davis and
other Confederate leaders; the refusal of General Johnston
to prolong the struggle and his surrender of the heroic
veterans entrusted to his command ; the downfall of the
Confederacy, and the dissolution of government; the chaos
that ruled amid the calamity and wreck of every hope —
these heart-rending events came in quick succession, utterly
overwhelming every soul.

CHAPTER LIX

Clark, 759,
760

Asheville

pillaged

The War Ends

At the west. — Kirke invades Haywood. — Love drives him back.
— Clayton drives back Reilly. — Gilliam agrees to observe armis¬
tice, but Martin taken. — Asheville pillaged. — Other encounters. —
The last gun. — Losses and reflections.

At the west

The Western Department, with headquarters at Asheville,
was under the command of Gen. J. G. Martin, while Col.
J. P. Palmer was active in the field. The effective force,
present for duty about the first of April was something less
than two thousand men, but their activity had secured qui¬
etude. However, early in March George W. Kirke invaded
Haywood County. That bitter partisan had begun his
career by piloting Union men over the mountains in the
extreme western counties, and he knew all the routes con¬
venient for his operations. On his appearing in Haywood,
Col. J. R. Love hastened to meet him and succeeded in driv¬
ing him back into Tennessee. A month later, Stoneman
being expected to return from his raid by way of Asheville,
and to join him, Kelly, with his Federal brigade, came up
the French Broad and, not being expected, would have oc¬
cupied Asheville had it not been for the vigilance and vigor
of Colonel Clayton of the Sixty-second, who succeeded in
driving that column back.

When General Gilliam was detached by Stoneman to pass
by Morganton to Asheville General Martin hastened Col.
J. R. Love’s Regiment to hold the Swannanoa Tunnel, and
prevent his passage. In this Colonel Love was successful,
and on April 17 Gilliam retired; but he later passed through
Hickory Nut Gap and gained an open road to Asheville.
On the 22d, when General Gilliam was within six miles of
that town, General Martin, having received definite informa¬
tion of Lee’s surrender and of Johnston’s armistice, sent a
flag of truce, asking for an interview. On their meeting,

BLOODY CONTEST SUMMED UP

these generals agreed to observe the armistice ; and Gilliam
passed through Asheville, pursuing his route to Tennessee.
However, after he had made some distance, a part of his
column returned and, disregarding the agreement, took Gen¬
eral Martin and other officers prisoners, pillaged the town
and committed many depredations. After a few days had
passed General Palmer arrived, and he severely reprobated
this breach of the agreement made by General Gilliam and
released the prisoners.

Even after that there were minor encounters between
predatory columns of Federals and local companies, and on
May 9, near Waynesville, perhaps, the last gun was fired
in regular battle, when Colonel Love drove off a Federal
party under the command of one of Kirke’s men, named
Bartlett.

Losses and reflections

The Federal enlistments throughout the war were 2,778,-
300 ; the Confederates numbered, home guard and others,
perhaps one-third as many. The losses of the Federals in
deaths were 360,002, while possibly 650,000 Federals suf¬
fered wounds that disabled them more or less through life.
Relatively, the Confederate losses were as great. While at
the South the average age was much higher, the average
age of the Federal soldiers was, perhaps, less than twenty-
one years. We may say nearly a million families at the
North suffered by this terrible warfare, while at the South,
although the bereavements were fewer, the final result being
calamitous, almost every white family was involved in the
catastrophe. When we realize that the war itself was un¬
necessary; that had the action of the five small states that
originally seceded — -“driven out” as Sumner put it — been
considered as Congress appears to have considered it ; had
the measures of Congress been allowed to operate ; had the
Northern States been allowed to consider the amendment
to the Constitution proposed by Congress on March 2, 1861,
to which Mr. Lincoln himself said he had no objection;
had the governors not turned Mr. Lincoln from the paths
of peace and led him to assume the functions of Congress

1007

Spencer,

229

Clark, III,
161

ioo8

THE WAR EXDS

and inaugurate a war that Congress alone having the right
to do had refrained from doing — the Union might have
been restored as Congress proposed without the sacrifice
of a single American life, we turn with horror from those
counsels that brought such sorrows to the mothers and
wives of the Northern people and such woe to the Southern
States.

The destruction wrought by a Tamerlane, the havoc by
a Napoleon, even the later scourge of the Kaiser, had some
patriotic objects in view not otherwise possible of accom¬
plishment, to that extent involving some extraordinary cir¬
cumstances, but this precipitating an unnecessary war
among the American people was so wanton and so unjustifi¬
able that those who instituted it and waged it stand by them¬
selves on the pages of history. The Northern people, as if
in recognition of the possible verdict, have sought to em¬
phasize a different matter and have sanctified the memory
of President Lincoln, not only as one who preserved the
Union but who emancipated the slaves, which he accom¬
plished by such means, whereas that was not the purpose
of the war, and the Union could have been restored without
bloodshed ; and in natural course there would probably have
been gradual emancipation without the bloodshed and the
enormous expenditure. Still it may be said that Mr. Lincoln
probably thought that the war would be but a little affair, as
he called for only a ninety-day force and did not even con¬
vene Congress in session until the ninety days were about to
expire, and even then he thought that except alone in South
Carolina half the people of every state were for the Union.
But it should not be forgotten — as President Buchanan said,
and as Justice Grier of the Supreme Court of the United
States, when every member was of the North, in December,
1862, declared — that neither Congress nor the President
had any authority under the Constitution to make war on
a state, nor that this was honestly proclaimed by the leader
in Congress, Thaddeus Stevens, who declared the congres¬
sional proceedings were outside of the Constitution.

The incipiency of the war was apparently the direct result
of the agreement of the Abolition governors to that end. In
the absence of any avowed purpose at that period it may be

COMPARISONS

1009

ascribed to them that they had in view partisan politics —
to put their Democratic opponents in their respective states
at a disadvantage and to strengthen their own hold on pub¬
lic affairs, as that was the natural and reasonable outcome
of a sectional war.

The slaves were valued at about one billion dollars ; the
debt of the United States at the close of the war was
$2,740,854.750 ; and more than $5,300,000,000 has already
been paid for pensions because of the Civil War, aggregat¬
ing a total of more than eight times the value of the slaves,
ignoring the devastation of property, and the deaths and
more deplorable human woes and sufferings of that horrible
period. Surely those who ruthlessly brought these evils to
this country erected for themselves an enduring monument.

Relative strength, 1800

The white population of the eleven states that seceded
was, in i860, 5,567,000. The white population of the states
that did not secede was 21,353,000, even omitting Maryland,
Kentucky and Tennessee, where the white population was
2,497,000; and from these the Federal government derived
much more benefit than the Confederacy. In addition, dur¬
ing the years i860 to 1865 there arrived in the United States
over 630,000 immigrants. The white population of the ter¬
ritory remaining in the Union was about four times that of
the Confederacy. In addition the North had the services
of a large number of colored men on its military roll and
while many of these were teamsters, taking the place of
white soldiers, yet ten thousands were in the ranks ; and
so it eventuated that Mr. Lincoln’s view of war in 1863
found its similitude in some Southern negroes trying to kill
the Southern whites. The negro contingent was certainly
a great aid to the Federal Army. Besides, the North had a
treasury, armories, and factories, mines, open ports, with the
world for its storehouse. On a determined war the North
might well have been confident of the final result. The South
raised armies aggregating somewhat more than six hundred
thousand men, the North had soldiers — including the Irish

IOIO

THE WAR ENDS

North Caro¬
lina’s troops

The hope

The State’s
energy

and German brigades, the Canadians and foreigners who
aided in the conquest of the Americans of the South — about
four to one. When hostilities began, notwithstanding the dis¬
parity, some of the border states were constrained to join their
kindred at the South. Whether the contest was hopeless
or not it is bootless to inquire. North Carolina espoused
the cause of the Southern people for weal or woe. She
would have been recreant to every dictate of manhood had
she faltered. The occasion may have been regretted, the
final outcome certainly was deplored ; but the manhood of
North Carolina has never regretted her action. She sent
to the field all together 125,000 men, a number larger than
her voting strength, and being 22,942 more than any other
Southern State. One-third of these died : killed on the
battlefield, 14,452; died of wounds, 5,151; died of disease,
20,602. Of North Carolinians there were two lieutenant-
generals, seven major-generals, and twenty-six brigadiers,
and of those nine were killed in battle. Of our major-gen¬
erals it is well to remember that General Lee recommended
to the Cabinet that should he be incapacitated General Hoke
should take his place, and it was generally understood in
the army that he likewise said that General Pender was the
one to take Jackson’s place.

The resources of the North were so enormously in excess
of those of the South that a fight to the finish would natur¬
ally result in Northern victory; and yet, as no demand was
made of the North, there was cause to suppose that, sooner
or later, the spirit of Northern aggression might well have
been satiated with the losses and sacrifices the continuance
of the war necessarily entailed. And had not some capital
mistakes been made by the South that might indeed have
been the result. As the South had neither desired nor ex¬
pected war, not only was no preparation made for it, but
even after it began, no adequate measures were at once
taken by the Confederacy to utilize such resources as it
had at hand. North Carolina seems to have led the way
in utilizing the cotton and naval stores of the South — re¬
peating her action during the Revolutionary War — whereas
wisdom and prudence required such measures to be taken a

GENERALS FOLLOW THE PLOUGH

ion

year earlier by the Confederacy. Had such steps been taken,
possibly the local defection that led to the desertion of tens
of thousands might have been circumvented ; and Lee’s army
might have endured long enough for the North to have re¬
linquished its purpose. Indeed, it has been said that about
May, 1864, the Federal administration was on the point of
doing so. But, however that may have been, the Confed¬
erate soldiers after their defeat turned their faces to the
future. There was no guerilla warfare. General Lee led
the way. General Hoke was ploughing in his field near
Lincolnton. A former soldier rode by. Observing the
ploughman, he stopped: “Ain’t that General Hoke?” The
general stopped his plough, raised his head and replied :
“Yes.” “And ain’t that the nag you rode in the war?”
“Yes.” Then throwing up his arms and exclaiming: “God
Almighty, God Almighty,” he buried his face between his
hands in his horse’s mane, and rode on without another
word.

General Holmes, venerable in age and full of honors, re¬
tired at once to his small farm near Fayetteville, and with¬
out aid of any kind went to ploughing his field. Said he
to a young friend: “I regret the death of your father more
than that of any other man. He could have done more than
any other man to reconcile our people to the changes that
have come.” And so it was generally. No longer need
North Carolina people turn to the pages of ancient history
for examples of manhood that illustrate fortitude and the
highest and noblest virtues of our race. But it was indeed
a heart-breaking time, amid the wreck — no government, no
law, no money. The property of many, especially of orphans,
held by fiduciaries, invested in State and Confederate se¬
curities, gone, and the widows and orphans with no man to
provide. Only paper money had been current, and that was
without value. There was no currency. All that was left
of the former civilization was the home, the family ties, the
hands, the heart of the individual. There were no organized
industries, no capital, no work to be done, save ploughing
the fields ; other than that, the ordinary occupation of civil¬
ized man ceased. Provisions were scarce, and in those zones

The resolu¬
tion

Conditions

1012

THE WAR ENDS

where the armies had been the people had none. But dis¬
may soon gave way before resolution. Although treated by
the malignant conquerors as their subjects, the Confederates
still possessed brave hearts. In time the restrictions im¬
posed by the Federal government on commerce were some¬
what mitigated, and intercourse began.

The last Confederate

James Iredell Waddell, a grandson of General Waddell
and of General Nash and a descendant of the Moores and
Davises, and uniting the best streams of patriotic blood, en¬
tered the naval service in 1841. His life was as a spotless
mirror, bright, effulgent with honor, adorned with virtue
and with high attributes, while his person and noble coun¬
tenance recalled Shakespeare’s lines giving “the world as¬
surance of a man.’’

On the 19th of October, 1864, Captain Waddell raised the
Confederate flag on the Shenandoah off Funchal, and, pur¬
suant to orders, sailed for the Arctic Ocean by way of the
Pacific. The Shenandoah made more havoc on commerce
than any other vessel in the history of the world except the
Alabama , under Captain Semmes. At length on August 2,
1865, in north latitude 16 and west longitude 122, Cap¬
tain Waddell overhauled a British vessel and learned that
the war had ceased in April. He made his way to Liver¬
pool, and on November 6, with the flag of the Confederacy
still at the peak, delivered his vessel to the British Govern¬
ment. During thirteen months he had cruised 52,000 miles,
and for eight months had not dropped his anchor.

Captain Waddell died at Annapolis in March, 1886.

1. James Iredell Waddell

2. Isaac Erwin Avery

Dying on the battlefield wrote: “Tell my father I die with my face to the enemy.”

CHAPTER LX

President Johnson's Reconstruction

After surrender. — Lee’s farewell. — Johnston’s order. — Sherman
and Grant. — ‘Sherman and Halleck. — Davis at Charlotte.— The
twenty-five per cent tax on cotton. — Local conditions. — Disorders
at west. — Restrictions on commerce removed. — Magistrates ap¬
pointed. — Order preserved. — President Johnson’s acts. — The meet¬
ing at Washington. — He proclaims amnesty. — Appoints Holden
Governor. — Worth Treasurer. — The judges. — His reconstruction.
— Election of delegates to convention. — The negroes. — Reiger’s
order. — The convention meets. — The personnel. — “We are going
home.” — The State war debt repudiated. — Worth contests with
Holden. — Action of convention. — Election in November. — The
commission on the freedmen. — The negro convention. — The atti¬
tude of the blacks. — Conditions. — George Davis. — Governor Vance.
— The newspapers.

When the month of May opened and spring time had
come the roads and paths of North Carolina were filled
with the heroes of many a battlefield returning to their
homes from Appomattox and Greensboro. Many bore
copies of Lee's farewell address — “Officers and men can
return to their homes and remain there until exchanged.
You will take with you the satisfaction that proceeds
from the consciousness of duty faithfully performed :
and I earnestly pray that a merciful God will extend to
you his blessing and protection." Lee’s disbanded troops
had not any rations provided for them, nor did those who
broke ranks at Greensboro and left before the parole.
They had to look to the inhabitants for food, and passed
through North Carolina in a state of disorganization. Those
surrendered by General Johnston had ten days rations issued
to them and, as far as the men could be controlled, they
were kept together in their organizations.

The number paroled at Greensboro was 36,971. Includ¬
ing those who broke away without parole, the aggregate
army was about fifty thousand. The paroled men preserv¬
ing their organization, began their march May 3. Two days
later they formed into three columns, which separated —

1865

Lee’s last
order

The Army
moves

ioi4 PRESIDENT JOHNSON’S RECONSTRUCTION

Stanton

disapproves

The Federal
Army

Off. Records,
C., 547

one going by way of Morganton; the main army by way
of Spartanburg ; and the remainder by way of Chester.
Provisions had been accumulated at various points, as far
as Washington, Georgia. The several corps were allowed
to retain one-seventh of their arms.

There was a general feeling that had Mr. Lincoln been
living he would have been kindly and, indeed, General
Sherman’s attitude may have been in accord with the expres¬
sions Mr. Lincoln had used to him at their interview just
one month earlier. When Sherman’s proposed convention
of April 18 was submitted to the Cabinet it was particularly
obnoxious to Stanton, since it recognized that the existing
governments in the Southern States had some authority, a
policy Stanton had effectually antagonized. Stanton there¬
fore gdve out that Sherman was a traitor, and Halleck, ever
following where the Secretary led, assented. Accordingly
many Northern newspapers denounced General Sherman in
similar terms. Quite the contrary, General Sherman, in a
fine patriotic spirit, had closed his communication to General
Johnston as follows : “Now that the war is over I am
as willing to risk my person and reputation as heretofore to
heal the wounds made by the past war, and I think my
feeling is shared by the whole army.” And generally the
attitude of both the men and officers of the Federal Army
was kindly. Sherman at once directed General Howard to
conduct the Army of Tennessee to Richmond, passing from
Raleigh through Louisburg, and General Slocum to march
the Army of Georgia by way of Oxford. General Stone-
man was directed to return to East Tennessee, and General
Schofield remained with his own corps in the Department
of North Carolina, with Kilpatrick’s cavalry under his
orders.

Sherman manfully resented the action of Stanton and
Halleck. On May 2 he wrote: “Mr. Stanton dare not come
into my presence — he is afraid to meet me. I would not
let Halleck review my troops at Richmond. I bade him
keep to his room as my army passed through Richmond,
and he had to stay indoors. I will insult Stanton in like
public manner.” In the reorganization of civil government,

VANCE ARRESTED

1015

he said: “I prefer to give votes to rebel whites rather than
to the ignorant blacks not yet capable of self-government.”

President Davis was entertained at Charlotte by Mr.
Bates, the agent of the Southern Express. When the news
came of the assassination of President Lincoln Mr. Davis
made some observation about it. Information being re¬
ceived as to that, Mr. Bates was arrested and sent to Wash¬
ington for examination ; and General Reiger was directed
to investigate and get up the evidence. He reported : '‘I am
satisfied that Davis did not talk of the matter in public,
and that what he said was to his own immediate party, or
particular partisans.” This ended that investigation. Mr.
Bates returned home.

About May 2 Governor Vance left Greensboro and joined
his family at Statesville. Two weeks later he was arrested,
but treated with every courtesy, but for a time he was in¬
carcerated in the old Capital prison. One of the charges
against him was great cruelty to the Federal prisoners at
Salisbury, but soon the authorities found out that that
charge was entirely without foundation, and after a while
he was released.

On May 29 General Grant gave every encouragement for
getting cotton and other products to market. “Let there be
no seizure of private property or searching to look after
Confederate cotton.” Schofield replied, “Under the Treas-.
ury restrictions, only one man in North Carolina is author¬
ized to buy cotton, and he does not pay money for it.” The
government had laid a direct tax of 25 per cent on cotton.
On the 30th, Grant replied : “All restrictions are removed,
but on cotton being shipped, the 25 per cent tax must be
paid.” This direct tax was thought to be without warrant
of the Constitution, but at that period the Constitution was
not regarded where the Southern States were concerned.

Throughout the land

In those days of sorrow, dismay, humiliation and anxiety
there was nothing certain but that the Confederacy had
passed away and the end of the war had come and all of the
resolution, fortitude, sacrifices, and griefs had been in vain.

Off. Records,
0., 572

ioi6 PRESIDENT JOHNSON’S RECONSTRUCTION

Disorders at
the west

Arthu r,
W. N C.,
626

Clark, IV,
377

Ibid., Y,
294

Ibid., I, 65

Many thousands had lost their lives during the long and
arduous struggle, and every household mourned father or
son, and many helpless families had been bereft of their
only support; the slaves were free; the loss of property was
great ; but that weighed but little in the general depression.
The emergency was the pressing necessity of procuring food
immediately for the family. Horrible was the specter at
the door. The government had fallen ; there was now no
sanction for civil authority. Happily, among North Caro¬
linians there was still reverence for order, such as the peo¬
ple had been accustomed to from childhood, the usages of
the past being a part of their lives ; and generally order was
preserved. But in some communities disorder prevailed.
This was more noticeable at the west than in the east. In
Ashe deserters from both armies began committing depreda¬
tions, and an appeal was made to the Federal officer at Salis¬
bury for protection. A Federal captain came and organized
a home guard in each hamlet, but it was only after an en¬
counter that order was restored. In May, says Maj. A. C.
Avery, the whole mountain and Piedmont country was in¬
fested with robbers, claiming to have been enlisted in the
Federal Army, and it became absolutely necessary for the
boldest among the returned Confederates to organize against
them. In the Wilkes County region a regular campaign
was organized in which a considerable force was engaged
against a desperate band that had terrorized that region.
At length the robbers were arrested, and Capt. R. M.
Clarke, at the head of several hundred men, succeeded in
capturing their stronghold, “Fort Hambry,” and executing
those who fell into his hands ; but only after he had lost
several brave young men — Clarke, Henly, Lumney and
Brown.

At Governor Vance’s residence a regiment of cavalry,
among them the companies of Captains Hayes and Ward,
was stationed in that section to preserve order.

In the Robeson County section a gang composed of men
of Indian descent and of nmlattoes, known as the Henry
Berry Lowry outlaws, that began depredations during the

PEACEFUL PURSUITS ENCOURAGED

war, continued their operations so vigorously as to drive the
whites from their vicinity.

Schofield in command

Immediately on Johnston’s surrender. General Schofield
announced the cessation of hostilities in North Carolina, and
then, on April 29, President Johnson, to encourage a return
to peaceful pursuits, removed all restrictions on commerce
except those imposed by Congress and the Treasury Depart¬
ment, and, also, excepting arms and ammunition, gray cloth
and supplies for railroads and telegraph.

There being no civil authority, General Schofield at once
began to organize a police force for each county. To this
end, each county was visited by a Federal officer who con¬
vened all the magistrates, county officers and militia officers,
and, after selecting a dozen of the best men among the
magistrates to serve and administer oaths, formed com¬
panies of police for the county, the men electing their own
officers. General Reiger, whose district comprised Mecklen¬
burg, however, reported that he did not think he could find
a dozen of the magistrates in any of these counties who
were Union men.

General Hawley reported as to Bladen: “Not an unkind
or uncivil word was uttered during the day. All the county
officers, militia officers, and local dignitaries were present.
I paroled a colonel, a lieutenant-colonel and several captains.
All of the Confederate soldiers were at their work.” Such
in general was the reports of the proceedings in every
county. Garrisons were stationed at the more important
centers, and a return to citizenship was evidenced only by
taking the oath of allegiance ; and no one could do any trad¬
ing or even travel about, or get married, without having
taken that oath. Every effort was made to promote security
of persons and property.

Nor was General Schofield indifferent to such depreda¬
tions as his soldiers committed. Wherever there were ex¬
cesses, he sought to restrain them with a strong hand. Some
in the vicinity of Raleigh were quickly punished, and wher¬
ever they occurred he dispatched cavalry to suppress them.

1017

1865

President

Johnson

Magistrates

Off. Records.
C., 549

Ibid., 643

Citizenship

ioi8 PRESIDENT JOHNSON’S RECONSTRUCTION

Official
Records,
C„ 512

Grant’s ad¬
vice

Test: July
18, 1867

The Presi¬
dent

Off. Records,
C., 489

Holden

The meeting

Biog. Hist.
N. C., 280

Holden

Provisional

Governor

At Company Shops (now Burlington) two companies of the
Tenth Ohio unearthed a deposit of $60,000 in gold, and
they paid a captain $2,000 as a bribe to conceal the circum¬
stance. But it came to light ; and by order of General Scho¬
field, nearly all of it was recovered.

Reconstruction

President Lincoln had claimed the right to appoint mili¬
tary governors in the Southern States, as occupied. Thus
Governor Stanly had been appointed for North Carolina ;
but he had resigned. In Virginia Governor Pierpont had
been appointed ; and on the cessation of hostilities he con¬
tinued in that position.

President Johnson retained President Lincoln’s Cabinet
and adhered to his policy. General Grant felt that a very
fine feeling was manifested at the South and that advantage
ought to be taken of it as soon as possible. He was familiar
with Mr. Lincoln's plans and purposes, and urged President
Johnson to speedy action. The President, therefore, pro¬
posed to appoint a provisional governor for North Carolina.

While the Federal officers were busy establishing order,
W. W. Holden, on May 13, informed the President that
“a large majority of the people are delighted at immediate
emancipation, are ready for civil government." He and
some of his friends were going on to Washington. Not in
accord with Holden, and not invited by the President, Gov¬
ernor Swain, B. F. Moore and William Eaton proposed to
go, likewise. Colonel Wheeler secured them an interview
on May 22d. The President explained his plan of recon¬
struction and submitted to them a draft of his proposed
amnesty proclamation, as well as one for the appointment
of a provisional governor of the State. Mr. Moore took
decided ground against some of the exceptions made in the
amnesty proclamation, and he denied the right of the Presi¬
dent to appoint a governor. But that policy, being fixed,
was adhered to. The next day there was a second inter¬
view, attended also by W. W. Holden, R. P. Dick, Willie
Jones, W. R. Richardson, J. H. P. Russ, W. S. Mason, Rev.
Thomas Skinner and Dr. R. J. Powell. The President in-

PRESIDENT OFFERS AMNESTY

1019

formed them of his purpose to appoint a provisional gover¬
nor, and that he would appoint whoever they would suggest.
Mr. Moore, Governor Swain and Mr. Eaton retired ; the
others recommended W. W. Holden, and he was appointed.
A week later the President published his amnesty proclama¬
tion, granting pardon, but excepting fourteen classes, some
of them being persons the value of whose taxable property
was over $20,000; those above the rank of colonel in the
army; those who had been educated at West Point or
Annapolis ; and those who left seats in Congress to serve
the Confederacy.

The proclamation appointing the governor recited that
“the rebellion had deprived the people of the State of all
civil government, and to enable the loyal people of the State
to organize a State government, W. W. Holden is appointed
Provisional Governor, whose duty shall be to prescribe rules
for convening a convention, composed of delegates chosen
only by loyal citizens, for the purpose of altering or amend¬
ing the Constitution, and to restore the State to its constitu¬
tional relations to the Federal government/’ It further pro¬
vided that only those who were qualified under suffrage
laws in force in i860 and had taken the oath of amnesty
should be entitled either to vote or to be a delegate. There
were some whites who could not vote.

The people generally did not feel particularly concerned
in these proceedings, except so far as they should bring
about a return to normal conditions. This the President
proceeded to provide for. The postal laws were directed
to be given effect and postoffices opened ; the United States
courts were directed to be held ; all United States laws were
to be observed. The President appointed officers for the
United States District . Court, R. P. Dick being nominated
for judge. But in 1862 Congress had prescribed an oath
of office, called the “ironclad oath,’’ one of its provisions
being that the person had never given counsel or encourage¬
ment to persons engaged in armed hostilities ; and that he
had never yielded voluntary support to any pretended gov¬
ernment : and Mr. Dick could not take that oath ; so, later,
George W. Brooks Avas appointed.

Amnesty

The voters

In the Union

U. S. Courts

Brooks,

Judge

1020

PRESIDENT JOHNSON'S RECONSTRUCTIOS

' Worth,
Treasurer

Standard,
July 28

State judges

Convention

called

Sept. 21

Holden’s

views

Governor Holden had now attained the position he had
long desired : he was at the head of the State. Assuming
his duties on June 5, he addressed himself to his interesting
and important work of reestablishing civil government. A
week later he appointed Mr. Worth Treasurer of the State,
charging him with the immediate duty of collecting in the
cotton, rosin and other property of the State. With a vast
quantity of business pressing on him, in seven weeks he
had appointed mayors and commissioners for forty towns,
and magistrates for eightv-five counties, and all of those
counties had been organized by the election of sheriffs,
clerks and other officers. He appointed the old members
of the Supreme Court to their former positions, and George
W. Brooks, E. J. Warren, D. G. Fowle, R. G. Gilliam,
R. P. Buxton, A. Mitchell, R. P. Dick and E. G. Reade
Superior Court judges, and also a solicitor for each district.
He appointed State directors for all railroads and banks
and the State institutions ; and he busied himself in securing
pardons for many who were in the excepted classes.

In the main Plolden’s appointments were good. Xo se¬
cession Democrat was appointed to any office, except Judge
Manly ; but perhaps none expected or desired to be. To
allow time for the people to take the oath required for
citizenship, it was not until early in August that he ordered
the election of delegates to the Convention. His view, like
that of B. F. Moore, was that the Constitution and laws
in force in i860 were to be observed. So he declared that
suffrage should be on the basis of i860, except the poll tax;
and paroled soldiers, not within the exceptions of the
amnesty proclamation, could vote — if they had taken the
prescribed oath. The election was to be held September 21,
and the Convention was to meet October 2. In his procla¬
mation the Governor allowed himself to air his former
grievances. He unnecessarily brought before the public
his differences with the Confederate administration. Gen¬
erally considered an astute man, and often deemed a wily
politician, he frequently during his career had the mis¬
fortune of doing the wrong thing at an inopportune time.
In his proclamation he said: “You have just been delivered

CHAXGED STATUS OF THE NEGRO

1021

by the armies of the Union from one of the most corrupt
and vigorous despotisms that ever existed in the world" ;
and he injected into the document one of the most vitupera¬
tive stump speeches ever dinned into the ears of an unwill¬
ing people. “The unity of government, which constitutes
us one people, should be more dear to us than ever on ac¬
count of the sufferings through which we have passed/’

But there was no word of sympathy for the people be¬
cause of the suffering through which they were then hero¬
ically passing.

Negroes — their new life

The negroes behaved admirably during the war — there
was no crime, lawlessness or insubordination among them.
Some were lured off from the plantations ; but the planta¬
tions had been their homes, and generally on the whole they
were faithful and true to their masters, and did not leave
them. This was especially so with the domestic servants,
both in the country and in the towns. Even after Federal
occupation, Mrs. Spencer wrote: “In general the tide of
domestic life flowed on smoothly as ever. In fact, I am
sure, they felt for their masters, and secretly sympathized
with them in their ruin. They knew that they were abso¬
lutely penniless and conquered. Though they were glad to
be free, there was no trace of malignity. So the bread was
baked in those latter days, the clothes were washed and
ironed, and the baby was nursed as zealously as ever, though
both parties understood that the service was voluntary.'

On taking command in North Carolina, on the 28th of
April, General Schofield announced that all the slaves were
free, but he advised them to remain with their masters ; and
a fortnight later he published regulations for their govern¬
ment. The common law governing domestic relations we-re
declared in force. Families were recognized ; marriage was
provided for. They were advised not to move about ; their
wages were to be arranged by agreement. District com¬
manders were directed to appoint superintendents to take
charge of their matters, and to send back to their homes
all negroes who had left them. The aged and infirm were

Mrs. Spen¬
cer, 187

Off. Records,
C., 503

1022 PRESIDENT JOHNSON’S RECONSTRUCTION

Off. Records,
C., 550

Sept. 21

Oct. 2

to be cared for by their former masters. In March Con¬
gress had passed an act establishing in the War Department
a Freedmen’s Bureau, having control of all matters relating
to freedmen. Gen. O. O. Howard was later appointed at
the head of this bureau, and on June 2 it took control of the
subject.

Thousands of negroes during the war had congregated
at New Bern ; and many of them were located across the
Trent opposite the town, where they formed a negro settle¬
ment. Some eight thousand had accompanied Sherman
from South Carolina and, on reaching Fayetteville, he had
the caravan marched under guard to Wilmington, where
others had congregated. They were eventually located some
miles below the town on the Brunswick side ; and during
the summer the spotted fever broke out among them, and
carried off perhaps five thousand victims.

Negro schools had already been opened, and in the Wil¬
mington District, by the middle of May there were fifteen
hundred negro children in attendance. But at every center
rations were being issued by the army to negroes who ap¬
plied for them. At Raleigh, as well as at New Bern and
Wilmington, there were many. There was some moving
about among them, as if in assertion of their personal free¬
dom ; but on the whole their conduct was a testimonial of
the kindly relations that existed between the negro and the
white man, the slave and the family of the master.

Convention of 1865

The election for delegates to the Convention took place
without much popular interest attaching to it. There were
only a few citizens who were opposed, in 1861, to the State’s
leaving the Union; but the war having brought suffering
and disaster, there were now many who were embittered
against the Secessionists. They did not avow any love for
the Union; they only hated the Secessionists. At the elec¬
tion the former Democrats for the most part stood aside.
Of the delegates elected only some ten had been Secession
Democrats. When the Convention met October 2, some
eight or ten claimed that they had stubbornly refused to

POLITICAL BITTERNESS

1023

acknowledge any allegiance to the Confederate government ;
and the majority had never been heartily in favor of South¬
ern independence. “Delegates talk of the Whig party and
of the Democratic party even during grave and serious de¬
bates on the most important questions. It is the Democratic
party,’ one class affirms, 'that made secession a possible
thing, and brought the State to the verge of ruin.’ ‘It is
the Whig party,’ the other class retorts, ‘that was half dis¬
loyal to the State and caused disaster by its supineness and
coldness on behalf of the war.’ ” While the Convention
was chosen by the white men of the State, and most of the
delegates were fairly representative of the Whig party, yet
there was a class of them very bitter against the Secession
Democrats.

William A. Wright, one of the most eminent Whigs of
the old regime, came across the hall and, offering his hand
to Judge Howard, said: “Howard, do you know what sort
of people we have here? Why there are forty who would
throw you out of that window. Do you see that elderly
gentleman with the full beard in the seat next to my seat?
That’s McLaughlin of Iredell. When I took my seat I
pleasantly commenced conversation, and finding that he rep¬
resented Iredell, I asked about Governor Vance’s health.
Immediately he seemed to draw himself in, and very curtly
replied, T know nothing about Governor Vance.’ I said,
‘Have you not been in Statesville or heard from him lately?’
‘Yes,’ said he, ‘I have a son in Statesville; but I tell you I
know nothing of Governor Vance since he sold out to the
South.’ ”

Some men of the first consequence were members. B. F..
Moore, Giles Mebane, R. S. Donnell, D. H. Ferebee, R. P.
Buxton, C. C. Clark, M. E. Manly, Bedford Brown, D. M.
Furches, P. H. Winston, W. A. Wright, S. F. Phillips,
Alfred Dockery, Thomas Settle, A. A. McKoy, William
Eaton, Thomas J. Jarvis, George Howard, and at least a
dozen others almost equal in weight and influence. E. G.
Reade was chosen to preside. He had served by General
Vance’s appointment in the Confederate Senate. He said :
“Fellow citizens, we are going home.” Governor Holden,

Andrews,

186

The dom¬
inant feeling

Reade pre¬
sides

Convention

documents

1024 PRESIDENT JOHNSON’S RECONSTRUCTION

The war
debt.

Worth, I,
394

Ibid., 420

Ibid., 394,
420

Repeal of
secession

House Jour¬
nal, 22

Ibid., 28

in his message, quoted this, “We are going home,” and said,
“The State entered the rebellion a slaveholding State, and
emerged from it a non-slaveholding State. In other respects,
as far as her existence as a State and her rights as a state
are concerned, she has undergone no change.” The action
of the Convention was what might have been expected
under the circumstances.

There was, however, one embarrassing proposition, that
had been earlier discussed. The repudiation of all the in¬
debtedness of the State incurred directly or indirectly, in
aid of the war. The debt incurred by the State was largely
due to her own citizens. The banks and all the State insti¬
tutions having funds to invest were interested. Trustees
and fiduciaries were involved. There was decided opposi¬
tion to the measure. Treasurer Worth had been violently
opposed to it. He did not think it came within the sphere
of the Convention’s functions. On August 18, he wrote
that it was understood that the President and Cabinet were
unwilling for any debt contracted during the war to be
paid ; but he thought that the debt ought to be scaled, and
that the subject was not involved in the restoration of the
Union. A month later he pointed out that the Standard, Gov¬
ernor Holden’s paper, stood with him, and “if you repudi¬
ate the whole war debt you break every bank in the State,
you destroy the University and common schools, you beg¬
gar nearly a thousand widows and orphans, and you blot
out of our constellation its bright star — honesty. You en¬
courage dishonesty by the State's example.” Opinion was
divided.

The first step of the Convention, necessarily, was back¬
ward from 1861. Mr. Moore brought forward an ordinance
declaring that the secession ordinance was and ever hath been
a nullity. To this there was some demur. Some thought that
a mere repeal would answer. But the majority stood out
for declaring it a nullity — the vote standing 94 to 19.

This was followed by an ordinance abolishing .slavery,
adopted by a vote of 109, and none to the contrary.

There was an amendment proposed that “the institution
of slavery having been destroyed in the State by the Seces¬
sionists,” etc., but it was withdrawn. At any rate there

WORTH VERSUS HOLDEN

1025

was no declaration of being in love with “abolition"; al¬
though there was doubtless in the hearts and minds of some
a satisfaction in declaring the action of the Convention in
1861 a nullity, although voted for by Holden, Badger and
Graham, and receiving the approval of virtually the entire
State.

Such was the aftermath of Appomattox— and to many it
would have been still more difficult. Fortunately, there were
those equal to the performance.

The Governor naturally looked forward to an election by
the voters, and he expected to be retained in his office by
their suffrage. In many counties meetings were held de¬
claring adherence to the Union, and these, as well as the
meetings of the magistrates to elect county officers, were
occasions that strengthened the Governor in his arrange¬
ments to be elected by the people. But Worth realized that
the mass of the people were not friendly toward Holden,
and proposed himself to stand for the office of Governor.
On October 18 Worth announced himself. Governor
Holden threw himself on the other side of the repudiation
proposition and obtained from the President a telegram re¬
quiring repudiation. This was decisive with the members
of the Convention. The President's demand was heeded and
Worth was overborne, and the incident gave Holden the op¬
portunity to assert that while he stood with the President,
Worth did not. But Worth did not quail. He wrote: “I am
certain Mr. Holden cannot be elected by a very large num¬
ber of votes, and I have no reason to believe that the Presi¬
dent desires Mr. Holden’s election as Civil Governor. Al¬
though fifty-three members of the Convention signed an
invitation to Governor Holden to be a candidate, as every
member was approached the inference is that sixty-seven
refused.” Worth, therefore, announced himself and ten¬
dered his resignation as Treasurer. Associated in their
work of antagonizing the Confederate authorities during
the war, they had separated at the election of 1864, and now,
a year later, were rivals. Worth’s announcement was an¬
swered by the Standard: “The issue, ‘Holden and go back’
and ‘Worth and stay out’ of the Union." Then the Governor
65

Holden and
Worth con¬
test

Oct. 18

Worth, I,
432

1026 PRESIDENT JOHNSON'S RECONSTRUCTION

Nov. 10

Election

The term

The freed-
men

Journal of
Convention

accepted Worth’s resignation and appointed Dr. William
Sloan of Anson Treasurer.

The Convention passed an ordinance providing for an
election on the second Monday in November, at which mem¬
bers of the Legislature, a Governor, sheriff and county su¬
perior court clerks and seven Congressmen should be chosen ;
the voters were to have the qualifications as at the recent
election and no one could be chosen Governor who had not
been pardoned.

Under the ordinance the new Governor was to succeed
the Provisional Governor and to hold until January i, 1867.
Among the other ordinances passed was one providing a
temporary force to preserve order, and one declaring vacant
all offices in the State ; also among the resolutions was one
requesting the President to remove all colored troops from
the State, and another requesting him to proclaim that the
people of the State are restored to their rights and privileges
secured under the Constitution.

By another resolution Governor Holden was directed to
appoint a commission of three persons to report a system
of laws relative to the freedmen. Having taken steps to
establish government throughout this State, the Convention
adjourned to meet again in May. On retiring, Judge Reade
said : “There remains nothing to be done except the with¬
drawal of the military power.” Referring to the freedmen,
he said: “The reluctance, which for a while was felt to the
sudden and radical change in our domestic relations — a re¬
luctance which was made oppressive to us by our kind feel¬
ings for the slave and by apprehensions of the evils which
were to follow him — has yielded to the determination to be
to him, as we always have been, his best friend ; to advise,
protect, to educate and elevate him, to seek his confidence
and give him ours.”

The Anti-Secession ordinance and the Anti-Slavery ordi¬
nance were to be submitted to the popular vote for ratifica¬
tion.

NEGROES BREATHE FINE SPIRIT

1027

The negro convention

At the time the Convention was in session a negro con¬
vention was being held at Raleigh. There was a meeting
of negroes at Wilmington about the end of August, at
which a committee was appointed who called for meetings
in each district to choose delegates for a convention at
Raleigh. On the 29th of September this convention adopted
an address to the Constitutional Convention, whose tenor
was as follows: “Born upon the same soil and brought up
in an intimacy of relationship unknown to any other state
of society, we have formed attachments for the white race
which must be as enduring as life, and we can conceive
of no reason that our God-bestowed freedom should now
sever the kindly ties which have so long united us.

“Though associated with many memories of suffering as
well as of enjoyment, we have always loved our homes and
dreaded, as the worst of evils, a forcible separation from
them. Now that freedom and a new career are before us,
we love this land and people more than ever before.”

“Perhaps a dozen of the delegates were not natives of this
State ; but with few exceptions, those who took part in the
debates or were in any way responsible for the action of
the convention, were not only North Carolinians by birth,
but slaves by growth — men who have always lived and ex¬
pect to continue living in the State. It is also worth re¬
marking that it was really a convention of colored men,
not a colored man’s convention engineered by white men.
It was even so strictly a convention of the negroes of North
Carolina that (said one of the committee to me) ‘We meant
it for a convention of our own people and those outsiders
from Wilmington and New Bern shall not control us.’ . . .

“Scarcely a quarter of these delegates can read and write.
They are dressed in the very cheapest of homespun, are
awed by the very atmosphere of a city, speak a language
that no Northern white man can understand. They came
up ‘in the spirit of our God’ ; they have not forgotten God
in all their labors ; who shall doubt that He will bless this
wish of theirs?”

1865

The negro
feeling

Its person¬
nel

New South

Andrews,

131

Ibid

1028 PRESIDENT JOHNSON’S RECONSTRUCTION

Negroes in
servitude

Effects of the institution

Such was the first note of the African slave in North
Carolina. When one considers the history of the African
race — its general condition wherever else situated and lo¬
cated — the picture presented by these sentences portrays a
scene that has no similitude, and it would seem that African
slavery at the South had exerted a benign influence to
which the negro race elsewhere were ever strangers. But
while the sentiments thus expressed were largely those of
the negro heart, yet the language in which they were clothed
would indicate a culture far above the level of the race.

Before America was discovered Portugal, Spain and Italy
were introducing African slaves ; later, western Europe used
them in their American colonies ; and New England led in
establishing slavery in the British colonies. At the South,
the Africans found their most congenial home, and there
the race had, by 1865, multiplied and had been elevated far
beyond what had been their fortune elsewhere.

This account of the end of slavery in North Carolina by
Sidney Andrews, the Northern correspondent of the Boston
Advertiser and Chicago Tribune, indicates that in North
Carolina the institution that had come down through the
generations, was not without its benefits and advantages to
all concerned. Now that chapter of history was closed.
But, in taking a survey of it, it would appear to have been
beneficent in its effects and to have been of more advantage
to the negroes themselves than to the white people of the
South. A view of the same negroes in Africa suffices.

So far had the negroes become enlightened and influenced
that emancipation was not attended by any great disorders.
If freedom was a joy it brought with it no remarkable ex¬
cesses. The training of obedience and the habitual practice
of good conduct, now in the hour of personal liberty, had a
beneficial influence among them.

There were, however, several thousand negro soldiers in
the State and these fomented trouble. Toward the end of

NORTHERN BUSINESS MEN

1029

the year after many had been disbanded, they scattered
throughout the negro counties and became turbulent. The
general in command, finding the influence of the negro com¬
panies bad, caused them all to be located in the forts, and
separated them from the inhabitants.

Conditions

Commerce being opened, a few men quickly came from
the North to engage in business. Naval stores were in
great demand. Tar, pitch, turpentine and rosin commanded
very high prices ; also staves and lumber. Such cotton as
had been saved sold at fabulous prices. So it was not long
before some money began to flow in the marts of trade.
The banks had naturally suspended. Their affairs were
entirely disorganized. With the railway lines it was differ¬
ent. While their iron had been worn out and their rolling-
stock was utterly insufficient, their condition was being im¬
proved. The line from Charlotte was open to Petersburg-
through Raleigh, the other lines being in running order. In
the meantime the farmers had been busy and nature had
responded most kindly; so that S. L. Fremont, the superin¬
tendent of the Wilmington and Weldon, reported that the
crops had never been better, and that when the road opened
in the fall he “expected the usual business ; and by October
connections will have been made to New York and New
Orleans/’

During this period the people of North Carolina, like
those all through the Southern country, were full of sym¬
pathy for the public men who had been arrested by the
Federal authorities. President Davis was confined at For¬
tress Monroe. George Davis had, on the coast of Florida,
surrendered himself and had been imprisoned, but was re¬
leased on his parole to the limits of North Carolina. Gov¬
ernor Vance, likewise, had been arrested on May 14, and
was confined in the Old Capitol prison until July 5, when
he was admitted to parole to remain at his home, and then
in December was paroled to the limits of the State.

1865

Crops

The public
men

1030 PRESIDENT JOHNSON’S RECONSTRUCTION

The news¬
papers

The publication of newspapers had been resumed. At
Raleigh there were the Standard, the Progress and the
Sentinel; at Wilmington the Herald, the Dispatch, and the
Journal ; at Charlotte, the Democrat and the Bulletin ; the
Press at Salem, the Banner at Salisbury (but the Banner
was silenced by order of General Reiger) ; at Plymouth
the Flag; at New Bern the Times ; at Fayetteville the News;
at Milton the Chronicle, and at Statesville the American.

But the mails were irregular and insufficient.

CHAPTER LXI

Back in the Union

The election of Governor and Assembly. — Worth elected.— The
Assembly meets. — Senators chosen. — 'State reestablished. — Holden
dissatisfied. — The special session. — Worth’s message. — The freed-
men. — Congress not content. — Senators and Representatives not
admitted. — The President differs with Congress. — Conditions in
the State. — The action of Bishop Atkinson. — The quiet unbroken.

The election of 1865

Not three weeks intervened after the adjournment of the
Convention when the election was held. There was no time
for a canvass or campaign. The words of Judge Reade and
Governor Holden, “We are going home,” raised in many
bi easts unpleasant sensations, especially in connection with
the Governor’s fierce denunciation of the Confederacy and
the proposed amendments to the State Constitution, abolish¬
ing slavery and pronouncing the Ordinance of May 20th a
nullity. The response was perhaps different from that
hoped for. Holden’s friends laid stress on his claim that
he was in line with the President, who naturally desired his
appointment to be ratified by the people : and, at the extreme
west, this had some effect. In Wilkes, Wake, Johnston,
Chatham, Surry, Stokes and Rutherford, Governor Holden
had many friends; but generally the people were strongly
against him. The vote was 57,347, being fifteen thousand
less than the year before : and although Holden increased
his vote by eleven thousand, he fell short of election by six
thousand, Worth receiving 31,643, Holden 25,704. This
was a crushing blow to him, the greater as he had organized
all the counties with friends and had made appointments to
so many offices, and had secured pardons for a thousand or
more applicants. He could only ascribe it to the ill will of
the Secessionists ; and, doubtless, he was right, for he had
been at pains to keep them from supporting him. But, if
he fared badly, the ordinances fared worse. He had advised

Nov., 1865

The vote

1032

BACK IN THE UNION

the President that a majority of the people were delighted
at immediate emancipation, while that amendment received
the sanction of only 18,527 out of 57,000. So likewise those
who were clamorous against the Secession ordinance of May
20th found cause for but little comfort in the vote declaring
it a nullity — only 19,977; whereas had the proposition been
to repeal the Ordinance of 1861 and to return to the Union,
the vote would probably have been unanimous. With all the
pressure of the unhappy circumstances of the times upon
them, not twenty thousand votes in the State gave the de¬
sired response to the sentiment, “We are going home. ’
Holden was very much disappointed at the result. He had
sought to associate himself with the President, to have a
vote for him considered one to sustain the President. At
once, he declared that Worth owed his election to the Seces¬
sion element, and he sought to persuade the President not
to recognize the election.

The Legislature

Nov., 1865

Holden’s

message

The General Assembly met November 27. In the House
S. F. Phillips was the Speaker without objection; but in the
Senate there was a division. Thomas Little, who had sup¬
ported Holden, received 22 votes. D. H. Ferebee, an old-
time Whig, opposed to Holden, received 21, and Ferebee
voted for J. D. Whitford. For two days there was no
election ; five members had not reported, and Governor
Graham would not take his seat because he had not received
his pardon. Finally, Donaho, from Surry, withheld his
vote ; and Little was elected. The ballot for clerk resulted
in the election of Major J. A. Engelhard, and that on Pub¬
lic Printer showed that the Senate was against Holden.
On November 30, both houses being organized, Governor
Holden communicated his message, excusing himself be¬
cause of illness from making any extended recommenda¬
tions. Governor Holden submitted the Thirteenth Amend¬
ment, forbidding slavery to exist within the United States,
for ratification ; and it passed without a roll call. On the
ratification of this amendment by South Carolina, Alabama,
North Carolina and Georgia, the requisite number of states

WORTH ELECTED GOVERNOR

1033

(27) having so voted, its ratification was announced on
December 18, as a part of the Constitution. It was by the
votes of these states, at that time, that it was made effec¬
tive. For the purpose of amending the Federal Constitu¬
tion, the State was counted by the administration as being
in the Union.

The Legislature, having canvassed the vote for Governor,
Governor Worth was sworn fin on the 15th of December,
to succeed Governor Holden when he should cease to be
Provisional Governor. It likewise elected Senators — Gov¬
ernor Graham, without opposition, and John Pool, who re¬
ceived 93 votes over Thomas S. Ashe, 60. For Treasurer,
Kemp P. Battle was elected over Dr. Sloan, Holden’s ap¬
pointee, by 89 votes to 66. For the Supreme Court, Pearson
and Battle were retained, while Judge Reade was elected
over Judge Manly by 22 majority. There were some
changes made in the Superior Court judges, among them
Judge Barnes replacing Brooks, now a Federal judge, and
W. M. Shipp and A. S. Merrimon being elected. The Leg¬
islature likewise elected all the State officers ; and, then, on
December 18, adjourned to the first Monday in February.

Governor Holden could not brook his defeat at the hands
of Worth, and insisted that Worth had allied himself
with the Secessionists and should not be allowed to be Gov¬
ernor. However, the President was not of that mind, and
on December 23 he notified Governor Holden to turn over
the office ; and so on December 28, he handed over the great
seal to Governor Worth. The provisional government had
ended. The State was now under its constituted authorities,
elected by the people, and acting under the Constitution
adopted in 1776.

Two days later, Governor Worth published an address,
congratulating the people on the restoration of civil govern¬
ment, “This announcement diffused joy throughout the State.
We are now under laws of our own enactment. We did not
go voluntarily into the late calamitous rebellion. We elected
to go with our section. We acted with good faith to our
associates and bore ourselves gallantly in the fight. Being
vanquished, we submit as becomes a brave people.”

Worth, Gtot-
ernor

Dec. 15

Senators

elected

The judges

Judge

Brooks

State officers
elected

The State
organized

The

State

1034

BACK IN THE UNION

Jan. 18,
1866

Social equal¬
ity

Worth's

views

The attitude
of the people

But as with the cessation of the provisional government all
the officers appointed by Governor Holden under the ordi¬
nance of the Convention likewise ceased to have authority,
Governor Worth, therefore, called for a special session of
the Assembly, which convened January 18. He communi¬
cated to it an interesting message on State affairs. While
the banks had on hand $800,000 in specie, the situation was
such that they had suspended#business. He called attention
to the workings of the Freedmen’s Bureau, a military tri¬
bunal claiming and exercising jurisdiction over all white cit¬
izens in matters criminal and civil where blacks were con¬
cerned. Already there was talk of social equality and the
elective franchise for negroes, and, as early as June, Secre¬
tary Chase had passed through the South broaching those
subjects: but those things, said Governor Worth, were not
to be expected. Referring to the jealousy, hatred and dis¬
trust engendered by the struggle and now evident in Con¬
gress, he said : “It concerns the Republic that there should
be an end of strife. Confidence must begin somewhere/’
He mentioned : “The liberation of the slaves, annihilating
two thousand millions of property, and impoverishing thou¬
sands upon thousands of families ; yet not this extraordinary
spoliation nor the indiscriminate devastation of homes and
plantations, entailing ruin upon millions of inhabitants, had
produced the slightest show of opposition to the authority
of the government. . . . The laws of the United States

are enforced and obeyed everywhere. Distrust should yield
to confidence, aversion to a spirit of harmony, if not cor¬
diality." Such was the spirit of the Governor, and his words
fell on sympathetic ears. The people of North Carolina hav¬
ing accepted defeat, bravely and resolutely set their faces
toward the future. The Assembly dealt with all the various
questions that arose for their action with good judgment,
and provided for the orderly administration of affairs within
the State.

Under a resolution of the Convention, Governor Holden
had appointed as commissioners to prepare legislation con¬
cerning the freedmen, B. F. Moore, W. S. Mason and R. S.
Donnell. Like most of his other appointments, generally.

1. Thomas S. Ashe

2. Thomas J. Jarvis
5.

4. William L. Saunders

3. Jonathan Worth

Robert H. Cowan

RIGHTS OF F REED M EH

1035

these were wise; indeed, no better appointments could have
been made. Their report was considered by the Assembly,
and was finally passed on the 10th of March. All prior laws
inconsistent with this legislation were repealed. The freed-
men were given the same rights as the former free negroes.
They could testify in courts where negro rights were in¬
volved, and in all cases, either civil or criminal, their testi¬
mony was admissible by consent. Marriages between the
races were forbidden. Parties cohabiting as man and wife
were deemed to have been married, and provision was made
for recording .the facts. A warden of the poor was provided
for in each county for the negroes as for the whites. After
wisely adjusting the State to the changed conditions, the
Legislature toward the last of March adjourned.

Dr. R. J. Powell, formerly of Chatham County, but who
had remained at Washington during the war, had been the
representative of Governor Holden at the Capital, but Gov¬
ernor Worth now utilized the services of B. S. Hedrick,
a very estimable gentleman, who had been forced to retire
from a professorship at the University in i860, as his ad¬
vocating the election of Lincoln was adverse to the inter¬
ests of that institution. He had recognition at Washington
during the war, and now gave very intelligent and honor¬
able service to Governor Worth.

The declared object of the war having been accomplished,
the entire South acknowledging the authority of the Fed¬
eral government, the several Southern States expected to
resume their places in the Federal Union; and North Caro¬
lina, according to the President, had been reconstructed.
But now other purposes were to be subserved.

The war had originally been begun at the instance of
Northern Republican governors apparently to promote their
party purposes ; now, after it had ceased, measures were
devised to assure the ascendancy of that party. The Presi¬
dent was at variance with Congress as to some of these
measures. The President and the judges held that the, re¬
constructed states were states in the Union. This the lead¬
ers in the House denied. Those chosen as Representatives
in Congress at the November election were Jesse R. Stubbs,

The freed-
men

B. S. Hed¬
rick

Divergences

The attitude
of Congress

Representa¬
tives to
Congress

1036

BACK IN THE UNION

The Federal
Court

Civil rights

The Presi¬
dent

1866

Worth's

message

C. C. Clark, Thomas C. Fuller, Josiah Turner, Lewis Hanes,
S. H. VValkup and Alex. K. Jones, but Congress adopted
a resolution that no member should be admitted from any
insurrectionary state until Congress had declared the state
entitled to representation. So although these persons, as
well as the Senators elected, presented themselves, no at¬
tention was paid to them, and they were not admitted : and
when Governor Worth addressed a communication to Con¬
gress and the Speaker proposed to lay it before the House,
that body, on March 6, by a vote of ioo to 38, refused to
receive it. The House would have no dealings with North
Carolina as having an existence. Yet about the end of
January George W. Brooks was confirmed by the Senate
as District Judge, D. H. Starbuck as District Attorney, and

D. R. Goodloe as Marshal ; so that the Federal Court was
duly constituted in the State : and collectors of customs and
other Federal officers were appointed, and the President
continued to issue many pardons. However, the House
formally resolved that it was for Congress to declare a state
entitled to representation ; and at the same time a bill was
passed giving negroes every civil right enjoyed by the whites.
This bill the President promptly vetoed, but Congress quickly
substituted another, not so broad in its terms, which passed
notwithstanding the veto. The differences between the
President and Congress now became sharp and positive ;
but the people of North Carolina were so concerned with
their individual fortunes and local affairs, and were so
helpless as to matters at Washington, that they were mere
spectators of passing events.

The Convention

On May 24, according to adjournment, the Convention
reconvened. Governor Worth explained the situation. “We
have been grievously disappointed bv the rejection of our
members by the Congress of the Nation." Five months had
passed and Congress had intimated no policy of restoration.
“Let 11s so act as to retain our self-respect. If bitterness
is to be continued, let us refrain from giving any just ex¬
cuse for its continuance. ” Of General Reiger’s cordial ac-

CONVENTION AT ITS TASK

IQ3 7

tion as the head of the Freedmen's Bureau, he expressed
decided appreciation.

The Convention at once addressed itself to reforming ex¬
isting laws and to revising the entire Constitution of the
State. It took that instrument up section by section, and
to some extent rewrote it. Their work was finally adopted
by a vote of 63 to 30, but when it was submitted to the
people for ratification the popular vote was 19,570 affirm¬
ative and 21,552 negative; so the proposed changes were
not incorporated in the Constitution.

The people having been industriously at work in every
line that was open to them, their general condition was now
somewhat settled. The crops had been good, the railroads
were operating on schedule, the merchants had secured
goods and resumed business, the courts were open, the Su¬
preme Court meeting in June, and public and private affairs
were receiving attention. The stay law was operative as to
the collection of debts, and indebtedness originating during
the war was subject to a scale ascertained and fixed by law.

Life was resumed, but not in its wonted channels, for the
impoverishment of the people was extreme, and hardships
and suffering ilecessarily accompanied the changes. There
was a resolute struggle against adversity, and the people
went on their way not rejoicing, but fully realizing the fate
that had overtaken them. They were heartened by the ob¬
servations of Bill Arp, a homely philosopher of Georgia,
and sought comfort in recalling that, “He maketh his sun
to shine on the evil and on the good and sendeth his rain
on the unjust and the just.” And in the somber shade of
their woeful experience they addressed themselves resolutely
to the duties of life and seemed to develop a deeper religious
sentiment in the sorrows and afflictions that it was their
misfortune to bear.

The various religious denominations having severed their
relations with those of the North, remained in that con¬
dition ; but the Episcopal Church had somewhat of a terri¬
torial character, and on the passing away of the Confed¬
erate States the question arose as to what should be done
about “The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate

In the homes

The denomi¬
nations

1038

BACK IN THE UNION

Philadelphia

Bishop

Atkinson

States.” Some of the Diocesan Councils were held in May.
1865, but nothing was determined by them. The General
Council was to meet in November, while the Triennial Con¬
vention of the Church in the United States was to meet in
October. The Presiding Bishop on July 12 urged the bish¬
ops of the Southern States to attend. The meeting was
to be at Philadelphia where “Beauty and Booty” had been
placarded as the incentive for enlistment, where Phillips
Brooks had preached his violent sermons, and where on
May 6, the Episcopal Recorder had demanded that some
of the leading bishops and clergy at the South should be
hanged, a sentiment that found expression likewise in other
church papers. The invitation of Bishop Hopkins, how¬
ever, appealed to brotherly love, and Bishop Atkinson
deemed it his duty to propose reunion ; and the State Coun¬
cil elected delegates to Philadelphia as well a( to Augusta.
' Bishop Atkinson attended at Philadelphia, October, 1865,
but when urged to put on his robes and appear with the
Northern bishops he declined, but took his seat in the body
of the church. But, later, he was prevailed on to take his
seat as a bishop, along with Bishop Lay of Arkansas ; and
the “Gloria in Excelsis” was sung. There was a resolution
for a joint service of thanksgiving on the restoration of
peace. It contained an emphatic sentence touching the re¬
establishment of the authority of the United States, and was
adopted by the House of Bishops. During the discussion
Bishops Atkinson and Lay had absented themselves. When
the House next met it became known that these Southern
bishops would not join in that service. The resolution was
at once reconsidered, and Bishop Atkinson was appealed to.
He said: “We are thankful for the restoration of peace,
but we are not thankful for the reestablishing of the au¬
thority of the National government over all the land. We
acquiesce in that result. But we cannot say we are thank¬
ful. We labored and prayed for a very different termina¬
tion. I am willing to say I am thankful for the restoration
of peace to the country and unity of the Church.”

At once the resolutions were modified, merely to “a day
of thanksgiving and prayer to Almighty God for the return

SLIGHT FRICTION

1039

of peace and the unity of the Church.” While Bishop Atkin¬
son’s action did not at first meet with the approval of all
that communion in the State, he was so revered and beloved,
and the purity of his motives and purposes were so evident,
that eventually all bowed in submission; and so it came
about that the Episcopal Church of the South passed away,
the Southern Dioceses returning to the Church of the
United States.

There was but slight friction between the Federal author¬
ity and the people. Several newspapers had been suspended
for alleged improper utterances ; punishment by whipping
was prohibited ; and there were some other assertions of
authority that, however, did not materially concern the peo¬
ple. The operations of the Freedmen’s Bureau gave most
concern, and idle and vagabond negroes were here and there
a menace, Governor Graham particularly calling attention to
the bad condition in Orange County. “But,” said Governor
Worth in June, “our courts have been allowed to take juris¬
diction in all criminal matters, and in all civil matters of
importance to which freedmen are parties, although there
have been recent interference in petty matters by the Freed¬
men’s Bureau.”

State

autonomy

CHAPTER LXII

Jan., 1866

The partisan
view

1866

Congressional Reconstruction

Divergences at Washington. — The report of Reconstruction
Committee. — The powers of the Conqueror not vested in the
President. — The will of the conquerors. — General Lee. — The
monument to his daughter. — Washington remonstrates. — The con¬
flict between Congress and the President. — The election for Gov¬
ernor. — Worth elected over Dockery. — The Assembly rejects the
Fourteenth Amendment. — The people at work. — The last of the
State government. — The Federal election 1866. — Holden’s atti¬
tude. — Ashley seeks to impeach the President. — The Reconstruc¬
tion Act. — The State in a military district under Sickles. — Judge
Merrimon resigns. — The birth of the Republican party. — The
United States Court. — The President visits Raleigh. — Holden in
opposition. — Registration. — Canby succeeds Sickles. — The elec¬
tion. — The trial of Tolar. — Race conditions. — The Bureau officers.
— The Union League. — The Ku Klux.

At Washington

There had been a divergence between President Lincoln
and Thad Stevens, Sumner and their followers as to the
prerogative of recognizing government in a Southern state.
The President claiming the right, Congress, in July, 1864,
denied it, and itself claimed jurisdiction; but the President
vetoed the bill. When President Johnson proceeded to carry
out President Lincoln’s program there was opposition in
Congress, and Thad Stevens, in December, 1865, warned
his party that if that plan of reconstruction was allowed,
the Southern States, together with the Democrats of the
North, would control the country. He insisted that the
Constitution should be amended “as to secure perpetual
ascendancy to the party of the Union.” He suggested, first,
to reduce the representation of the Southern States, and,
then, the enfranchisement of the blacks and the disfranchise¬
ment of some whites. By such means he expected to elect
Republicans at the South to Congress. So on January 3,
1866, he introduced a resolution proposing a Constitutional
amendment to reduce Southern representation, but it then

CONQUERED TERRITORY

1041

failed to pass the Senate by a two-thirds vote. This, how¬
ever, was the beginning of a great contest for power on
the part of the Republicans, and the year 1866 marks an
important era. North Carolina was to all intents and pur¬
poses a state in the Union, except that Congress held other¬
wise. The Federal officials were performing their func¬
tions, and the Constitution and laws were observed : but
Congress denied her statehood, and there was still a major-
general exercising military control over civil administration.
While General Robinson, the military commander of the
district, had been generally inclined to cooperate with Gov¬
ernor Worth, in July, 18 66, he was persuaded by Holden,
T. R. Caldwell and others, who, “having malignant feel¬
ings,” sought to overthrow the Worth government and re¬
store the State to military rule. In aid of this purpose, it
was represented that Union men could not obtain justice
in the courts, especially at the west and in the Albemarle
region. General Robinson was persuaded to take that view,
and sent a commissioner to ascertain the facts, claiming the
right to suspend the courts. All during the summer ex parte
investigations were being made, but eventually the circum¬
stances on which the complaints rested were shown to be
most trivial and without foundation in fact.

The War declared a conquest

At length on June 18, the Congressional Committee on Re¬
construction made its report. It came as a thunder clap. It
proposed to ignore all that had been done, to set aside utterly
the presidential reconstruction. The Southern States were
not states at all, but mere conquered territory. The report
was the following :

“No part of the people of the United States can withdraw
from the authority of the United States. They have no
right to secede ; and while they can destroy their State gov¬
ernments and place themselves beyond the pale of the Union,
they cannot escape the obligations imposed upon them by
the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution
does not act on the states, but upon the people. While,

The object

Holden

The Com¬
mittee on
Reconstruc¬
tion

The report

1042

CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION

The con¬
queror

therefore, the people cannot escape its authority, the states
may cease to exist in an organized form, and thus dissolve
their political relations with the United States. These re¬
bellious enemies were conquered. The powers of the con¬
queror are not so vested in the President that he can fix and
regulate the terms of settlement. The question before Con¬
gress is, then, whether conquered enemies have the right
and shall be permitted, at their own pleasure and on their
own terms, to participate in making laws for their con¬
querors. The testimony is conclusive that after the collapse
of the Confederacy the feeling of the people of the rebellious
states was that of abject submission, but now they assert
themselves.”

In Georgia they had elected as a Representative, Alexan¬
der Stephens'; that disposition was a crowning offense.
Thus is was that to the Northern mind the calm and majes¬
tic bearing of Lee and the sympathetic bearing of his sol¬
diers, in faithful observance of their parole to obey the laws,
was considered as abject submission; and so, likewise, a
disposition to be represented in Congress by a man of the
highest character and intelligence rather than by men not
so well qualified, was a cause of offense. But it was a
strange time. The Northern States of the American Union
were conquerors of the Southern States.

No disagreement by some

There were at least some at the South who took no ex¬
ception to that claim of Congress, except so far as the North
was estopped from putting their conquest on that ground.
Without regard to its origin, the conflict developed into a
great war between the inhabitants of the territory north of
the Potomac and the Ohio, and the inhabitants of the terri¬
tory south of those rivers. It mattered not how it originated
or by what name it was called, the people of the North con¬
quered the people of the South. On the part of the latter,
the war was merely of defense ; on the part of the North,
of conquest. What they should do with the conquered peo¬
ple who submitted to their domination was perhaps a matter
for the conquerors.

BITTERNESS AND WRATH

1043

Alaric and Attila were conquerors ; but their attitude to
the conquered people was not affected by honorable obliga¬
tions arising from the origin and purpose of the conflict and
their continued representations of the object of war. The
Northern people were in a different case. They had obliga¬
tions. The honorable obligations were utterly disregarded
by the conquerors. If it was a stain on their characters and a
stigma, they were incapable of understanding it or were in¬
different. Under earlier circumstances, President Lincoln
and Congress had made representations as to the object of
the war. It was to preserve inviolate the Union of the
states under the Constitution. Now restraint was removed.
It was similar to the situation of Sherman and his army in
the grand march — no opposition, relieved of restraints, loose
rein given to his army, no longer soldiers but despoilers —
so Congress, victorious, relieved of restraints, gave loose
rein to its own inclinations. Bitterness and wrath vied with
each other and honorable obligations were ignored.

The Congressional committee reported an amendment to
the Federal Constitution, known as the Howard, or the
Fourteenth Amendment. It made every person born in the
United States a citizen, and prohibited any state from abridg¬
ing the privileges of a citizen or denying any one the equal
protection of the law. And it disabled from holding any
office every person who, having taken an oath to support
the Constitution, had engaged in the rebellion. Such was
the summer’s fruition of the winter’s discontent at the North.
That the Southern people should place a tan on their most
esteemed citizens was an abhorrent proposition. They could
purchase no advantage at the expense of their self-respect.
As they had so faithfully observed their oaths as to be
deemed by Northern statesmen “in abject submission,” a
civilized and enlightened foe might have been expected to
exercise his power as a conqueror without seeking to impose
degradation on the conquered. Rebellion has often been the
highest duty of patriots. It was so at times in England,
and in the colonies. There was that in the history of our
immediate forebears in England and in the colonies that
robbed the word of its supposed stigma ; such as the ex-

Obligations

The Four¬
teenth
Amendment

1044

CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION

The prayer
April, 1861

The rebel¬
lious action

July, 1866

ample of Hampden, of Washington, of Warren at Bunker
Hill. There have been men engaged in rebellion who
gloried in their action and whose career was as glorious as
it was righteous. When the inhabitants of a vast country
move in unison, embracing men of every rank and station
in life, men loyal to their conscience, loyal to their duties,
loyal to their obligations, loyal to society, and devoted to
their Christian religion and its sentiments and to their Re¬
publican principles of self-government, and to what they
regard as the constitutional obligations which their fathers
and kinspeople had established, it is as a mere straw on
the surface of the ocean to impute to them as a stigma or
stain that they are “disloyal" to a government from which
they propose to escape.

A majority of the people of North Carolina had been in
sympathy with the feeling that Mr. Gilmer gave expression
to when he wrote to Mr. Seward: “If it would avail aught,
I would come to Washington and go down on my knees
to you and pray you not to change the plan and policy you
had agreed to observe.” It was ruthless to deluge a con¬
tinent in blood. Having precipitated the calamity and per¬
sisted in the slaughter, the North to soften the aspect and
to frame a justification, had recourse to the makeshift of
“Treason and Rebellion.” Throughout the war the justifica¬
tion was that the Southern States were still members of the
Union ; but when the war was over it was found convenient
to hold that the Southern country was conquered territory
and was to be dealt with by the conquerors at the conquerors’
will.

Immediately on the publication of the President’s amnesty
proclamation, General Lee had presented through , General
Grant his application for pardon ; and General Grant had
forwarded it “with an earnest recommendation that it be
granted.”

One of General Lee's young daughters had died in Warren
County and had been interred in some family graveyard in
the county. In July, 1866, some ladies proposed to mark
the grave with a monument, and invited Governor Worth
to be present. He accepted, availing himself of the oppor-

RED STRING ORGANIZATION

1045

tunity “of exhibiting any respect for the great and good
father and amiable daughter.”

But on remonstrance from Washington that “the very
men who have so solemnly sworn allegiance are ever seek¬
ing opportunity to insult the Union men and falsify their
own oaths by rebel demonstrations/’ Governor Worth said
that while the Southern people “think they may cherish re¬
spect, even affection, for General Lee, with entire com¬
patibility with the most steadfast adhesion to the Union,”
yet because of the fact that the North will regard it as evi¬
dence of rebellious feeling, he would not participate on the
occasion.

The conflict between Congress and the President brought
new conditions in North Carolina. It raised new hopes in
the breasts of Holden and his supporters. They now turned
from the President and aligned themselves with the Stevens
faction.

It became a contest between the Worth administration
and the government established in the State on the one hand,
and the purpose of those who designed to unsettle every¬
thing on the other.

The regular election for governor was now approaching
and Governor Worth announced himself for reelection.
Holden, realizing that he himself could not be successful,
assented to an appointment tendered him by the President
as minister to San Salvador ; but that nomination not being
confirmed by the Senate, he cast about to secure Worth’s
defeat.

His first move apparently was to have some candidate
brought out who would receive the Confederate army vote —
General Ransom was mentioned, and then later, Gen. W. R.
Cox. But that plan falling through, and various Whigs
who were mentioned not accepting, he started again the
Red String organization, and proposed to have a meeting
held to bring out an unmistakably loyal man. The meeting
was held in Holden’s office at Raleigh. It declared that
the Howard Amendment — the Fourteenth — ought to be
adopted, and he tendered the nomination to Alfred Dockery.
Dockery did not formally accept ; but, although he an-

Worth, II,
693, 731

The Presi¬
dent

Election of
Governor

Holden’s

plan

Worth, r I,
789

1046

CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION

Oct., 1866

Tourgee

Worth, II,
773

Oct., 1866

nounced that representation should rest on the white basis,
he was supported by the negro suffragists at the election.

Of the twenty-two papers in the State, fifteen supported
Worth, but the feeling among some of the old Whigs in
the State, not supporters of Holden, was so intense that
Governor Worth was called on to explain how he had
allowed himself to appoint Governor Bragg one of the di¬
rectors of the Asylum for the Insane, that being perhaps
the only appointment of a former Democrat that he had
made.

In the meantime there appeared in the State a very active
partisan, A. W. Tourgee, who had procured his own ap¬
pointment as a delegate to a Union negro convention at
Philadelphia, held a fortnight after a great convention met
there sustaining the President. Tourgee was for negro suf¬
frage and social equality, and his advent into North Caro¬
lina affairs marked a departure from the previous attitude
of public men. In one of his speeches, as reported in the
Northern newspapers, he claimed to have been informed by a
Quaker that he had seen fifteen murdered negroes dragged
out of one mill pond. But at that time the military authori¬
ties were making close investigations, and no one else ever
heard of such an incident. Other statements Tourgee made
Governor Worth declared he knew had no foundation.

•Governor Holden, while cooperating with Tourgee, how¬
ever, did not then approve of negro suffrage. While he
was consumed with a burning desire to beat down, first, the
old Democrats who had blasted his early schemes of am¬
bition, and then those Whigs who had opposed him in 1864
and 1865, he still had a close connection and association with
the working white men that made him an advocate of their
welfare, and negro suffrage and social equality were dis¬
tinctly adverse to their particular interests. At the election
about the middle of October, 1866, Dockery received but
1 0,759 votes, and Worth 34,250, he gaining nearly three
thousand while the opposition fell off fifteen thousand.

WORTH INAUGURATED

1047

The Legislature

The Legislature chosen in October met on November 17.
To both bodies some former Democrats had been returned,
and the membership was fairly representative of the intel¬
ligence of the State.

Among the Senators were Governor H. T. Clark, M. E.
Manly, E. D. Hall, J. W. Cunningham, John Berry, A. C.
Avery, James R. Love and J. H. Wilson. Among the rep¬
resentatives were Plato Durham, W. McKay, J. H. Clement,
F. M. Rountree, J. T. Morehead, T. S. Kenan, R. H. Cowan,
R. Y. McAden, J. J. Davis and C. M. McClammy. In the
Senate, Judge Manly received twenty-six votes for Speaker,
and J. A. Engelhard, editor of the Wilmington Journal,
was elected clerk by acclamation.

In the House, after several ballots, R. Y. McAden was
elected Speaker, and the clerks of the former Llouse were
retained. The term for which John Pool was elected to the
United States Senate would expire before a new Legislature
would convene, and to succeed him eighty votes were neces¬
sary to a choice. The first ballot stood W. N. H. Smith
50, Judge Manly 45, John Pool 42; but on the fourth Judge
Manly received 91, John Pool 41, and W. N. H. Smith 27.

On the 22d of December Governor Worth took the oath.
Governor Worth mentioned in an elaborate message: “Not
a guerilla party had existed in the late rebellious states.
. . . Our bench of judges have exercised their duties in

a manner which would have given luster to the judiciary
of any period in the history of the world.” He said that
he hoped the State would never give her assent to the
Fourteenth Amendment; and, as for the negroes, “To grant
universal suffrage to them now is manifestly absurd. . . .

We must do the best we can for the common weal of the
whites and blacks.”

A resolution to reject the proposed constitutional amend¬
ment, on December 13, passed the Senate 45 to 1 ; and be¬
ing transmitted to the House was immediately passed there,
93 to 10.

Nov., 1866

Worth’s

view

Dec., 1866

1048

CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION

Sickles’s

orders

State action

1867

General Sickles who was the Federal general in command
of the department, had issued an order on October 1, 1866,
interfering with the courts, prohibiting whipping, that be¬
ing the penalty prescribed in certain cases by law, there be¬
ing no penitentiary; and on the 13th of December Governor
Worth communicated it to the Legislature and was directed
by resolution to select a commission to accompany him to
see the President, and have it modified. He selected Judge
Boyden, Judge Meriimon and Governor Swain; and others
also went to Washington.

The Federal government had imposed heavy taxes, that
on cotton amounting to two and one-half cents a pound,
and in 1866 nearly two millions of dollars were collected
from the people on that tax. There was also an oppressive
land tax. Another commission was raised at the instance
of Governor Swain to visit Washington on the subject of
the land tax and other matters; and on January 2 the Gov¬
ernor appointed Judge Merrimon, J. M. Leach, Bedford
Brown and P. H. Winston on that commission.

The Convention having authorized the exchange of State’s
stock in the railroads for an equal amount of old State bonds,
the Treasurer had advertised for bids for the State’s stock
in the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad, and sold the stock,
receiving $682,500 for it. The Legislature now repealed
that ordinance and forbade such transactions.

North Carolina proposes a National Convention

The Legislature having rejected the Fourteenth Amend¬
ment, a resolution was offered proposing a national con¬
vention of all the states. This was amended to refer to a
plan for the settlement of sectional matters proposed by
some representative men — embracing a substitute for the
Howard Amendment, but allowing states to require prop¬
erty qualification of $250 for voters and an educational
qualification, and proposing that the state constitutions
should be amended to conform. This on March 1 passed
the Senate by 27 to 6; in the House by 57 to 17. The peo¬
ple of the State, notwithstanding the unsettled condition of
the political affairs, were now addressing themselves with

WAVING THE BLOODY SHIRT

1049

vigor and energy to their material concerns, and charters
were applied for to incorporate some eight new railroad
companies. With intelligence and patriotism the Legisla¬
ture had responded to all such requests, and after a long
and laborious session dealing with a multitude of important
affairs, the Legislature finally adjourned on March 4 to the
third Monday in August. Little did they then think that never
again would the Legislature of the State meet under the
sanction of the Constitution adopted by their revolutionary
forefathers in 1776.

Reconstruction, 1867

During the summer and fall of 1866 a most violent polit¬
ical campaign was waged at the North. The whole country
quivered under the passionate appeals made to inflame sec¬
tional hatred and to arouse relentless animosity. A single
specimen of forensic eloquence suffices. Other leaders vied
with the malignant Shellabarger, an influential representa¬
tive from Ohio, when he declared: ‘‘They framed iniquity
and universal murder into law. Their pirates burned your
unarmed commerce upon the sea. They carved the bones
of your dead heroes into ornaments, and drank from goblets
made out of their skulls. They poisoned your fountains ;
put mines under your soldiers’ prisons ; organized bands
whose leaders were concealed in your homes ; and commis¬
sions ordered the torch and yellow fever to be carried to
your cities and to your women and children. They planned
one universal bonfire of the North from Lake Ontario to
the Missouri.” Such was the keynote of the campaign a
year after peace. There were many other orators who wor¬
shiped at the shrine of ridiculous falsehood, and the North¬
ern heart warmly responded. Malice swayed the Northern
people, and Thad Stevens and Sumner rejoiced. In the
State, Holden, watchful of passing events, now took strong
ground against the President’s reconstruction, and aligned
himself with the victorious faction in Congress. At a caucus
held at his house about the first of December delegates were
chosen to go to Washington — the basis of the scheme being
the disfranchisement of the whites and the universal en-

Biog. Hist.,
IV, 235

Worth, II,
859

CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION

1050

Jan., 1867

March 2,
1867

Negroes to
vote

The Presi¬
dent’s view

The Con¬
gress firm

The con¬
quered terri¬
tory

Sickles’s

orders

franchisement of the negroes. Congress was not content
with asserting its dominion over the conquered territory, it
proposed to wreak vengeance on the President.

On January 7, 1867, Mr. Ashley submitted to the House,
“I do impeach Andrew Johnson, Vice-President and acting
President, of high crimes and misdemeanors.” And he
offered a resolution that the Judiciary Committee inquire
into the facts alleged, which was adopted by 108 to 39. As
the session was drawing to its close, on February 28, the
committee reported such testimony as was taken for further
action.

At the end of that session, March 2, Congress passed the
first Reconstruction Act (1867) declaring that no legal gov¬
ernment existed in any of the rebel states, that the exist¬
ing governments were provisional only, and should so con¬
tinue until a state constitution should be formed by a con¬
vention elected by all males without regard to color, except
those disfranchised. The President promptly vetoed this
bill, saying: “The laws of the states and of the Federal
government are all in undisturbed and harmonious opera¬
tion. The courts, State and Federal, are open and in the full
exercise of their proper authority. The National Constitu¬
tion is everywhere in force and everywhere obeyed. But
immediately the House again passed it, 138 to* 51, and the
Senate, 38 to 10. And soon after the meeting of the new
Congress a supplemental bill on reconstruction was passed.
It also was vetoed, but was passed over the veto, there be¬
ing but seven votes against it in the Senate.

Under these acts North Carolina and South Carolina, now
declared no longer to be states but mere disordered terri¬
tories without any governmental organizations, were thrown
together into a military district, and the command, on
March it, 1867, was assigned to Gen. D. E. Sickles. Nearly
two years had elapsed since the last soldier had laid down
his arms and taken the oath to obey the laws — and had ob¬
served his oath.

On assuming command March 21, General Sickles an¬
nounced that local tribunals will be permitted to try offend¬
ers, that the civil government is provisional only, in all re-

THE ESSENCE OF BITTERNESS

spects subject to his paramount authority; that laws not
inconsistent with such regulations as he might prescribe
were in force. He desired to preserve tranquillity and order
by agencies most congenial to the people, and he solicited
the zealous and cordial cooperation of civil officers and the
aid of all good citizens ; and on May 8 he announced that
registration would begin in July; but it was, later, post¬
poned, and on the thirteenth he announced many rules and
regulations and laws that he would enforce.

General Sickles, however, did not interfere specifically in
the performance of the ordinary duties of the Governor
and of the judges, it being understood that they were only
tolerated as instrumental in preserving order and subject to
his supervision. He and Governor Worth cooperated satis¬
factorily, and the State courts continued to hold their ses¬
sions, observing, however, the rules promulgated by the
Military Governor; but, toward the end of July Judge Mer-
rimon, believing that his oath of office forbade him from
obeying an order of General Sickles, resigned. Alexander
Little of Anson was appointed to the vacancy, and General
Sickles approved the appointment.

The birth of the Republican Party, March, 1867

Immediately after the adjournment of the Legislature the
Holdenites in that body called for a convention to meet in
Raleigh on March 27. Delegates from fifty-six counties
met, blacks and whites. Judge Dick, Settle and Holden pro¬
posed to organize the Republican party in cooperation with
Thad Stevens and his supporters. It proposed to obliterate
the distinctions between the races. The Republican party
now was to be organized in every county, the negroes being
gathered into the organization through the Union League.
A State Executive Committee was appointed. Among the
members of that committee were C. R. Thomas, Alfred
Dockery, Thomas Settle, R. P. Dick, David M. Carter, John
Pool, A. W. Tourgee and quite a number of negroes and
Federal office holders. Holden was chairman ; and Holden
now became the essence of bitterness.

1051

Reign of
Sickles

Judge

Merrimon

resigned

Worth, II,
924

1052

CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION

Public men

Worth, II,
945

1867

Chief Jus¬
tice Chase
holds court

Many of those who had been leading public thought had
passed from the activities of leadership. George E. Badger,
Governor Morehead and Judge Saunders had died. George
Davis was under parole, Governor Bragg and Mr. Dortch,
and nearlv all of the former Secession Democrats were si-

lent. Governor Vance was pardoned in April, 1867; but he,
like nearly all other public men, was under the disabilities
of the Reconstruction Act.

Governor Clark, writing in regard to conditions in May,
said : “Our people went in unanimously for their independ¬
ence — they failed. They were conquered and they now sub¬
mit in sincerity and good faith to their situation. They
will avail themselves of any means or opportunity fairly and
legally offered them, to better their condition, and are dis¬
posed to give their aid and assistance when allowed. They
are yielding with surprising facility equal rights to our
colored population ; but they cannot go social equality yet,
and detest the hypocrisy of those who are encouraging it
for their selfish views. . . . The two races have got

along remarkably well. The colored are generally kept at
work. There have been few or no collisions of any kind,
and apparently they mutually trust each other.”

The coming of June, 1867, brought some novel sensa¬
tions to the people of the State, and in particular were the
denizens of the little village of Raleigh made to realize
that after a fashion they were connected with the Union.
On June 5 Chief Justice Chase of the Supreme Court ar¬
rived to hold court, and was warmly received by the citizens.
At noon on the following day, in the Senate Chamber, he
opened the Circuit Court, having Judge Brooks associated
with him. Distinguished members of the bar attended.
The Chief Justice made a short address, during the course
of which he explained that while the military authorities
still had authority to preserve peace and order, yet ‘‘this
military authority does not extend in any respect to the
courts of the United States.”

Congress having passed a bankruptcy act, registrars in
bankruptcy were now appointed, and that very beneficent
measure took effect much to the relief of many debtors.

PRESIDENT JOHNSON IN RALEIGH

1053

The session of the court closed without incident. A week
later Raleigh was visited by still more distinguished guests.
The President arrived, and he was accompanied by Secre¬
tary Seward and the Postmaster General, Randall ; and by
many officials and reporters. There were in attendance,
also, Generals Sickles and Miles, and other officers of high
degree.

The military paraded the streets, flags were flying, and
there was quite a demonstration of welcome. Among those
who met the President were Governors Worth, Swain, Gra¬
ham and Bragg, Judges Reade, Manly and other repre¬
sentative men of the State ; but generally, the Secession
Democrats were not drawn from their distant homes. Their
quietude remained unbroken. The next day there was a
very large attendance .at the cemetery, where a monument
had been erected to the President’s father. In an address
made by the President, he referred to his early life in
Raleigh, his boyhood friends, his departure without a dollar
in his pocket and his career in life. He declared that his
native State had always had a warm place in his heart.

The President’s party went on to attend the exercises at
the University. Holden and Johnson had formerly been
good friends. The spirit of Governor Holden was now well
illustrated by the ill-concealed sneers of the Standard at the
incidents of this visit of the President ; and finally, the
Standard said : “The University is in the hands of persons
disaffected to the government. It must be reformed. The
State Convention, to be held under the Sherman Act, must
reform it from turret to foundation stone.”

When the Fourth of July approached Holden thought to
utilize it for a purpose. He procured a large number of
negroes to assemble at Raleigh and adopt resolutions pray¬
ing that the civil government be set aside and a purely mili¬
tary government established ; the pretext being that the ad¬
ministration was antagonizing the call of the convention.
A delegation of six, whites and blacks, was appointed to
press this move at Washington; but like all of Holden’s
former schemes, it proved ineffective.

The Presi¬
dent comes

The recep
tion

Holden's

attitude

Standard,
June 12

Worth, II,
997

1054

CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION

Miles inter¬
feres

Worth, II,
942

The Union
League

Worth, II,
1045

Sickles re¬
moved

Can by

The registration of Toters

Under the Reconstruction Acts the registration of voters
was to embrace all male citizens twenty-one years of age
who shall have taken an oath that they are not disfranchised,
that they have never taken an oath to support the Constitu¬
tion of the United States and then had engaged in rebellion.
An election for delegates was to be held “for” or “against”
a convention, the voters at the same time voting for del¬
egates : the returns to be made to the commanding general.
The registrars and election officers were all to take the
ironclad oath.

General Sickles, in view of these provisions, early applied
to Governor Worth to recommend registrars ; but General
Miles, of the Freedmen’s Bureau, sent out a circular to his
agents and his subordinates to report three men for each
county, one of whom to be a negro ; and a proportion of
military and Freedmen’s Bureau men. There were one hun¬
dred and seventy registration precincts established. The
registration began about the last of August and the negroes
hurried to register. It was under the charge of an appointee
named Flelper, a brother of the author of The Impending
Crisis.

There had been established the Union League, as a secret
society, and every preparation had been made to bring the
negroes to register. There was a hope of “forty acres and
a mule,” and other rewards in view.

The opinion announced by the Chief Justice that the mili¬
tary authority does not extend in any respect to the courts
of the United States was contrary to that held by the mili¬
tary commander. An execution issuing out of the United
States Court was suspended by General Sickles’s authority.
The President sustained the court, and the Attorney-Gen-
eral began proceedings to have General Sickles indicted for
violation of the criminal laws of the United States in ob¬
structing process of the court. To meet the situation, the
President removed General Sickles on August 26 and Gen.
Edward R. S. Canby succeeded him in command of the
district.

MILITARY ELECTION

1055

The election

The registration as revised by General Canby was 106,721
whites and 72,932 blacks. On October 18 he issued an
order for the election on the 19th and 20th of November
to ascertain if the people would have a convention. The
vote was 93,506 for and 32,966 against a convention! About
23,000 whites voted for it, 32,961 against it, and about
50,000 of the registered whites did not vote. Delegates were
elected at the same time. Thereupon on December 31, Gen¬
eral Canby announced that the delegates should meet in
convention on January 14 at Raleigh.

General Canby estimated that 11,686 whites were dis¬
franchised and that 7,791 who were entitled did not register,
so 70,000 whites did not vote for the convention. However,
said General Grant : “The present condition of the district
is so satisfactory as to warrant the belief that after the
election the military posts can be diminished/’ Many of
the whites felt that the situation and conditions placed them
under such a restraint that they would not participate in
the proceedings. It was not the voice of North Carolina
that was expected or desired. It was not a free expression
of the will of the whites that was being recorded. They
would have no part in the matter. Indeed, of the 23,000
whites who voted for the convention, there were many who
utterly disapproved of the proceeding, but yet deemed it
wise to accept the terms imposed by Congress rather than
incur the risk of harsher measures at the hands of those
who asserted that they were conquerors. On the whole,
perhaps not one-sixth of the whites gave voluntary support
to this measure to establish government in the State on the
basis of negro suffrage.

In addition to the depression incident to these political
matters, the inertia of business of all kinds in the absence
of currency and of banks pressed heavily on the people.
Besides, crops in the interior had been insufficient and there
was real suffering. Such was the closing of the year.

On February 11, 1867, a negro man, Archy Beebee, being
accused of committing an assault on a white girl, was ar-

The election
under Canby

Nov., 1867

Hamilton,

236

Convention

Dec., 1867

CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION

1056

rested and taken before a magistrate in the courtroom of
the market at Fayetteville. A great crowd attended. After
the examination, as the officers were taking the prisoner
away to jail, the negro was shot and killed. William J.
Tolar was accused of firing the pistol, and others were
charged with being conspirators.

In June, 1867, under the Act of March 2, 1867, putting
the State under military rule, General Sickles created a
military court to try Tolar and others for murder. The
court convened at Raleigh July 22. Many witnesses were
examined, the evidence ending September 10. The argu¬
ments continued far into the night of the fourth day, Sep¬
tember 14.

The court-martial trying this citizen for murder found
him guilty and the general in command sentenced hirii to
the penitentiary. This trial illustrates the military rule of
that period.

Conditions

In North Carolina, as throughout the entire South, con¬
ditions were novel and peculiar. Besides the respective
attitude of the conquered and the conqueror toward each
other, there was an additional element in the problem of life
arising from the close association of the two distinct races
that formed the population ; and that was accentuated by
the previous condition of servitude on the one hand, and
of accustomed superiority on the other. One race was edu¬
cated and had ever exercised all the powers of government ;
the other was illiterate and had only such rights as the
whites had chosen to allow them. Still the whites were
Anglo-Saxons of the purest strain, and respect for law was
their inheritance, and the negroes, trained in servitude, were
by nature obedient to authority. In North Carolina there
were not a few negroes who had for generations been free¬
men. Up to 1835 they had voted as other citizens; they held
property and enjoyed, generally, the civil rights of the white
men. The emancipation of the slaves only served to en¬
large the number of these negro freemen, and the whites

PRIVATION AND DISTRESS

1057

found no difficulty in adjusting the law to the changed con¬
dition.

The personal rights, ever accorded to the free negroes,
now were extended, as a matter of course, to the emanci¬
pated slaves — embracing all the civil rights of life, liberty,
property, the pursuit of happiness and the protection of the
law. But the distinction between the races, founded in
nature, remained, and their habitual attitude was largely
preserved. Had they been left to themselves, the general
bearing of the races toward each other would have remained
kindly, considerate, and most friendly.

After the surrender, as during the closing months of the
war, there was much suffering among the whites, much
privation and distress. That was a natural result, and it
was borne without complaint. Similarly, there was distress
among the negroes which was somewhat increased by many
of them, rejoicing in their freedom, moving about, and im-
providently crowding together where there was no work
for them to do.

The government had undertaken to be helpful to the
blacks, and doubtless largely succeeded. But, eventually,
the influence of the agents engaged in the work was exerted
in channels that tended to unsettle the amicable relations
between the races.

The questions involved in the overthrow of the govern¬
ment established in the State in 1865 under the sanction
and authority of the President, and the substitution of a
government planned by the malignant majority in Congress,
were of direct interest to the negro.

Without comment the government maintained during the
Confederacy gave place to that organized in 1865. For two
years that was in perfect operation, being in consonance with
the Constitution adopted in 1776, and continuing the laws
known to the people and instituted by them. Then, against
the wishes of the great bulk of the whites, that government
was replaced by one set up through the power of Federal
bayonets, by the aid of the ignorant negroes as voters, and
founded on negro suffrage as the base of the fabric.

The negroes

CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION

1058

Thus not only was the destruction of the old government
and the substitution of the new one of interest to the negro,
but the very purpose of the change was to assure the domi-
nancy of the negro in the State, and, through him, to main¬
tain the ascendancy of the South-hating Republicans in Con¬
gress and in the presidency.

The proposition, in effect, was to make the ignorant negro
at the South the repository of the power determining the
administration of the country. Without him, the malignants
feared defeat; with him, they proposed to perpetuate their
control.

The daily work of the citizens had not been interrupted
and the current of life had not been interfered with, for the
several steps in the program of congressional reconstruc¬
tion had been outside of State affairs ; but now that a new
constitution was to be adopted, and a new government was
to supplant the existing one — the effect of the change was
realized, and there was a perceptible shudder. A revolution
was in progress, and the Constitution of 1776 and the laws
made under it, were to pass away.

The Union League

An organization called the Union League had been intro¬
duced during the war in the territory occupied by the Fed¬
eral forces, and a similar organization had extended through¬
out some of the interior counties. After the war the League
became popular with the negroes and with the whites of some
of the western counties ; but in the counties where there
were many negroes the whites rejected it.

Under the benignant rule of the Southern white men and
in close companionship with the white families to whom they
belonged, the negroes, during their generations of servi¬
tude, had progressed incalculably from their natural con¬
dition in Africa, and far beyond what they had attained to
in Hayti, or Jamaica, or in any other country where they
were numerous ; but, as a class, they were tractable, pliable,
and easily led by designing men who gained ascendancy
over them.

UNION LEAGUE ACTIVITIES

1059

Even the sudden removal of the restraints of slavery was
in itself fraught with possibility of evil to society; but, had
there been no improper leadership, that peril might have
been sufficiently averted. It naturally came about that the
bureau officers, representing the government that had estab¬
lished their freedom and had a title to their confidence, be¬
came their counselors and largely influenced them.

At length, under the leadership of the bureau officers,
Northern whites and some educated negroes, the League
became organized for political purposes ; nor were its opera¬
tions confined to such objects. In some localities the domi¬
nation of the leaders was harmful, resulting in crimes.

Unconnected with the League, however was the deplor¬
able condition of Robeson County, where a considerable
number of half-breeds, mixed with Indian blood, beginning
their criminal operations during the war, continued to harass
the lower portions of that county, virtually driving the
whites out.

But, elsewhere, at times there were similar disturbances,
though not so violent, attributed to the League.

The program instituted by General Reiger immediately
on the surrender of General Johnston was everywhere main¬
tained. It was the natural course to pursue. The whites
had need for the labor of the negro, and the blacks reason¬
ably continued as laborers in the field. No negro was denied
employment because of his color or race.

But in January, 1867, the negroes were awakened to a
new thought — that since they produced the crops, which the
whites took, they were still in efifect slaves, working for the
whites; that they were to be enfranchised, and the bulk of
the whites disfranchised ; and that they would then be re¬
lieved by being the dominant power and supplant the State
government with a new one in which they would have the
dominion. This information was disseminated through
the Red Strings and the League. Such teachings had the
natural efifect. Banded together in the secret, oath-bound
League, the negroes became, here and there, a menace to
society, and individually engaged in social crimes.

The Robeson
Indians

The new
thought

The terror

CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION

iq6o

Worth, XX,
869

The

Ku Klux

Thus in Greene, Pitt, Jones and adjoining counties, in
1867, according to the Tarboro Southerner and other papers,
a reign of terror was maintained by bands of local banditti,
and murders and robberies occurred.

In Jones, especially, the negroes committed many out¬
rages. In that county, the gallant Col. J. H. Nethercutt, sit¬
ting at his supper table, was murdered by an assassin — per¬
haps not a negro, but doubtless a member of the Union
League.

In the tier of counties west of Raleigh similar conditions,
in a measure, prevailed. In Orange, it was said, women
feared to leave their houses. Here and there, barns were
burned, and other troubles set in.

The introduction of negro schools, often conducted by
Northern women, whose sympathies for the blacks led them
to the verge of social equality, and whose association with
them had a deleterious influence on the bearing of the
negroes toward the white residents, likewise was an element
fomenting race conflict.

Such was the condition in 1867 when a white secret or¬
ganization known as the Ku Klux Klan was introduced in
the State. It apparently came over the line from South
Carolina, finding ready assent in the border counties west
of Charlotte. And it had membership in Warren, Wake,
Chatham, Orange, Alamance, and that tier of counties where
a hundred years before had been the home of the Regulators.
Traditionally, the people of that section had the spirit to
associate and remedy through regulation the evils that af¬
flicted them.

Farther east, where the negroes were still more numer¬
ous, the Klan took but little foothold. At Wilmington, the
proposition to establish a secret organization to aid and pro¬
tect any white citizen who got into trouble was decisively
negatived by the declaration that there ought to be no secret
association.

The organizations appear to have been local. In some
neighborhoods a dozen or twenty whites would come to¬
gether and form a camp. They would meet in an old field
or grove at night, and consider conditions, measures and
agree on some action.

SECRET ORGANIZATIONS

1061

These camps were not associated, but doubtless there was
some attenuated connection, and, perhaps a head of the en¬
tire body ; and there may have been several distinct organi¬
zations — “The Invisible Empire,” the “Ku Klux Klan,” the
“Constitutional Union Guards.” As they were secret so¬
cieties, and their operations were veiled in secrecy, but little
is known of them. With the League it was different; for
while that was a secret society as to the initiation of mem¬
bers, its oaths and operations, yet they paraded in public;
had a national council, executive committee, with subordi¬
nate councils, in each state, that had general supervision
and direction in its territory; and local councils. Albion W.
Tourgee, in 1866, organized the League in the central coun¬
ties and became the first president of the State Council.
W. W. Holden succeeded him, and it is said continued as
president until 1870. The membership in 1869, when the
whites at the west had abandoned the League, was stated
at 70,000. During the elections of 1868 there were no par¬
ticular racial conflicts, although, here and there, some local
disturbances occurred, and lawlessness and crimes affected
the central counties, especially.

CHAPTER LXIII

1868

Constitution Under Negro Suffrage

Differences between Worth and Canby. — Judge Fowle resigns.
— Tourgee. — The Convention. — The new Constitution. — Race
equality. — Deweese’s statement. — The Conservatives meet. — Gra¬
ham. — Organization. — The Republican Convention. — Holden and
Ashe. — The campaign. — The Ku Klux. — The election. — The Presi¬
dent impeached. — Holden appointed by Canby. — Worth’s protest.
— Legislature meets. — Membership. — Holden inaugurated. — New
laws. — The State admitted to representation. — In the State. — The
action of Northern Democrats. — The Fourteenth Amendment. —
Holden disturbed. — A police provided for. — The presidential cam¬
paign. — The legislative declaration. — The Republican address. —
Holden alarmed. — Republican Convention. — The article “Work.”
— Holden asks for troops. — The negroes urged to arm. — At Wil¬
mington. — Grant elected.

After General Canby had succeeded General Sickles Gov¬
ernor Worth wrote: “I regard him as an unostentatious
and candid radical. He has treated me with uniform cour¬
tesy, personal and official. I regard him as an honest man,
but cordially cooperating with the less vindictive portion of
the radical Congress. I do not perceive that we are ben¬
efited by the exchange. I think he holds our domestic rad¬
icals in less contempt than Sickles, and is much more
esteemed by Holden & Company than Sickles wras ”

There was some friction between Worth and Canby aris¬
ing out of General Canby’s action in various matters. Gen¬
eral Canby had established several provost courts and at
least in four counties had a negro police force and had re¬
quired some negro policemen in the towns.

On the ioth of January, Governor Worth wrote to Gov¬
ernor Graham : “When I saw the President about a month
ago and gave him a narrative of Canby’s action in Spier’s
case from Buncombe; his orders touching juries; his provost
court at Fayetteville ; his numerous removals of civil officers,
assigning no reason for such removals, and not in a single
instance consulting me as to the fitness of successors ap-

EVIDENCE OP VILLAINS

1063

pointed by him ; the wanton casting into prison and trial of
McRae, the seizing of Griffith (sheriff of Caswell County)
and carrying him to Charleston and his trial before a court-
martial upon the evidence of two villains, Tourgee and
Johnson, and the virtual discharge of the Granville negro,
convicted of a wanton rape upon a woman of good char¬
acter by himself and another negro, first one and then the
other, in the presence of her little daughter, old enough to
be a witness, and the verdict confirmed by a court-martial,
the villain Avery being the Judge Advocate; and the case of
the removal of the sheriff of Jones and the swearing in of
insolvent Yankees, without a bond worth a straw; the Presi¬
dent exhibited disgust and indignation.”

Such was the state of the Governor’s mind, when Judge
Fowle resigned and the Governor cast about unsuccessfully
to find some native, fit for the judicial office, who could take
the ironclad oath, so that the Council could recommend him
for appointment. In regard to the seizure of Sheriff Grif¬
fith “one of the best men in the State, a Union man,” the
Governor had written the facts to the President who had
referred the matter to General Canby, who now replied,
especially to the Governor’s invective against Tourgee, the
General saying that “Tourgee has been nominated to fill a
vacancy in a civil office in North Carolina, and would have
received immediate appointment but for the charge you have
made against him.” Governor Worth assumed that Tourgee
was to be appointed to succeed Fowle, and busied himself
in sustaining his charges; and was so successful that the
general wrote him a letter of apology, and shortly after¬
wards came to Raleigh with his staff and paid the Governor
a formal visit, and established cordial relations. It was a
great victory for the Governor. Later the Governor, not
being able to find a native eligible to the appointment, recom¬
mended C. A. Cilley, a former Federal officer, who had
located in Lenoir and who proved to be a gentleman of fine
qualifications as to character and fitness.

Worth and
Canby

1064 CONSTITUTION UNDER NEGRO SUFFRAGE

1868

The mem¬
bership

Changes

The Convention

The Convention met on January 14 in Commons Hall ac¬
cording to General Canby’s order. It was a notable assem¬
blage. All but ten were adherents of the Republican party;
and among them were thirteen negroes, several Federal
officers and other Northern men who had come with the
Federal Army. There was no man in the entire body who
had a State reputation and there were hardly half a dozen
lawyers among the members. Calvin J. Cowles was elected
to preside. Of the ten who were not affiliated with the ma¬
jority, there were two young men of fine parts and high
character, Maj. John W. Graham and Plato Durham. Some
of the negro members were educated but of no experience.
Indeed, the great body of the membership had no qualifica¬
tion for the duty they had undertaken. Under these cir¬
cumstances the work naturally was performed by a few
leaders, the chief of whom was Capt. A. W. Tourgee, a
young man of acute intellect who had studied law in Ohio.
The conventions of 1862 and 1866 had each spent months
in seeking to improve the Constitution of the State ; now
the old Constitution was thrown aside and a new one was
submitted. Indeed, the declaration was that the old North
Carolina was no more ; and there was to be a new North
Carolina. Some of the provisions were adopted from the
Ohio Constitution and others were in line with advanced
legislation at the North. The distinction between proceed¬
ings at law and in equity was abolished and a commission
was created to report a code of civil procedure to replace
the practice under the common law. The members of the
Supreme Court were increased to five. The judicial dis¬
tricts, were increased and each district had its own judge.
The county courts were abolished, and the counties laid off
into townships and a new system of county administration
was established. The judges, justices of the peace and all
county officers were elective. A homestead and personal
property exemption was provided for ; and the rights of
married women in their property were secured as their sep¬
arate property. Imprisonment for debt was abolished ex-

NO RACE DISTINCTIONS

1065

cept in cases of fraud. Corporal punishment was abolished
and a penitentiary was provided for. A general and uni¬
form system of public schools was ordained, and, now, the
thunder of Holden brought forth a bolt of lightning that
blasted the University. That institution was put under
trustees appointed by the Board of Education and declared
a part of the public school system, open to both races alike.
There was to be no race distinctions in suffrage and eligibil¬
ity to office. Both the poll tax and the property tax were
subject to a constitutional limitation. The Legislature was
to meet annually ; but its former power was in some re¬
spects limited. The term of the Governor was made four
years, and that of the judges eight years, and the judges
were all to be elected by the people, as well as the other State
officers. Such were some of the principal changes of the
fundamental laws, many of which were improvements.
After a two-months session the Convention adjourned on
March 17. The Convention, while making a new Constitu¬
tion outright, however, recognized the legal existence of the
former government by providing that the laws of North
Carolina not repugnant to the proposed Constitution should
be in force until altered ; that indictments thereto found
should be proceeded upon in the proper courts, and that
all acting officers should hold their positions until their suc¬
cessors were qualified.

Race equality

While the Republican majority in the body was so large,
yet there were some cooperating with that party who were
not in sympathy with the more aggressive leaders and were
not inclined to accept the entire equality of the races, but
the current was setting too strongly the other way. The
Conservative members sought to have the races separated
in the schools and militia ; and to prohibit intermarriage and
the apprenticing of white children to negroes. But their
efforts were unavailing. The color line was to be ignored
in the Constitution. This record gave point to the opposi¬
tion of the Conservatives to the entire Constitution.

io66 CONSTITUTION UNDER NEGRO SUFFRAGE

Deweese

Financial provisions

The provisions with regard to the State debt and taxation,
and limiting the power of the Legislature to contract any
new debt until the State bonds shall be at par unless there
shall be a special tax in the same bill to pay the interest;
and forbidding the issue of bonds in aid of any new rail¬
road, unless approved by the people at the polls, were ap¬
parently in the interest of the public welfare, yet the Con¬
vention itself set the example of disregarding them. John
T. Deweese, six years later, told the following: “I was an
officer in the regular army of the United States, stationed
among you from the close of the war until I resigned to
take the appointment of Register in Bankruptcy, which I
held until 1868, when I was elected to Congress. When
the Constitutional Convention of 1868 was in session, many
bankers of New York were desirous of getting that assem¬
blage of corrupt and doubtful representatives to endorse
one million of old State bonds or repledge the faith of the
State to their payment. One of the members of that body,
Gen. Joseph C. Abbott, told me that Soutter & Company
would pay some considerable mone) to get the Convention
to pass a law reendorsing the bonds ; that if I would see
a Mr. Porter then in Raleigh, and make a bargain with him
for some definite sum, he, Abbott, would put the bill through
the Convention, and that we would divide the money. Mr.
Porter paid $5,000, and the money was divided with Abbott
and some of the other members. Before the close of the
Convention, the bill was passed giving State aid to the
Chatham Railroad, and $60,000 of bonds were given to Gen¬
eral Littlefield to pay the members for their votes.”

The result

When the perfected Constitution was being signed by the
members, on motion, the Capitol bell was continuously rung.
Besides framing the Constitution, the Convention adopted
many ordinances dealing with legislative matters. It
amended town charters, granted divorces, gave State aid to
railroads and granted charters. It directed that the pro-

PARTISAN DIFFERENCES HUSHED

1067

posed Constitution should be voted for or against on the
2 1 st, 22d and 23d of April, under regulations prescribed by
the commanding general and the returns be made to him. At
the same time, members of the General Assembly and all
State and county officers were to be elected, as well as Rep¬
resentatives in Congress. On March 17 the Convention ad¬
journed.

Organizations

In view of the election those opposed to negro suffrage
began to organize. The old Democratic leaders were silent,
except that Dick, Settle, Rodman and some others trained
with Holden and affiliated with Thad Stevens and Sumner.

The old Whigs looked to Governor Graham as the leader
of thought. He took strong ground for the white men to
unite in opposition to negro suffrage and Governor Worth,
standing with him, was very active in canvassing the situa¬
tion. He wanted as a candidate for Governor some man
who could consolidate the white vote. Governor Worth ap¬
parently thought he might do it more surely than any other.
But Vance, Merrimon, Leach and others were canvassed;
Vance then was practicing law at Charlotte, Merrimon at
Raleigh. The Governor thought Vance would not be ac¬
ceptable to the people in the Piedmont counties ; and there
was some objection suggested as to Merrimon, who, how¬
ever, had the advantage of having no war record. At length
under the call of a State committee that had earlier been
appointed, delegates were chosen in the counties and a Con¬
servative Convention met February 5, 1868, in Tucker Hall,
Raleigh. There were 89 counties, and 56 were represented.
While most of the delegates were perhaps of Whig ante¬
cedents the number of prominent Democrats that attended
gave an assurance that former partisan differences were
hushed. It was the first time in many decades that there
had ever been such a union of the real leaders of thought in
North Carolina. Governor Graham and Weldon Edwards,
W. N. H. Smith and M. E. Manly, D. G. Fowle and Gov¬
ernor Bragg, R. C. Badger and M. A. Bledsoe, W. R. Cox
and Seaton Gales, Vance and Merrimon, Ed. Hall and John

1868

Vance

Conservative

Convention

io68 CONSTITUTION UNDER NEGRO SUFFRAGE

Graham’s

address

The Execu¬
tion Com¬
mittee

The Repub¬
lican Con¬
vention

Ashe

F. Hoke, all were banded together in a common cause,
under the name of Conservatives. Addresses were made by
these, and all to the same point. Governor Graham presided.
In his address he said : “The white men must stand to¬
gether.” A resolution offered by Vance providing for co¬
operation with the Democrats and Conservatives of the
North and West, was adopted without dissent, and W. N. H.
Smith, W. R. Cox, William A. Wright and John F. Hoke
were appointed as delegates for North Carolina. A com¬
plete organization was provided for, with committees for
State, districts and counties. The Central Committee at
Raleigh was composed of A. S. Merrimon, D. G. Fowle,
W. R. Cox, Seaton Gales, J. P. H. Russ and M. A. Bledsoe,
with R. C. Badger as secretary. From this time on, the
Central Committee and the Sentinel at Raleigh became the
chief instruments for party work. The selection of State
candidates was left to the Executive Committee.

Three weeks later the Republican Convention met ; C. L.
Harris presided ; and among the vice-presidents was Handy
Lockhart, a well-meaning, but very illiterate negro. “It
nominated Holden for governor and Tod R. Caldwell for
lieutenant-governor. It stood for negro suffrage.” At that
time, suffrage was still a matter for the states.

The Executive Committee of the Conservative party cast
about for candidates. It offered the nomination for gov¬
ernor to Vance, who declined to accept it ; then it was offered
to Judge Merrimon, who likewise declined. The singular
condition was that the nominee was to urge the rejection
of the Constitution and if successful in that, then there
would be no election to the office of governor; if unsuc¬
cessful in that, then naturally, the Republican candidate
would be chosen. So, the nomination and campaign only
involved an effort to defeat the Constitution and maintain
the existing situation in the State, as a part of the Military
District. LTnder these circumstances, the Committee did
now know where to turn for a suitable man, who would
make the campaign as a patriotic duty to the people. At
last Colonel Cowan suggested that he thought Thomas S.
Ashe would not decline to perform that duty and the Com-

NATIVES VERSUS CARPETBAGGERS

1069

mittee authorized him to approach Mr. Ashe. Mr. Ashe had
never been a politician. He was a lawyer, eminent for his
learning, virtues and honorable career. No one in the State
had more thorough esteem and respect. He had served in
the Confederate House and had been elected to the Confed¬
erate Senate. He deemed it a duty to accept. On March 25,
Governor Worth wrote : “Ashe is a good man ; an old Union
Henry Clay Whig”; and again he wrote to Vance: “There
is no man among us fitter to be made governor than Ashe,
but the substitution of his name for yours will not help us.
I feel relieved at being out of the ring. Hurrah for Ashe !”
Chief Justice Pearson and the two other justices of the Su¬
preme Court were presented by both parties. On March 23,
General Canby ordered the election, prescribing the regula¬
tions. As the election was to be held on April 21, the time
for the campaign was limited. It was entered upon with
eagerness. Although under the proposed Constitution, there
was no disqualification for those voting for governor, yet
the Constitution itself was to be voted upon only by those
qualified under the reconstruction acts.

r.y.O iJi 0 u&O

The election

Adoption of the Constitution

The political campaign was short, but very earnest. Vance,

Ashe, and all the influential men among the white citizens
opposed the proposed Constitution.

The candidates favoring its adoption were generally men
who had no standing among their white neighbors. A con¬
siderable number were Northern men who had come with
the army and had found employment under the Federal au¬
thority — others were negroes. In the Convention there had
been as delegates from New Hanover, General Joseph C.

Abbott, who explained that he was entitled to a seat in the
Convention because he had captured Wilmington, S. S.

Ashley, who had been a clerk in the Freedmen’s Bureau, New Han-
and had been associated with a negro church at the North,
and A. H. Galloway, an active mulatto of some education.

For the Assembly, the Republican candidates were Abbott,
Galloway, Estes, a Federal officer who had obtained the
appointment of Collector of Customs, and a very good negro

1070 CONSTITUTION UNDER NEGRO SUFFRAGE

Conditions

The influ¬
ences

man, G. W. Price. But none of these were taxpayers. Of
the entire population in New Hanover only about one hun¬
dred and fifty whites supported the Republicans, and these
almost exclusively Northern new-comers. Relatively the
same general conditions existed throughout the counties.
The Republican party as a whole did not represent one
per cent of the property of the State, and, if the intelligence
of the State could have been graded, probably not one-hun¬
dredth part of the intelligence. In June, 1868, Governor
Seymour of Connecticut delivered the Commencement Ora¬
tion at the University, and dined there with a company of
distinguished and illustrious gentlemen, worthy of the high¬
est honors of any state or nation. He subsequently men¬
tioned that of all the persons in the room the only ones who
could vote were the two negroes who waited on the table.
Such conditions were very exasperating, and the protests
of the whites on the stump were emphatic. On the other
hand, those engaged in upholding the congressional program
were defiant and provoking. Violent personal abuse marked
the contest. Holden, the very embodiment of the radical
cause, was fiercely denounced, and was hanged in effigy in
the Capitol Square at Raleigh and elsewhere : and in return
was himself very vituperative. Yet it is to he observed
that he never made in his newspaper, the Standard, an in¬
decorous remark about his opponent, Mr. Ashe, whom alone
he did not assail.

The negroes being banded together in the Union League,
even the negro women being in a woman’s league, and all
thoroughly organized under the dominion of leaders in co¬
operation with the Northern white men constituted a solid
black phalanx, arrayed against the native whites. The
Freedmen’s Bureau, provided with funds by Congress, had
direct charge of the negroes, relieving the destitute, look¬
ing after them in the administration of justice, and provid¬
ing schools for them. During the campaign there were
between three and four hundred schools in session and an
equal number of teachers, white and black, brought from
the North, filled with Northern ideas of social equality.
The sehoolhouses naturally became the meeting places of

NIGHT RIDER ACTIVITIES

the Union League, and the friction between the races was
increased by the attitude of many of the teachers, while the
officers of the Freedmen’s Bureau exercised a controlling
influence over the negroes in antagonism to the native whites,
and with the view of making them firm adherents of the
Republican party.

The general effect of those influences was to modify the
former attitude of the negroes toward the native whites,
and to embolden many to disregard the law, whereas by
nature and training they had been observant of lawful
restraint. To meet the new condition, what became known
as the Ku Klux Klan became evident in North Carolina,
known elsewhere as the Invisible Empire, and under other
names. It was an organization extending generally through¬
out the South, each camp being independent and operating
locally. Perhaps it would be started in a locality with the
suggestion that in case some one had a conflict with a negro, ^°®re* n»
it might become necessary to facilitate his escape. At the
east there had been several such conflicts.

At Kinston there was a shocking outrage. In Orange
white women feared to go alone into the fields : and the
same condition of lawlessness prevailed to some extent
throughout the central counties. It was largely attributed
to the influence of the Northern school teachers. The Klan TheKian
became night riders,, resorting to terror to correct evils.

But while they made their appearance in the central coun¬
ties, at this period they did not pursue violent methods.

The Convention being the child of the controversy be¬
tween Congress and the President, against whom proceed¬
ings were instituted in March, had urged Congress on in
its impeachment measures, and Governor Holden was active
on the same line, declaring that a terrible civil war would
result from the President’s acquittal. Governor Holden,
indeed, seemed always to be apprehensive of armed resist¬
ance to the congressional reconstruction acts. But the elec¬
tion passed off unmarked by notable incidents.

There was a new registration showing 117,628 whites
and 79,444 negroes. The vote for ratification was 93,084, The election
and against it only 74,015. The vote for the candidates for

1072 CONSTITUTION UNDER NEGRO SUFFRAGE

May, 1868

Imp. Trial,
III, 247

Biog. Hist.,
IV, 228

Governor and State offices fell off a few hundred from these
figures. On May 12 General Canby announced the result.

Impeachment of the President

President Johnson's adherence to the view that it was for
the President to recognize a state as being in the Union,
brought him in direct conflict with Stevens and Sumner and
their followers in Congress ; and as the extreme faction in
Congress had swept the North at the fall election of 1866,
the purpose to impeach the President and displace him was
persisted in. The investigation made by the Judiciary Com¬
mittee furnished no basis for such action, so, on March 2,
1867, a bill was passed making it a misdemeanor to remove a
Cabinet officer without the consent of the Senate. Senator
Sumner said that the purpose was to prepare the way for
the impeachment of the President. President Johnson re¬
moved Secretary Stanton, and on March 5, 1868, articles
of impeachment were presented against him. The trial
opened March 30 and closed May 26. Senator Sumner, in
giving his opinion, sitting as a judge in the Senate Chamber,
used the following elegant and chaste language, indicating
at once his animosity toward both the President and the
Southern people, and the level of his daily life: “This is
the last of the great battles with slavery. Driven from these
legislative chambers, driven from th’e field of war, this
monstrous power has found refuge in the Executive Man¬
sion, where, in utter disregard of the Constitution and laws,
it seeks to exercise its ancient, far-reaching sway. All this
is very plain. Nobody can question it. Andrew Johnson is
the impersonation of the tyrannical slave power. In him
it lives again. He is the lineal descendant of John C. Cal¬
houn and Jefferson Davis, and he gathers about him the
same supporters. Not to dislodge them is to leave the
country a prey to one of the most hateful tyrannies of his¬
tory, especially is it to surrender the Unionists of the rebel
states to violence and bloodshed. Here in the Senate we
know officially how he has made himself the attorney of
slavery, the usurper of legislative power, the patron of rebels,
the helping hand of rebellion, the open bunghole of the

CHECK TO MALIGNANTS

treasury, the architect of the whiskey ring, the stumbling
block of all good laws by wanton vetoes, and then by crim¬
inal hindrances.”

A year earlier the Southern States had ratified the Thir¬
teenth Amendment, and had abolished slavery ! And it is
to be particularly noted that Senator Sumner affirmed that
the slave power “had been driven from these legislative
halls.” In the fullness of his anger, he told what was vir¬
tually the truth. By the negative vote of Senator Fessenden
and half a dozen other Republicans who were relied on to
stand with Stevens and Sumner, but who could not find
it in their consciences to do so, the impeachment failed. A
change of one vote from the negative to the affirmative
would have given the malignants victory. While many
Southern men had but slight regard for President Johnson,
as he had deserted his people in their hour of need, and had
organized forty regiments of Tennesseeans for the Federal
Army, yet there was general relief and rejoicing felt at
the South at this failure of the malignants to displace him.
Indeed, while their defeat in no wise changed the attitude
of the conquerors to the people of the conquered territory
and was followed by no alteration in their policy, their vic¬
tory would have been a sad blow to constitutional govern¬
ment in this country, and would have been attended by dire¬
ful calamities. No better service ever was rendered by a
Republican to his country than that rendered by Senator
Fessenden and his associates on that occasion.

Tlie Southern States admitted

The presidential election was approaching and as the Re¬
publicans had planned to buttress their party in power by
the aid of the Southern States under negro domination, the
situation admitted of no further delay. Already the consti¬
tutional conventions had been held by the negro element and
their allies, and the constitutions had been submitted to Con¬
gress. On June 25, the final step was taken. An act was
passed admitting North Carolina and five other Southern
States to representation, and on the same day the political
disabilities of some seven hundred Republicans, citizens of
68

1073

The Presi¬
dent saved

July, 1868

1074 CONSTITUTION UNDER NEGRO SUFFRAGE

July, 1868

Holden in¬
stalled as
Governor

Worth’s

attitude

North Carolina, were removed. There was much rejoicing
among the faithful. The conditions imposed in the act were
that the legislatures already elected should ratify the Four¬
teenth Amendment, that the constitutional provisions giving
suffrage to the negroes should never be changed, and that
no person banned by the proposed Fourteenth Amendment
should hold office before his disabilities were removed by
Congress. Under the act the governors-elect were empow¬
ered to convene the legislatures at once. While President
Johnson vetoed this bill because it w^as in conflict with his
own reconstruction program, yet it was a foregone conclu¬
sion that it would be passed over his veto ; and so, without
waiting for the event, Governor Holden, as Governor-elect,
issued his proclamation convening the Assembly on July i ;
and General Canby directed Chief Justice Pearson to take
the oath of office before a United States Commissioner, and
to swear in Governor Holden. On June 30, by General
Order No. 12, he appointed Governor Holden “to be Gov¬
ernor of North Carolina, vice Jonathan Worth removed;"
to take effect July 1.

Judge Pearson at once notified Governor Worth that he
would swear in Governor Holden the next day, and Gov¬
ernor Worth realized that the government ordained by the
whites in 1865, under the direction of the President, was
about to be overthrown. He informed Chief Justice Pear¬
son that he would probably decline to surrender his office :
but during the day, learning of General Order No. 12, he
addressed a communication to Governor Holden in which
he stated that while he did not recognize the validity of his
late election, he would yield the office. “You have no evi-
dence of your election save the certificate of a major-general
of the United States Army. I regard all of you as, in effect,
appointees of the military power of the United States, and
not as deriving your powers from the consent of the gov¬
erned. I surrender the office to you under what I deem
military duress without stopping to comment on the singular
coincidence that the present State government is surren¬
dered, as without legality, to him whose own official sanc¬
tion but three years ago proclaimed it valid.”

FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT RATIFIED

1075

The Assembly

The Legislature met July 1, Lieutenant-Governor Cald¬
well presiding in the Senate. The credentials of ten mem¬
bers of the Senate were laid on the table, as these senators
would be banned if the Howard Amendment should become
a part of the Constitution. In the House, likewise, ten
members elected were held to be banned. The Llouse, by a
vote of 73, chose Joseph W. Holden Speaker over Plato
Durham, who received 24 votes. The Speaker, a son of
the Governor, was a young man of real brilliancy. His
poem on Hatteras is remarkably fine. The House elected
as clerk John H. Boner, who later became distinguished as
a poet. In the Senate were thirty-eight Republicans, of
whom seven were negroes, and three carpetbaggers. In the
House were eighty Republicans, of whom sixteen were
negroes and an equal number carpetbaggers. The first ques¬
tion that arose in each House was as to seating the mem¬
bers alleged to be banned. They were not banned by any
North Carolina law, nor as yet by any provision in the Con¬
stitution of the United States; but in the act of Congress
providing for the admission of the State to representation
in Congress, it was required that no person prohibited from
holding office by the proposed Fourteenth Amendment
should be deemed eligible unless relieved from disabilities
as provided in that Amendment, that is by congressional
action. Governor Holden was hotly urgent that the Legis¬
lature should adopt the Howard Amendment and observe
that prohibitory law; and while he desired that the disabili¬
ties of all Republicans should be removed, he strongly op¬
posed relieving the disabilities of any citizens who were not
cooperating with him politically. Both branches of the As¬
sembly concurred in his view^s, and the Fourteenth Amend¬
ment was at once ratified. However, several Republicans
in each House considered that all persons elected to office
ought to have the ban removed and be allowed to qualify
in accordance with the State Constitution : but this was not
agreed to. Those originally made to stand aside were, in
the Senate : Joshua Barnes, William A. Allen, John W.

The organi¬
zation

The con¬
tested seats

1076 CONSTITUTION UNDER NEGRO SUFFRAGE

The person¬
nel

July 4

Purdie, Josiah Turner, John M. Lindsay, William B. Rich¬
ardson, Peter A. Wilson, Edmund W. Jones, William M.
Moore and W. L. Love; in the House: T. A. Nicholson,

G. F. Davidson, Walter Brown, J. C. Harper, W. W. Grier,
N. S. Stewart and Joseph Keener. Several of these were
later seated and the seats of the others were declared vacant.

There seldom has been a legislature assembled to make
laws for a people so little calculated to bring about useful
results as that of 1868. The members had had no associa¬
tion with each other. Many were not in sympathy with the
people, nor had they any ideals that might have been for
the advantage of the State, or visions that animated them
to promote the general welfare. Strangers to each other,
and with but little acquaintance with the affairs committed
to their charge, it was a heterogeneous assemblage that must
necessarily have proved weak in useful performance. But
in each house were some men of ability. Among the Rep¬
resentatives were Thomas J. Jarvis, James L. Robinson,
Thomas M. Argo, John Gatling, Plato Durham, J. R. Ellis,
Philip Hodnett, R. P. Matheson, Frank Thompson, W. B.
Ferebee, W. W. Boddie, E. W. Pou, Joseph C. Abbott,
L. G. Estes, Joseph W. Holden, Byron Laflin and others
of strength and resolution. In the Senate the personal in¬
fluence of Lieutenant-Governor Caldwell, James W. Osborne,
William M. Robbins, C. S. Winstead, W. A. Moore, W.

H. S. Sweet, C. H. Brogden, W. L. Love, John W. Purdie
and others was felt, and the general tone was more con¬
servative than in the House, where Abbott and Estes were
the dominating spirits.

Governor Holden desired to he inaugurated as Governor
on the 4th of July, and the Legislature made provision to
that end. The ceremony was on a platform erected in
front of the Capitol, and was attended by a vast crowd, em¬
bracing many negroes. Addresses were made by Judge
Reade and Lieutenant-Governor Caldwell : and there was an
abundance of viands. It was a Republican jubilee. Among
the most important of Governor Holden’s declarations was
his reference to the opposition manifested by the Conserva¬
tive element of the State, and his assertion that his govern-

FROM THE OLD TO THE NEW

ment would be administered by its friends and would be
sustained by force.

The Legislature soon addressed itself to making neces¬
sary laws conforming to the alterations in the State Consti¬
tution. Among the members were some who were com¬
petent and efficient. Seymour from New Bern, and Pou
from Johnston were, perhaps, the most competent of all.
Among the acts passed were those making every county and
township corporate, and prescribing the duties of county
officers : declaring vacant all municipal offices, and authoriz¬
ing the Governor to fill the same by appointment, until there
should be elections ; and the Governor was authorized to ap¬
point to all vacancies. Provision was made for laying off
the homestead and personal property exemption, for a me¬
chanic’s lien, for limiting capital punishment to willful mur¬
der and rape. The Code Commission appointed by the Con¬
vention having made a report, the Code of Civil Procedure
was adopted : suits were to be brought before the Clerk of
the Superior Court, and other changes in practice were
instituted.

Three weeks after the session opened an act was passed
providing for the immediate installation of the officers
elected under the new Constitution. Here and there, there
was some objection by former officials who were thus to be
replaced : but the change from the old to the new system of
government may be fixed about the first of August, 1868.
About the same time all the municipal officers throughout
the State were replaced by appointees of the Governor, un¬
til new elections should be held. Provision was made for
building a penitentiary, and to aid the Chatham Road, and
other roads, and an act was passed to cut the Western North
Carolina Railroad into two divisions, with an appropriation
of twelve million dollars for the completion of the Moun¬
tain Division.

The State admitted

The action of the Legislature in ratifying the Fourteenth
Amendment was in its results memorable. It fulfilled the
conditions imposed by Congress : and the State became en-

1077

Changes in
laws

The Code

Official

changes

The new
State

1078 CONSTITUTION UNDER NEGRO SUFFRAGE

Littlefield

Swepson

titled to representation in Congress. The members of Con¬
gress already cfiosen were early in July admitted, as later
were the senators elected, Gen. J. C. Abbott and John Pool.
It was the final step in the revolution. Old North Carolina
had passed away and had given place to a new creation in
which the elements were so blended that the result was
grateful to the malignants who represented Republican con¬
stituencies in Congress. It seemed to assure them of in¬
definite control of the Federal government.

The Governor was now busy putting into effect his an¬
nounced policy that every office should be filled with his
friends and supporters. While, doubtless, most of the mem¬
bers of the Legislature were men of integrity, yet there were
some who saw the opportunity presented to make money
and sought to avail themselves of it. Milton Littlefield, who
had been an officer in the Federal Army in connection with
the negroes on the coast of South Carolina, early appeared
at Raleigh and soon became a manager of affairs. While
Governor Holden was to exercise the power of being at the
head of the Union League, Littlefield became its ostensible
head. He bought the Standard from Governor Holden,
probably at the price of $30,000, as he applied to the bank
at Raleigh for a loan of that amount for that purpose, and
obtained the contract for the public printing that yielded
$20,000 a year. He established a free bar in a convenient
room on the second floor of the Capitol building, where
whiskey, brandy, wines, sugar, lemon and ice were served by
an adept mixer of drinks to all who claimed his friendship,
and so he drew around him a group of men who readily
fell into his plans. Governor Holden replaced the State
directors in the railroads and public institutions by new ap¬
pointees. George W. Swepson, a man of wealth, a leading
director of the Raleigh National Bank, perhaps the only
bank then in the State, had, it is said, voted for Holden,
and was in sympathy with the administration. It was de¬
sirable to utilize his cash. He was offered the presidency
of the Western Division of the Western North Carolina
Railroad, and later, on October 15, pursuant to the arrange¬
ment, Littlefield, who held the State’s proxy, elected him.

SEYMOUR AND BLAIR

1079

Mr. J. J. Mott, who had been president of the whole road,
now retained the presidency of the Eastern Division. Such
was the first step Littlefield had in view.

The Northern Democrats

The opposition of President Johnson and of the Demo¬
crats to the action of Congress had been positive. On June
30, Gen. Frank P. Blair, who had commanded a corps in
Sherman’s army of devastation, wrote a letter to Colonel
Bradhead, declaring: “There is but one way to restore the
government and Constitution, and that is for the President¬
elect to declare these (reconstruction) acts null and void,
compel the army to undo its usurpations at the South, dis¬
perse the carpetbag state governments, allow the white peo¬
ple to organize their own governments and elect Senators
and Representatives.”

And when the National Democratic Convention met in
New York a few days later, all the states being represented,
among the resolutions was “and that we regard the recon¬
struction acts of Congress as usurpations and unconstitu¬
tional, revolutionary and void.” And on this platform on
July 9, Governor Seymour of New York was nominated
for President; and General Frank P. Blair received the
unanimous vote for Vice-President. The Democratic party
proposed to overthrow the Stevens reconstruction. Such
was the feeling and purpose of the Democrats at the North
when the Legislature, on July 2, hastened to ratify the Four¬
teenth Amendment. Two-thirds of the states had now rat¬
ified, and the question of the legal adoption of that amend¬
ment had to be met by the Johnson administration. Secre¬
tary Seward who had stood with Lincoln in devising the
presidential plan, and with Johnson in carrying it out, pur¬
sued a safe course. On July 20 he announced the Four¬
teenth Amendment ratified by 29 states, being two-thirds of
the entire number, 37 states ; but he also announced that
there was a doubt, which he was not authorized to decide,
for Ohio and New Jersey had withdrawn their consent, and
as to the six Southern States, he mentioned the ratification
bv the “newly-constituted and newly-established bodies

Their ac¬
tions

The Four¬
teenth
Amendment

Seward’s

dilemma

io8o CONSTITUTION UNDER NEGRO SUFFRAGE

Statutes at
Large, XV,
707

North Caro¬
lina’s vote

Holden

alarmed

House Jour¬
nal, 85

Holden arms

avowing themselves to be and acting as the legislatures re¬
spectively” of North Carolina and the others. He counted
them in, having no authority to resolve the doubt as to
whether the “newly established bodies avowing themselves
to be legislatures” were legally so or not ! So the vote of
the North Carolina Assembly gave vitality to the Fourteenth
Amendment against the protests of the large majority of the
white people of the State who regarded it as a disgraceful
outrage to inflict this punishment on the leading and most
honored citizens of the State, for depriving a citizen of the
right to hold office is a punishment. Because of these ac¬
tions Governor Holden took alarm. He and his coterie of
friends saw rebellion in the Conservative platform. They
knew, as their government had been forced on the great,
majority of the whites against their consent, that it would
be replaced with avidity whenever practicable. The Con¬
servatives, however, were under the leadership of Graham,
Bragg, Worth, Thomas Ashe and men of that stamp, who
had no thought of forcibly overturning the government
established by the Federal power, although desirous that the
Federal government itself should undo what it had done.
But when fear prevails, reason ceases : and Governor Holden
took counsel of his fears, and the administration of public
affairs received an unnatural coloring.

And now that the fears of the Governor were increased
by the attitude of the President and Mr. Seward, and by
the action of the Democratic National Convention, on July
17, he sent a special message to the Assembly, directing at¬
tention to the necessity of an immediate organization of a
police force in each county. An act was passed originally
entitled : “To provide for a State Police,” but was amended
“To organize a militia.” The Governor was authorized to
organize six regiments to be apportioned to the eastern,
western and middle divisions, each being a major-general’s
department : and also to accept three battalions of cavalry
and one of artillery. These forces were to be under the
orders of the Governor. The races were to be kept sep¬
arate: for one provision was: “The white and colored mem¬
bers shall be compelled to serve together.” This bill was
fiercely fought by the Conservatives : but without avail.

JUDICIARY AND POLITICS

1081

The presidential election

In the meantime the presidential campaign had opened.
There had been the usual county meetings throughout the
State : and the people had been heartened by the attitude
of the administration and the declarations of the National
Convention. As if to check this rising enthusiasm, Chief
Justice Pearson threw himself into the campaign in an open
letter urging the whites to support the Republican party
and its nominees, Grant and Colfax, saying that two other
members of the court concurred with him. This action was
regarded as a shocking departure from the traditions of the
judiciary: and was roundly denounced by those who res¬
olutely opposed negro suffrage : and it added to the political
turmoil throughout the states. In the counties there was
much excitement, which was intensified in the places where
the newspapers circulated. And only the stifling heat of
those fierce August days was comparable to the political heat
that raged in the little town of Raleigh with its seven thou¬
sand inhabitants when the party conventions held their ses¬
sions there. More than a thousand enthusiastic delegates
poured in for the Conservative Convention, over which Col.
Robert H. Cowan of Wilmington presided. The principal
address was made by Governor William A. Graham, while
young James C. Dobbin, of unusual oratorical powers, and
others, stirred the hearts of the great assemblage where were
gathered the best of the leaders of thought and of action
from every part of the State. While the platform declared
the acceptance of the legitimate results of the war, it de¬
nounced the congressional reconstruction, the election of
carpetbaggers, the extravagance of the Republicans, and
particularly the militia bill as an unconstitutional measure
designed for party purposes : and it called on all the con¬
servative people in the State to stand together for good
government. James W. Osborne of Charlotte and Joseph
J. Davis of Louisburg were presented as electors at large,
and a State Executive Committee, composed of a member
for each district, was chosen : while the general manage¬
ment was conferred on a resident committee on which were

Pearson’s

letter

The Con¬
servative
Convention

The plat¬
form

1082 CONSTITUTION UNDER NEGRO SUFFRAGE

The exec¬
utive com¬
mittee

The Repub¬
licans

The legis¬
lative dec¬
laration

Arms sup
plied by
Vermont

Richard C. Badger, D. G. Fowle, A. S. Merrimon, Seaton
Gales, Bryan Grimes, E. G. Haywood and Moses A. Bledsoe.
As theretofore, the former Secessionists were not promi¬
nent ; the former Whig and Union men were leaders in ap¬
pealing to the people.

The challenge was met with Republican spirit. At once
the Union League was convened at Raleigh and Milton
Littlefield was elected Grand President and H. J. Menni'nger
Secretary. But as the whites had generally abandoned that
organization, efforts were made to give renewed vitality to
the Heroes of America, “The Red Strings,” Holden’s fol¬
lowers in his efforts to overthrow the Confederate gov¬
ernment. But the action of the Conservatives demanded
more than consolidating the negroes and the Red Strings.
The temper of the whites was alarming. The nerves of the
Assemblymen were unstrung. Hastily, on August 20, the
Legislature made answer in a resolution :

“Whereas the President of the United States has taken
upon himself in a late proclamation to speak of the lawful
governor of the sovereign State as a man ‘ who writes
himself Governor’ ; and, whereas Governor Worth, in a
deliberately written protest, declared that he did not recog¬
nize the validity of the late election,” and, quoting the
Democratic resolutions both National and State, and declar¬
ing “that the public press and mass meetings and public
speakers uniformly approve and indorse the action of the
State Convention. ... It would declare that the gov¬
ernment of the State is rightful and valid, and it is the duty
of the several departments of the government to cooperate
in sustaining it, and to put down insurrection and rebellion,
and if necessary, to call on the government of the United
States for assistance and support.” Four days later, in the
last hours of the expiring session, this was followed by an
act to suppress insurrection and rebellion.

But as the militia were without arms, the Adjutant Gen¬
eral, A. W. Fisher, one of the most determined carpetbag¬
gers, secretly arranged with the Governor of the State of
Vermont for that State to supply three thousand muskets
and two thousand equipments, a proceeding that rather in-

INCENDIARY DOCUMENT

1083

flamed than assuaged the opposition to the new government.
Then, as the Legislature was adjourning the Republican
members, 88 in all, submitted an address prepared by John
Pool and Judge E. G. Reade, that was the most incendiary
document ever published in North Carolina. At that time
the industrial relations of the races were as they had been
since emancipation. Every negro who would work could
get employment. There was no earthly basis for the sug¬
gestions in the address, calculated and intended to inflame
the negroes, and to inaugurate a campaign of murder and
arson. “Did it never occur to you, ye gentlemen of prop¬
erty, education and character — to you, men, and especially
ye women — who never have received anything from these
colored people but services, kindness and protection— -did
it never occur to you that these same people who are so
very bad, will not be willing to sleep in the cold when your
houses are denied to them, merely because they will not
vote as you do : that they may not be willing to starve, while
they are willing to work for bread? Did it never occur to
you that revenge, which is sweet to you, may be sweet to
them? Hear us, if nothing else you will hear, did it never
occur to you that if you kill their children with hunger, they
will kill your children with fear ? Did it never occur to
you that if you good people maliciously determine that they
shall have no shelter, they may determine that you shall
have no shelter?” Apparently, those who could make such
appeals had but little in common with North Carolina man¬
hood.

Governor Holden, who, with all his supposed astuteness,
was almost invariably wrong with regard to the white peo¬
ple of his native State, well knowing, however, how nau¬
seous and intolerable was the bitter cup he had been instru¬
mental in putting to their lips, was apprehensive of some
physical attempt on their part to subvert his government.
But as the Conservatives were following the lead of Bragg,
Graham, Thomas Ashe, W. N. H. Smith, Merrimon and
Worth, no matter how thoroughly they might agree in the
sentiments expressed in Governor Worth’s protest, and no
matter how truly they hoped and sincerely they prayed for

The Repub¬
lican address

The effort to
incite ne¬
groes

Holden

1084 CONSTITUTION UNDER NEGRO SUFFRAGE

Shipp Fraiid
Com. Rep.,
316

The“WorJk”

editorial

The negroes
to arm

General
Abbott ad¬
vised

the success of Blair’s plan of Southern redemption, yet
there was no possibility of their being drawn into rebellion.

The Republican Convention was to meet September 16,
and it is notable that on September 15, Swepson furnished
Littlefield with $4,000. It was announced that Judge Reade
would be president of a great mass meeting, Judges Dick,
Rodman and Settle, vice-presidents, and Judge Tourgee, the
grand marshal, but the native judges eventually did not
serve. The speeches were very inflammatory. The Standard,
too, at this period very much in line with the Pool and
Reade address, closed the Convention with an editorial en¬
titled “Work.” “But whatever else you work, don’t for¬
get to work among the women. . . . Go after the women
then. They will make their husbands and their lovers shout
for Grant and Colfax until they are hoarse, if you will
manage to replace some of the diamond rings and laces
Frank Blair stole from them when he was here; and don’t
hesitate to throw your arms around their necks now and
then, when their husbands are not around, and give them

a good - . They all like it,” etc., etc., getting worse

and worse to the end. The effect of this editorial was both
startling and lasting. Governor Holden, ever apprehensive,
and deeming it safest to “inspire a salutary terror” among
the whites, asked that Federal troops should be stationed as
he would indicate ; but without avail. And as the election
approached, the Standard urged the Republicans to arm
themselves and drill for the 3d of November. The negroes
marched at Wilmington with military precision and called
themselves “Tanners” in memory of General Grant’s one¬
time occupation. There the inflammatory speeches of Gen¬
eral Abbott and G. Z. French were boldly met by a com¬
mittee who informed General Abbott that they did not pro¬
pose to be in a bloody conflict with negroes, but on the
first outbreak they would hang him to a lamppost. The
election passed off without any disturbance in any of the
negro counties. Grant receiving 96,603 and Seymour 83,-
763, and all the Republican candidates were elected except
two. The Conservatives elected Frank E. Shober in the
Salisbury District and it appeared that Plato Durham was

TRANQUILLITY ACCORDING TO HOLDEN 1085

elected by the returns, but later the certificate was given
to A. H. Jones, a Republican of Buncombe.

In the Union at large Grant, the successful general, had
swept the country and if the Republican governors in bring¬
ing on the war in 1861 had served their purpose of strength¬
ening their political party, the radical element in Congress
had now likewise accomplished their purposes and their
partisans were to be in complete control of the government.

Holden’s recommendations to the Legislature

The result after the presidential election was cause for
great rejoicing among the Republicans, and the Conserva¬
tives were correspondingly depressed, as they had hoped for
much from the North and suffered a grievous disappoint¬
ment. The future had no promise of any change. Repub¬
lican reconstruction was a finality. Thus it was when the
Legislature met on November 17, in its first regular session.
Governor Holden now at considerable length repeated in
substance his former general recommendations as to edu¬
cation and other State matters. He pressed for the organi¬
zation of the militia and said : “A considerable quantity of
arms with necessary equipments and ammunition has been
procured without cost, save for transportation. The gov¬
ernment is in the hands of its friends and will be admin¬
istered by them.” But he remarked: "Society is peaceable
and tranquil. There is no ground for apprehending that
the peace of the country will be disturbed. There has been
rich harvests with good returns.”

The Governor was insistent on maintaining the credit of
the State ; but pointed out that over a million dollars had
to be provided for interest, and additional taxes were neces¬
sary. While he generally urged internal improvements, he
specially desired the completion of the Mountain Division
of the Western North Carolina Railroad. Elections had
been held to fill the vacancies in the Assembly, and among
the new members were John W. Graham in the Senate, and
in the House G. Z. French, W. H. Malone, W. P. Welch
and Augustus S. Seymour.

Nov., 1868

Leg. Doc., I,
68, 69, 12

io86 CONSTITUTION UNDER NEGRO SUFFRAGE

Internal im¬
provements

Shipp Fraud
Com., 201,
202

“New North
Carolina”

Acts, 1868,
1869, 688

The first
protest

While addressing itself to the ordinary affairs that were
incidental to the novel situation and condition in the State,
the Legislature responded with alacrity to the Governor’s
recommendations concerning internal improvements. Gen¬
eral Littlefield and his particular friends were now ready
for their operations. They had mapped out a plan. Cer¬
tainly North Carolina was suffering for the want of trans¬
portation facilities, and the general improvement was so
much desired that but few could withstand the temptation
to fall in with the movement to improve conditions. With
Littlefield were associated Deweese and Laflin, and these
as a triumvirate, largely dominated the membership. To
carry out their purposes many railroads were projected,
local support for each being stimulated with great adroit¬
ness. To these enterprises the State was to contribute by
taking stock, which was to be paid for with bonds. But
ten per cent of all bonds issued was to be paid to the ring.
Swepson had already received several millions of bonds is¬
sued under the previous act: but it was found that they
were unconstitutional; for the Constitution required that in
every act authorizing bonds for a railroad, a special tax
should be imposed to pay the interest, and the provision had
been overlooked. Littlefield had told him that all who were
to get bonds had to pay the ten per cent, and he agreed to
that.

It is not to be understood that every member was lack-
ing in patriotism or in integrity. But the task was easy to
present measures in such colors as to obtain acquiescence,
and the improvement of conditions was an object that no
one could antagonize. The past with its woes, disasters and
sufferings was behind them : the future opened invitingly
to new ideas, new measures, new policies, and a new North
Carolina was a watchword of great potency.

But hardly were the members warm in their seats when
a firebrand was thrown into their midst. On November 30,
Mr. Sweet, the Senator from Craven, a Northern newcomer,
introduced a resolution: “Whereas rumors are current that
members and others have been guilty of corrupt acts, levy¬
ing blackmail, accepting bribes, using and receiving money

JOSIAH TURNER IN JOURNALISM

1087

for votes, involving large appropriations, and it is a common
saying that to have anything passed, money must be paid
for it ; a committee of investigation should be raised.” This,
having passed the Senate unanimously, in the House was
hotly fought. At first, by a single vote a substitute was
adopted : but on reconsideration the original was restored
and agreed to. Mr. Sweet was bitterly attacked by the
Standard: and A. H. Galloway, the negro leader, moved
that Mr. Sweet, who had been appointed on the committee,
should be displaced. The vote on that was a tie ; but Lieu¬
tenant-Governor Caldwell voted against it and Sweet was
retained. Then came an investigation of a fraud practiced
on the State in the alleged purchase of a site for the pen¬
itentiary, by which a man named Pruyn pocketed nearly
one-half of the appropriation and went home northward.

About the same time, early in December, Josiah Turner,
who had been denied his seat as a Senator, bought the
Sentinel newspaper, and his entry into journalism marked
a new era in State matters. The Conservative leaders had
been quiet spectators of proceedings they could not halt.
The Republicans were in the saddle. Those in opposition
were held as rebels. Turner was a man of his own kind.
He loved to be in a storm. Audacious, fearless, ingenious
in argument, turning batteries of ridicule on his opponents,
he gave a color to the times that has never been approx¬
imated. His volcanic temperament now found an open field.

His salutation was : “Yes, we have a new North Carolina,
and every true son of the State hangs his head in humilia¬
tion and sorrow.

“In the gubernatorial chair, a man rejected and flouted
over and over again by the people of old North Carolina.
In the judiciary, montebanks, ignoramuses and men who
bedraggle the ermine in the mud and mire of politics !
In the offices of State, mercenary squatters and incom¬
petents. In the legislative halls where once giants sat, ad¬
venturers, manikins and gibbering Africans.”

House
Journal,
52, 54, 57

Senate Jour¬
nal, 41,46

Turner be¬
gins

Dec. 10,
1868

io88 CONSTITUTION UNDER NEGRO SUFFRAGE

Acts of As¬
sembly, 1868

Financial conditions

The year 1868 had opened with a woeful dearth of cur¬
rency. As every manufactured article had to be imported
into the State and gold being at a premium of thirty per
cent, labor and all manufactures were high, and such cash
as the inhabitants received was rapidly absorbed in living
expenses and in replacing what had been worn out in pre¬
vious years. In 1866, flour at Wilmington sold for $20 a
barrel, and prices still were abnormal, while cotton was low,
being at Liverpool in December, 1867, but eight and one-
half pence.

While there had been more than twenty banks in the
State that could issue currency, they had all suspended
through the effects of the war, and the Bank of North
Carolina went into bankruptcy, the State losing its large
investment in that institution.

The act of Congress imposing a ten per cent tax on the cur¬
rency of State banks virtually prohibited the reestablishment
of State banks ; while other limitations in that act prevented
the organization of such national banks as were needed.
One national bank of issue was, however, allowed for
Raleigh, and only four or five more elsewhere at the South.
Thus at a time and under conditions when the North should
have sought to be helpful in diffusing prosperity and hap¬
piness throughout the South and in reestablishing industry
and organizing society on a substantial basis, Congress de¬
nied to the Southern people the necessary facilities for re¬
cuperation.

The necessity of some congressional action was so clear
that the Senate of the United States passed a bill making a
provision for providing a national bank circulation to the
Southern States, and “the extreme necessity of such a cir¬
culation in this State being obvious to every one,” the Leg¬
islature on August 24, 1868, passed a resolution urging the
passage of such a measure by Congress : but the request
was unheeded.

But the men who controlled the House were of the type
who had never regarded the interest of the people of the
Southern States and now when they had been unwillingly

EDUCATION REVIVING

1089

forced back into the Union and every reasonable considera¬
tion should have led the government to quickly diffuse hap¬
piness among them, they were treated as objects of malig¬
nity.

The common schools that had been closed in 1865 re¬
mained unopened. Here and there through aid furnished
by various charitable organizations at the North some pri¬
mary schools had been taught along with those that had
been under the supervision of the Freedmen’s Bureau, but
the Bureau itself closed all operations at the end of 1868.

In 1866 Wake Forest again began life. There were three
teachers, Dr. William Royall, his son, W. R. Royall and
Dr. William G. Simmons. Before the close of the year,
sixty boys had entered, these being chiefly boys who had
been in the army as soldiers. And by 1868, the number
had considerablv increased.

During that year, Davidson College reported 122 stu¬
dents and Trinity 142. In the central counties some local
academies reported 309 pupils. The Friends had 44 white
schools with 3,123 students; and colored schools with 2,475.

At Wilmington Miss Amy Bradley had a school for
whites attended by 300. There were negro schools with 750.

At Raleigh were negro schools under the American Mis¬
sionary Society with over 300 pupils, and Mr. Tupper’s
private school where 250 negroes were taught.

The University had closed its doors. Under the provisions
of the new Constitution, the State officers formed the Board
of Education : and that Board elected one trustee for each
county. These trustees, with the Board of Education and
the President of the University, formed the Executive Com¬
mittee. The Governor presided. Now Governor Holden
had his opportunity ; the institution felt the effect of his
disapproval. On July 23, 1868, the trustees met, and Gov¬
ernor Swain was invited to attend. He supposed it was a
recognition of his being President of the University: but
it was a mere courtesy. He was not regarded as the Presi¬
dent. He felt it as a cruel blow. On the nth of August
while riding with Professor Fetter he was thrown from

his buggy, receiving such a serious shock that he never re-
69

The schools

1090 CONSTITUTION UNDER NEGRO SUFFRAGE

Solomon Pool

The

railroads

covered from it. He died August 29. He had had a most
honorable and useful career, and was regarded as one of
the most eminent citizens of the State. His heart and soul
had been for many years wrapped up in the University,
and he had made it of the first distinction in educational
work in the whole South.

At the meeting of the Executive Committee on January 1,
1869, Rev. S. Pool was elected President: and the Uni¬
versity received some students of both races. At the open¬
ing of the session three entered, but later the number was
slightly increased. But eventually the institution was closed.

The conditions in 1868, three years after the close of the
war, can be seen from the annual report of the Wilming¬
ton and Weldon Railroad, the most prosperous road in the
State. “If there had been good crops and good prices the
receipts would have been larger.” The property of the road
cost $3,061,000, of which $700,000 had recently been bor¬
rowed and applied to rebuilding and repairing the prop¬
erty, leaving only $2,300,000 as original cost and improve¬
ments. “At first through travel was the great source of
income ; but as the country began to develop local travel
and freight began to increase and are now the largest
source of income.” In 1868 the management looked for¬
ward to “trucks, fruits and grapes.” That year the road
had carried 12,000 barrels of trucks and fruits. “The coun¬
try wants a more rapid transit in exchange of products than
is given by water transportation. The southern roads are
making constant inroads on the freights heretofore carried
by the coasting vessels. In the early history of this road
the officers did not wish freight : took it more for the ac¬
commodation than for profit. . . . The introduction of

the ‘T’ rail and now of the steel rail makes the difference.
. . . The great decrease in travel, local as well as through,
is only one more indication of the great poverty of our
people. The fruit and truck traffic was inaugurated April,
1868, on the passenger trains. The coming season it should
be ten times as large, say 120,000 barrels, bringing to the
growers a million dollars for garden truck, peaches, apples,
strawberries, etc., which will greatly relieve them from their

1. William J. Hawkins

2. Alexander B. Andrews
5. John C. Winder

4. James Wilson

3. Robert R. Bridgers

CHRISTMAS AMNESTY

present depression.” Such were some of the beginnings of
the new life.

As the year was drawing to its close, the future offered
but little hope for improved conditions, but Andrew John¬
son was still President and he signalized Christmas Day
with a proclamation of amnesty and pardon for all who had
been engaged against the government during the war.
Doubtless that brought some relief to those amenable to
prosecution.

1091

Amnesty

Statutes at
Large, XV,
712

CHAPTER LX IV

Jan., 1869

Sentinel,
Jan. 13 and
19, 1869

Shipp

Fraud Com.
Rep., 221

Ibid., 316

Ibid., 202-4

The bonds

The Republican Legislature

The financial disaster. — The spoils. — Turner’s warfare. — New
legislation. — The Fifteenth Amendment. — The bar cited for con¬
tempt. — The bonds decline. — The plan to bull them. — The dis¬
aster. — Race troubles. — The Assembly meets. — The Governor
stands by the bonds. — The excitement. — The conservatives aided
by Pou and Seymour. — The Governor reports outrages. — Shoff-
ner’s bill. — The Bragg commission. — The bond legislation re¬
pealed. — Littlefield defeats investigation. — The bonds outstand¬
ing. — The Woodfin committee on Western North Carolina Rail¬
roads. — Swepson and Littlefield. — Death of Worth, Ruffin, Bryan
and Bedford Brown.

The spoils

When the Legislature met after Christmas and Sweet's
committee entered on its work, Littlefield disappeared. The
committee reported that the witnesses would not attend and
asked to be discharged. At once Turner in big letters of¬
fered $50,000 reward for Littlefield, to be paid in Confed¬
erate money. And with regard to the penitentiary affair in
large, black letters he began : “Oh ! the Thieves. Oh ! the
Perjury. Oh! the Loyalty. Oh! the Penitentiary,'’ etc.,
etc. But the committee being discharged and the danger
over, Littlefield returned, and his affairs prospered to his
heart’s desire. By January Swepson had paid to the ring
and its order $75,000, and during the session $170,000 more :
and the ring received in bonds, as its share of the plunder,
$633,000. Much of these spoils, however, went to pay their
lieutenants and coadjutors: Abbott, Lrench, Estes, Loster,
Tourgee and others. Littlefield was merely the fountain
through which the stream flowed. While it was given out
that no bill could pass without an agreement for ten per
cent, yet the agreement was not always made by the presi¬
dent of the company, but sometimes by those who expected
to profit by the appropriation. Thus we find agreements on
behalf of companies not yet chartered, for railroads of which
the public knew nothing, corporations created merely to sup-

LOOT AND GRAFT

1093

port appropriations : and agreements were made on behalf
of companies whose presidents, being Democrats, were to
be ousted so that Republican successors could be substituted.
The bonds authorized to be issued that session footed up to
$25,350,000; while several millions more had been author¬
ized at the previous session and by the Convention. In some
instances where the State authorized subscriptions a pre¬
requisite was subscriptions by private persons to a certain
amount. The usual course in regard to that was for such
subscriptions to be made and paid for by a check. There¬
upon the way was open for the issue of the bonds. That
the check was worthless made no difference. Swepson got
his bonds first, in January, 1869; the bonds for the other
companies were delivered when they were prepared. At
the opening of the year these bonds were quoted on Wall
Street at about sixty cents: before the Legislature adjourned
they had fallen to about fifty-five cents. During the ses¬
sion, as bill after bill came up, leading Democrats and the
public press denounced the whole proceeding, questioned the
validity of the Legislature, which had not been elected in
conformity with the provisions of any State Constitution,
neither the old nor the new one, and denied its right to bind
the people ; and likewise pointed out that the interest would
never be paid. Particularly was the constitutional limita¬
tion of the power to tax, which had been one of the induce¬
ments for the adoption of the Constitution, dwelt on with
vigor and vehemence : but all opposition was unavailing. In
the House, E. W. Pou patriotically led the Republican op¬
position : while Plato Durham voiced that of the Democrats ;
and in the Senate, Mr. Sweet stood firm.

The trouble in the counties

The Republican legislative address, stimulating the ne¬
groes to barn burning, had had its reasonable effect in the
central counties, and there had been barns burned in Wake,
Granville, Alamance, Person, Orange and other counties.
And there the Ku Klux were more or less in evidence.
Under the Detailed Militia Act, a force was embodied com¬
manded by Captain Bosher, and on the 19th of February,

Shipp Fraud
Com. Rep.,
401

Ibid., 212,
216

The contest
begins

Senate Jour¬
nal, 77

Leg. Acts,
1868-69, ch.
52

1094

THE REPUBLICAN LEGISLATURE

Turner war¬
fare

1869, an act was passed authorizing the Governor to em¬
ploy such a detective force as he should deem sufficient, and
appropriating sufficient money to pay the expenses. In
March the Governor sent Captain Bosher and his men into
Alamance.

In the meantime the Sentinel had been very open in as¬
saults on the Republican leaders. Turner had nicknames for
them all, and they withered beneath his lash. There never
was such a mixture and medley of humor and serious charges,
of expressions of stinging contempt and simulated courtesy.
The Sentinel appeared in the afternoon, and the issue of
March 23 contained a column article, as usual wandering
around from the Standard and Littlefield, who had then re¬
turned, and the Governor, through many purlieus, until Dr.
Menninger, the carpetbag Secretary of State, was reached.
It closed, ‘'One of the Holden family, a radical gentleman,
who lived for years in the Governor's family, and who has
as much character for truth as any man connected with the
Standard, informed us that Menninger had on his parlor
floor a carpet that was bought for the Capitol, and also had
two cushions bought for the State. This gentleman in¬
formed us that a little negro girl took, or stole, if you
please, some cake from the sideboard; and this cruel ‘Yan¬
kee’ gave her ‘ipecac’ to make her throw it up. Now, we
ask Dr. Grissom, of the lunatic asylum, if it takes fifteen
grains of ‘ipecac’ to make the child throw up the cake, how
many grains will it take to make Menninger throw up the
cushions and the carpet?”

Turner was at Smithfield court, and as he was returning
the next evening, he was met at the station by Menninger
and a crowd of irate men, among them Joseph W. Holden,
the Speaker; and, being threatened, he drew a pistol and
ordered them to keep away. He was arrested and taken
to the Mayor’s office where a riot almost ensued, the Gov¬
ernor leading in the afifair, and Turner, always imperturb¬
able, challenging the Governor, then and there, to a public
discussion, which his Excellency in great heat declined.
But if the administration had its supporters on hand, Turner
had his friends likewise, and Sam Merrill afterwards became

LEGISLATIVE SUMMARY

1095

known through life as the “monkey-wrench man,” for, seiz¬
ing that instrument, he prepared to wield it in Turner’s de¬
fense. A few nights later Turner was shot at through the
window of his office, but the attempt to assassinate was in¬
effective.

The Legislature, however, on April 10, passed an act im¬
posing ten years imprisonment on any one who attempts to
shoot another with intent to kill, and on the last day of the
session it was made a misdemeanor to disguise oneself with
intent to terrify a citizen, and, being so disguised, commit¬
ting a trespass was declared a felony.

The State had an interest of $400,000 in the Wilmington
and Weldon Railroad Company that certainly was worth
par, at least ; but the necessities of the situation led to its
sale by the Board of Education for $148,000; and with that
fund, together with $100,000 lent by Swepson, the Treasurer
paid off the legislators, and on April 12 they adjourned.
The session had been a very busy one. Nearly three hun¬
dred acts were passed covering many subjects of importance.
The system inaugurated by the Code of Civil Procedure was
found unsuited to the conditions and suits were required to
be brought at term time ; and in several other respects the
Code was amended. Provision was made for laying off the
homestead and personal property exemption ; and a me¬
chanics’ and laborers’ lien was created, a landlord and -tenant
act was passed, and an act was passed facilitating the incor¬
poration of private companies. A commission was ap¬
pointed to erect a penitentiary at Raleigh, convicts being
used in the construction. And other legislation was had to
conform to the requirements of the new Constitution. On
the 15th of March the Legislature passed a resolution ratify¬
ing the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the
United States, declaring that the right of citizens to vote
shall not be denied or abridged on account of race, color or
previous condition of servitude. Naturally all the Republi¬
cans voted for it.

Leg. Acts,
1868-69,
Ch. 167

The session
ends

Its work

The Fif¬
teenth
Amendment

1096

THE REPUBLICAN LEGISLATURE

63 N. C.
Rep., 389

The scheme
to bull the
bonds

Tlie bar and Supreme Court

A week after the Legislature adjourned, when the at¬
mosphere was somewhat clear, there appeared in the Sentinel,
“A Solemn Protest of the Bar of North Carolina Against
Judicial Interference in Political Affairs,” signed by B. F.
Moore, A. S. Merrimon, Thomas Bragg, Asa Biggs, Z. B.
Vance, and 195 other members of the bar. “Never before,”
said the protest, “have we seen the judges of the Supreme
Court, singly or en masse, throwing aside the ermine, rush
into the mad contest of politics under the excitement of
drums and flags.” It spoke of “the humiliating spectacle
now passing around us.” The Supreme Court cited B. F.
Moore, E. G. Haywood and Thomas Bragg before it. Mr.
Moore disavowed any intention of committing a contempt
of court, but on the contrary avowed his purpose to have
been to preserve the purity which had distinguished the
courts of the State. The rule was discharged : all of the
attorneys similarly purging themselves except Judge Biggs,
who moved to Norfolk; and about the same time W. N. H.
Smith likewise moved to Norfolk. This proceeding of the
bar, however, had a salutary influence on the public and a
beneficial effect on those judges who valued the good opinion
of respectable people ; but there were some wearers of the
ermine “who cared for none of these things.”

The unconstitutional acts

During the summer, in the cases of Galloway v. Jenkins,
and University Railroad Company v. Holden, the Supreme
Court held the issue of certain of the bonds to be unconsti¬
tutional. That somewhat affected the market value of the
whole issue of bonds, and the summer brought a woeful
situation. The interest on the State debt had not been met,
and the credit of the State had suffered from that as well
as from the large number of bonds authorized to be issued,
so that the market price of the bonds declined. The rail¬
road presidents then ceased selling outright, and began to
borrow on them as a security, but the bonds continued to
decline. At length, in September, a great effort was made

BONDS UNDER THIRTY CENTS

to restore their market value. It was given out that they
would soon advance, and a combination was made to bull
them. Swepson, Littlefield, A. J. Jones, President of the
Western Railroad, Dr. Sloan of the Wilmington, Charlotte
and Rutherford Railroad, and others along with Governor
Holden and Treasurer Jenkins, had a meeting in New York
and the details of the arrangement were agreed on. It was
determined that they should go into a pool and use the
bonds still on hand as a margin for loans, using the proceeds
to buy in other bonds on the market. Certain other parties
were to cooperate with them to make the movement lively
and create the impression that there was an extensive and
general demand for the North Carolina bonds. Laflin,
Martindale, Moore and others participated. To give more
color to the performance, Treasurer Jenkins was to adver¬
tise that the interest, long in default, would be paid on pre¬
sentation of the coupons at Raleigh, the speculators furnish¬
ing the cash. Besides $150,000 of the Educational Fund,
derived from the sale of the Wilmington and Weldon Rail¬
road stock, and $125,000, the proceeds of a donation of
land scrip by the Federal government for an agricultural
college, were to be invested in the bonds. The operations
were begun, but just as the speculation was beginning to
work, a gold panic set in, and all sorts of stocks and bonds
fell on the market : and in a few days the bonds were quoted
at less than thirty cents, with no buyers and the ruin was
complete. It was a Waterloo for the railroad presidents and
disastrously involved Swepson who had entered into Little¬
field’s scheme with a large private fortune at his back. In
October, Swepson therefore relinquished the Western Di¬
vision to Littlefield, and the funds of that company were
absolutely dissipated. The whole bond issue was lost.
Neither the railroads nor the State derived any benefit or
advantage from this railroad legislation: nor did Littlefield
and his coadjutors realize the full measure of their expecta¬
tions. But how much they profited from their well-devised
schemes has never been ascertained. When the public be¬
came aware of these proceedings, the State was amazed and
shocked.

1097

It fails

1098

THE REPUBLICAN LEGISLATURE

Race troubles

Adjt.-Gen.’s
Report, Doc.
10, 1869, 70,
P. 2

1869

Hamilton,
Recon., 478

In Jones County there had been constant friction between
the races. Members of the Union League had murdered
a large number of persons. Three carpetbaggers of bad
character had given much trouble. In May one of them,
Sheriff Colgrove, who had served a term in the New York
penitentiary, and a negro were shot and killed ; several build¬
ings were burned, and such excitement prevailed that the
Governor sent Bosher’s command to occupy the county.
Quiet was restored, and after a month and a half the troops
were withdrawn.

In Orange barn burning became rife, and a negro, as re¬
ported in the Sentinel, said it had been inspired by the Gov¬
ernor’s attitude that the negroes must rule. Two barn
burners were hanged on August 7, the bodies being placarded
that it was punishment by the Ku Klux. Other hangings
occurred. There were many whippings of negroes reported
in Chatham.

Governor Holden, in his annual message, November 16,
said : ‘‘The outrages are confined almost exclusively to
counties in which the white and colored populations are
about equal in number, or in which the whites have a small
majority.” The Wilmington Journal, voicing the Conserva¬
tive sentiment of the State, had in a temperate editorial as¬
serted that the conditions had resulted from the crimes of
the Union League and the exemption of its members from
punishment. “If the Governor will disband his Loyal
Leagues all counter organizations will be broken up. . . .

If our civil officers will act so as to deserve the confidence
of the people, the old regard and veneration for the law will
return, and when it does, Loyal Leagueism and its offspring,
K11 Kluxism will be buried in a common grave.” But in
answer to this plain proposition Governor Holden, who was
ever the controlling head of the Union League, said in his
message : “Secret political organizations have existed and
will exist always. It is not to be expected that we can get
rid of them.” He asked for an amendment of the law
authorizing him to embody a white force to be employed at

SECRET CRIMES PUNISHED

1099

his discretion. A month earlier he had threatened to de¬
clare Lenoir, Jones, Orange and Chatham in insurrection,
and had asserted his right to declare counties in insurrec¬
tion, and that the effect would be “to suspend all civil law
as it was suspended in 1865.”

Indeed, it was true that in some communities where the
Union League had been most lawless the people were de¬
termined to protect society, and were pursuing the only
road open to them. Secret crimes were punished by a strong
hand. As deplorable as was the condition, the remedy lay
in the Governor’s hands, but he forbore to use it. While
excoriating the Ku Klux, he never sought to remove the
occasion of their existence.

During the recess Judge James W. Osborne, a distin¬
guished jurist and man of singular purity, the Senator from
Mecklenburg, had died, and Col. Hamilton C. Jones had
been elected in his place. Likewise, Frederick N. Strud-
wiclc of Orange had succeeded Mr. Allison in the House,
and John W. Graham was elected from Orange to replace
Josiah Turner.

The Assembly meets

Two months later, November, 1869, when the Assembly
met, these local troubles found some consideration, espe¬
cially among the colored members. The political outlook
was serious. About half of the Republican membership
considered that they all held their offices for a four-year
term, or rather, under the unfavorable conditions they
feared an election, and hoped that their term of office might
be stretched to four years. The hope was father to the
thought. The question was submitted to the judges of the
Supreme Court, and the replies gave the members no com¬
fort. The election was unavoidable.

What was chiefly in the minds of the public men was the
financial situation. In his message the Governor mentioned
the “old debt” as being $17,215,000, and the special tax
bonds issued as $12,600,000 with $4,280,000 still to be issued.
He said, with emphasis, “All our great works must be com¬
pleted. We must go on. We cannot recede. We must pay

Standard,
Oct. 20, 30

The Union
League

Nov., 1869

Leg. Doc.
21, 1869-70

The Gov¬
ernor’s
message

I IOO

THE REPUBLICAN LEGISLATURE

In the As¬
sembly

House Jour¬
nal, 42

the interest on our bonds. We are able to pay the interest
on the whole of this debt.’’ Littlefield and his coadjutors
stood with him. Loud objection, however, was made.

The public stirred

The public mind was greatly excited. At once measures
were introduced covering the whole ground of the special
tax bonds. Resolutions to investigate ; bills to require ac¬
countability on the part of the railroad officials ; bills for¬
bidding the payment of interest and arresting the collection
of special taxes ; bills forbidding the Treasurer to issue any
more bonds and requiring the railroad presidents to turn
into the State Treasury all on hand undisposed of, and re¬
pealing all of the railroad legislation. The excitement con¬
tinued to grow with each passing day.

The Conservatives in the Legislature, backed by a tremen¬
dous public sentiment, pressed these measures, and were
heartily and zealously aided by those Republicans who had
clean hands and proposed to rescue the State from the pile
of profitless debt that had been accumulated so recklessly.
The first trial of strength came early. The morning after
Governor Holden had pleaded for the inviolability of the pub¬
lic debt, George Price, a negro from Wilmington, ofifered
a resolution in conformity with the Governor’s recommenda¬
tion. Mr. Pou ofifered a substitute, and the measure was
made a special order. When it came up, by a vote of ten
majority, it was postponed thirty days, Pou and Seymour
leading the Republicans against the Governor to the dismay
of the forty-four Republicans who remained faithful. But
the faithful rallied. Then, after reconsideration, the whole
subject was, on motion of Mr. Pou, withdrawn from the
calendar. Charges of corruption that had been whispered
now came to be openly spoken, and the question went round,
“Who had borrowed money from Littlefield or Swepson ?"

Committee of the whole

One week after organization, Mr. Pou of Johnston moved
that the House go into committee of the whole to investigate

INSURRECTION BILL PASSED

IIOI

these matters, and, after a struggle, the motion was carried,
and at once the committee of the whole House sat, with
Mr. Pou in the chair. The developments were slow. The
committee had to send for papers and witnesses. Obstruc¬
tions were interposed at every step. The Assembly had
agreed to recess from December 20 to January 10, 1870,
and on December 16 the Governor, perhaps to divert
thought, sent in a special message, saying that since his
message of November 16 numerous outrages of the most
flagrant character had been committed by persons masked
and armed, who ride at night and thus far had escaped the
civil law. Notwithstanding his efforts to suppress them the
outrages seemed to be rather on the increase, and he asked
for a remedy strengthening the arm of the Executive. In
conformity with his suggestion, on the same day, Senator
Shoffner of Alamance offered a bill which was quickly
passed in the Senate, authorizing the Governor, whenever
in his judgment the civil authorities in any county are un¬
able to protect its citizens, to declare such county in insur¬
rection and to call into active service the militia, and to
call on the President for assistance. In the House the bill
met with more opposition, but it finally passed. As this
outbreak of outrages occurred when no election was in
progress and more than a year after the presidential elec¬
tion, it would seem not to have had any connection with
partisan politics. When the bill was reached in the House,
Mr. Argo moved to refer the whole matter to a special com¬
mittee to examine into the condition of those counties in
which insurrection was said to exist. Mr. Malone moved to
strike out the authority to declare a county in a state of in¬
surrection. Mr. Nicholson moved to insert that whenever the
civil authorities are unable to execute the law, they shall
notify the Governor. But all amendments proposed were
voted down by a general vote of forty to sixty-four. Finally
Mr. Pou offered a substitute providing that the military
shall act in strict subordination to the civil authority, and
that likewise was rejected. After a strong fight, the bill
passed on the 19th of January, 1870.

Acts of Con¬
gress, ch. 27,
1869-70

Shoffner

House Jour¬
nal, 185-191

1102

THE REPUBLICAN LEGISLATURE

. 1870

Acts of Con¬
gress, 38,
1869-70

The bond
act repealed

Acts of
Congress, 71.
1869-70

The Senate investigates

On January 13, at the instance of Senator Love, the
Senate resolved to appoint a commission of investigation.
The vote was unanimous, and Lieutenant-Governor Cald¬
well appointed S. F. Phillips, Thomas Bragg and W. L.
Scott. This committee began work February 16 and made
a report March 12.

In the meantime the Senate had passed a bill to restore
the credit of the State, which eventually was ratified Feb¬
ruary 5, 1870. The introduction of that act was declared
notice to all parties, and all sales or transactions in bonds
after that date were declared void ; and the parties to whom
bonds had been issued were required to. turn in to the
Treasurer of the State all bonds unsold, and all moneys in
their hands arising from the sale of bonds. When the
Senate opened on November 17, Major John W. Graham
introduced a bill to repeal all acts of 1868-69 making ap¬
propriations to the railroads. This measure was fought
with unusual skill. Eventually it passed on February 14
by a vote of 21 to 16. Transmitted to the House, Thomas
J. Jarvis, who had attained particular prominence by his
fine ability in the Assembly, took charge of it and brought
it up on the 22d of February. It was strongly opposed;
but three days later it passed by a vote of 48 to 31 : and
was finally ratified on March 8. It was short and to the
point : that all acts passed at the last session of this Legis¬
lature making appropriation to railroad companies are hereby
repealed ; that all bonds of the State which have been issued
under said acts now in the hands of the president or other
officers of the corporation be immediately returned to the
Treasurer; that moneys collected under those acts are hereby
appropriated to the use of the State government, and shall
be credited to the counties on State taxes, etc. Here was
a repeal of the acts authorizing the issue of bonds by the
same Legislature that had passed the acts.

A CARPETBAGGER’S VICTORY

1103

Littlefield’s influence

The investigation by the House in committee of the whole
had answered 110 good purpose. Littlefield’s influence dom¬
inated. The meetings were postponed from time to time.
The witnesses did not attend. There had been an order
for Littlefield and Swepson to appear on March 4, but Mr.
Seymour found it necessary to ask for an alias summons
for them one week later, and Mr. French obtained a direc¬
tion to the Bragg investigating committee to report on the
nth. On the 8th, Mr. French secured an instruction to
the committee of the whole not to question a witness in
relation to his private affairs. The next day the committee
submitted to the House whether a witness should be com¬
pelled to give the names of members to whom he had lent
money. By a vote of 55 to 42, the witness was required to
answer.

Plato Durham, who, like Jarvis in the House and Graham
in the Senate, was a leader in this work, moved that Little¬
field and Stevens, the member from Craven, be required
to appear the next morning; but G. Z. French moved that
Littlefield be excused from attending as a witness and that
was adopted by 48 to 41 ; and, immediately following, the
House rescinded the resolution creating the committee of
the whole by a vote of 44 to 43. At a supper at the hotel,
many of the leading Republicans attending, Littlefield urged
that “if they knew as much of the Bragg commission as
he did they would vote to repeal it the next day.” So when
the committee made its report, although Hamilton Jones
offered a resolution to continue it, on motion of Mr. Sweet,
it was discharged. Thus ended the contest. Neither house
purged itself.

Tlie bond operations

The Treasurer filed with the Bragg commission in March,
1870, a statement showing that there had been issued to the
Eastern Division of Western North Carolina Railroad 2,836
bonds, of which 2,170 were sold and 666 were hypothecated;
to the Western Division, 6,367, of which 3,132 were sold

House Jour¬
nal, 451

Ibid., 456

Ibid., 459 •

Ibid., 460

Senate Jour¬
nal, 551

Treasurer’s

report

1 104

THE REPUBLICAN LEGISLATURE

The W. N. C.
Railroad

Leg. Doc. 33,
1869-70

The settle¬
ment

and 1,924 were hypothecated and 1,291 unaccounted for; to
the Wilmington, Charlotte & Rutherford Railroad, 3,430, of
which 1,400 were sold, 1,700 hypothecated; to the Western
Railroad, 1,320, 55 sold, 1,265 reported on hand but never
returned; to the Chatham Railroad Company, 3,200, 1,502
sold, 1,650 returned; to the Williamston & Tarboro Com¬
pany, 3,300 sold; to the Northwestern Company, 1,080, re¬
turned 1,080; to the Atlantic, Tennessee & Ohio Com¬
pany, 1,760, returned 1,597. Of the 20,293 bonds issued,
4,327 were returned to the State. The bonds issued to the
Chatham Railroad Company, however, were not special
tax and were held unconstitutional, as were those authorized
for the University Railroad and some other roads. As the
session drew to its close, Speaker Holden resigned to as¬
sume control of the Standard, and preliminary steps were
taken to care for the party. There was apparent some cleav¬
age in the ranks between the carpetbaggers and the native
Republicans. And as the corrupt proceedings launched by
the leading carpetbaggers became so apparent that honest
men could no longer sustain them, there was likewise di¬
vision even among the carpetbaggers themselves.

Eventually on the 24th of March there was ratified a bill
constituting N. W. Woodfin, W. P. Welch, W. W. Rollins,
J. S. Henry and W. G. Candler a commission to investigate
the administration of G. W. Swepson as President of the
Western Division and make a settlement with him. Little¬
field was then President of the road. In his examination
before the Bragg commission, March 5, Littlefield had
sworn that he had had no settlement with Swepson ; that
he had received no bonds except an order for bonds that
had been hypothecated, and sacrificed under the hypothe¬
cation ; that he had used no bonds or the proceeds of any
bonds in procuring the passage of acts, and he did not know
of any one else who had. But when the Woodfin commis¬
sion was about to assemble at Raleigh, Littlefield hastily
left Raleigh, going to New York, and Swepson was in
Jersey City; so the commission met March 26 at New York

FOUR NOTABLES PASS AWAY

City and demanded a settlement with each of them. Little¬
field said he was not embraced in the act. Woodfin, Rollins
and Carter eventually came to a settlement with Swepson —
“The best that could be made out of a bad state of things.”

As a part of this arrangement, Littlefield was to pay over
within two weeks $25,000, and in four weeks $150,000, and
was to clear off all liens on some Florida stocks and bonds ;
but instead he left at once for Europe. Swepson agreed
to pay substantially $400,000, but whether it was ever paid Leg.
in full does not appear. From London in November Little- p' 8’
field made some further offer and proposition, but good
faith seems to’ have been lacking. Littlefield returned to
Florida, but never to North Carolina.

Death of Worth, Ruffin, Bryan and Brown

On September 5, 1869, at his home at Raleigh after a short
illness, Governor Worth dieci, just as he was completing hL
sixty-seventh year. He had studied law under Judge
Murphey, and in December, 1824, began the practice of law.

He opposed nullification in 1831, and was already a Henry
Clay Whig. The Worths were Quakers, coming to North
Carolina from Nantucket ; well educated, advocates of edu¬
cation, men of industry, thrift and character. Governor
Worth, like his brothers, was a fine type of able, honest
gentleman. Devoted to the Union, he sought to perform
his duties to the State during the war, and he possessed,
as he deserved, the confidence of the conservative people of
the states. The Assembly honored him by an adjournment,
and a resolution that, “In his life we recognize a long, pure
and distinguished public career ; in his death we mourn
the loss of a faithful public servant and honest man.” Its
attitude toward Governor Vance was not so complimentary :
his name appearing among the incorporators of a proposed
insurance company, a motion was made to strike it out,
but better counsels prevailed.

1105

Doc. 21,
36, p. 6

'70

1 106

THE REPUBLICAN LEGISLATURE

On January 15, 1870, the State was called on to mourn
the loss of the eminent Thomas Ruffin, who, from 1833 for
about twenty years, filled, with distinguished ability and
learning, the office of Chief Justice. No citizen excelled
Judge Ruffin in the sterling virtues of manhood: while his
opinions were quoted not merely in the American courts,
but in those of England also.

On May 17, John H. Bryan of New Bern closed a dis¬
tinguished career, and six months later Bedford Brown of
Caswell died in Caswell.

CHAPTER LXV

The Troublous Year of 1870

Conditions. — The campaign. — Holden’s error. — The Union
League. — The Ku Klux. — The outrages. — Alamance declared in
insurrection. — Stephens killed — A volunteer force. — Kirk com¬
missioned. — The Tarboro Southerner . — Holden’s announcement. —
Kirk occupies Alamance. — The arrests. — Caswell County. — Ap¬
plication for habeas corpus. — The judiciary exhausted. — The
court-martial postponed. — Day of the election. — Turner arrested.
— The serious situation. — Ransom’s appeal to Brooks. — Brooks
arrives at Raleigh. — The Governor’s action. — President Grant
sustains Brooks. — The result of the election. — The Governor
yields. — Pearson acts. — Kirk obeys Brooks’s writ. — The prisoners
discharged.

The troublous year of 1870

A decade had passed since the fateful year of i860. On
March 26 the Assembly adjourned. The members had been
extravagant in many ways, and some corrupt in their “mile¬
age,” as otherwise; but considering their personnel, the
circumstances under which they were elected and their ad¬
herence to the malignants in Congress, their deviation from
rectitude in little particulars were of no great political sig¬
nificance. But they had wrecked the State. They had
dissipated the State’s assets, opened no schools, closed the
University, and destroyed every hope of any early amel¬
ioration of the unfortunate condition of transportation facil¬
ities ; and worse than all else, the Assembly was odorous
with fraud, bribery and corruption. Their proposition to
add two years to the terms of the members and of the State
officers having fallen through, they passed an act provid¬
ing for the election of all county officers, members of the
Legislature, an Attorney-General and Representatives in
Congress to be held in the first week in August.

In two congressional districts there were vacancies to be
filled, so that when the nominating conventions met there
were nine nominees by each party for Congress. The Dem¬
ocrats nominated William M. Shipp, who had been an ac-

1870

Conditions

no8

THE TROUBLOUS YEAR OF 1870

ceptable judge, for Attorney-General. The Republicans held
their convention early in May ; and at the outset there was
an observable contest between the natives and the carpet¬
baggers, Holden, perhaps, aspiring to the Senate to suc¬
ceed Abbott whose term would close on the next 4th of
March. Samuel F. Phillips, who, along with the judges
of the Supreme Court, had voted for Grant for President
and had accepted the view that Congress had the legal
right to prescribe reconstruction but who had not been con¬
cerned at all in partisan matters, was nominated for At¬
torney-General on the first ballot and avowed himself a
Republican. This unexpected action was a blow to his
personal friends who had esteemed Mr. Phillips as a man
of the first water in excellence and were shocked at his
choosing new political associates, and at his sustaining
Congress in imposing negro suffrage on the states, as the
Constitution did not invest Congress with such authoritv.

The campaign

The extravagances and corruptions of the Republican ad¬
ministration, tainted with its many scandals and disgraced by
the leadership of Abbott, Estes, Littlefield and their as¬
sociates, gave hope to the Conservatives that the honest and
respectable element of the people would cooperate and res¬
cue the State from the grasp of the carpetbaggers and their
allies. Animated by a high sense of duty and hopeful of the
issue, they entered on the campaign with enthusiasm. Many
meetings were held throughout the State and the press and
speakers were bold to a degree. The Superior Court judges
chosen in 1868, except C. C. Pool, Charles R. Thomas and
Anderson Mitchell, were much in harmony with the other
Republican officials; some were guiltless of any acquaint¬
ance with the law, others were not associated with respect¬
ability of character and disgraced the bench. So, likewise,
the congressional delegation, Abbott, Pool, Cobb, Deweese,
Heaton and Jones, products of those times, did not have
the respect of the white people of the State. But with
thirteen thousand majority in the State and the two great
elements of the Republican party, negroes and men act-

KU KLUX ACTIVITIES

1109

uated by implacable enmity toward the Secession Dem¬
ocrats, the way was open for the administration to hold its
power. A wiser man than Governor Holden might readily
have done so. There being two roads, he took the one that
led to his political overthrow. In some counties there were
evils against which society needed protection. They were
fostered and fomented by the Union League, of which the
Governor was the head. If not stimulated by Judge Tour-
gee and others, at least they were unchecked by the judicial
power and administrative officers. In some counties an in¬
tolerable condition existed for which there was no remedy
but by local action outside the law. The Ku Klux organi¬
zations in consequence became extended and active. Gov¬
ernor Holden said in his message of November, 1870, that
his attention was first called to the Ku Klux in October,
1868, and he had then issued a proclamation against them;
that in April, 1869, he had issued a second proclamation
against them; and in October, 1869, he had warned the peo¬
ple of Lenoir, Jones, Orange and Chatham that if the viola¬
tions of law continued in their counties, he would proclaim
them in a state of insurrection. But when the Legislature
met in November, 1869, the Governor said the State was
quiet. Except in some of the western counties near the South
Carolina line, these operations were chiefly in the judicial
district where Judge Tourgee held court. As the Governor
reported, the State was quiet until after the meeting of the
Legislature in November, 1869. Four months later Chief
Justice Pearson, in a letter to George Little, asserted that
the entire State was in as profound peace as it had ever
been. A year afterwards H. H. Helper, an uncompromis¬
ing Republican, wrote to Secretary Boutwell : “One of the
greatest evils afifecting society in North Carolina may justly
be set down to the incompetent and worthless State and
Federal officials now in power. They are for the most
part pestiferous ulcers feeding upon the body politic. Re¬
construction for North Carolina as carried out by Congress
and the villainous and incompetent State and Federal of¬
ficials within her borders, has proved a total failure. When
the historian comes to write the history of these evil times,

The Union
League

The

Ku Klux

Helper’s

view

I no

THE TROUBLOUS YEAR OF 1870

Groodloe

Holden,
Imp. Trial,
I, 296

Ibid., 528,
533

Ibid.,
I, 556

truth will impel him to declare that the Ku Klux business
of today grew out of things complained of in those state¬
ments. The only way to effectually rid the country of these
wicked midnight assassins is to first remove the cause which
brought them into existence and then apply rigid means for
their swift extirpation.” And in sympathy with Helper’s
views were those of Daniel R. Goodloe, the United States
Marshal, a staunch Republican, and some other Republicans.
The operations of the Klan on which Governor Holden laid
most stress were in Alamance and Caswell counties. At
the impeachment trial of the Governor, in February, 1871,
William J. Murray, who had been Sheriff of Alamance
from i860 to 1868, and then continued to serve as Deputy
Sheriff, but performing in large measure the duties of
Sheriff, said that “Courts were held regularly ; that all the
functions of government were carried on ; that there had
never been any resistance to an officer serving process.”
There was full testimony from the witnesses that the rela¬
tions between the races generally were as usual; that the
witnesses knew of no violence used to control the votes
of the colored people or of anybody else; that there was
no difference as to the general state of safety of colored
men or Republican white men. A negro named Outlaw,
a commissioner of the town of Graham, a blatant negro,
who, as head of the League, was reported by the negroes
to have said, “Set fire to mills, barns and houses," was mur¬
dered on February 20. Puryear, said to be more or less
deranged, who had reported that he had seen the Ku Klux
commit this murder, was drowned. Senator Shoffner had
apprehensions and left the State, returning to his former
home. There were many whippings by the Klan in Ala¬
mance County. At the impeachment trial it developed that
Richard Thompson was working in February, 1870, at Jim
Forest’s ; and one night Allen Paisley, Oscar Albright and
Duke Hatmaker came in, all negroes, Paisley being the
school teacher. They made Thompson go with them, and
all being disguised somewhat after the fashion of the Klan,
they went out, and Paisley whipped Henderson Coble and
Monroe Freeland, all negro men. The next morning Hen-

ALAMANCE IN STATE OF INSURRECTION

derson Coble got out a warrant for their arrest. Two of
them fled, three were arrested; and at court before Judge
Tourgee, Mr. Me Aden was assigned to defend them. They
submitted, told their story, and were sent to the peniten¬
tiary. Richard Henderson was a witness at the impeach¬
ment trial and his statements were confirmed by the testi¬
mony of others attending the court when the three submitted.

While the operations of the Klan were the result of ab¬
normal conditions, they were not in aid of party politics ;
nor was the object to overturn the government, but it was
remedial of evils that threatened society.

The Governor acts

On March 7, 1870, Governor Holden declared Alamance
County in a state of insurrection; Judge Tourgee refused
to hold court there; and ‘a detachment of United States
troops was stationed there. These troops remained there
quietly for more than a month and were then removed. On
March 10, Governor Holden wrote to President Grant urg¬
ing the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus and that
criminals could be arrested and tried by military courts and
shot. That was the Governor’s idea of pacification ; and it
was urged in the United States Senate by Senator Abbott
on April 13. John W. Stephens, the Senator from Caswell,
was closely associated with Governor Holden, and was one
of his detectives. He was a man of bad character and no
conscience. When he had organized the League in Caswell
and assumed leadership of the negroes, who, before that
time, had been on neighborly terms with the whites, he had
sought to stir them up to violence ; and at a meeting held
at the home of his brother-in-law, a man named Jones, he
gave twenty negroes boxes of matches and told them each
to burn a barn. Soon nine barns were burned the same
night. Overheard conversation among negroes led to suspi¬
cion that Jones knew of the proceeding. Lender stress, he
confessed and divulged the circumstances. The death of
Stephens followed. Stephens resided in the village of
Yancey ville, where a public meeting and speakings were be¬
ing held in the court room on May 4. He attended the meet-

Stephens

killed

1 1 12

THE TROUBLOUS YEAR OF 1870

Moore, Vol.
II, 346

Leg. Acts,
27, 1869-70

Volunteer

infantry

mg. Afterwards he was missed. An unavailing search
was made and it was not until toward morning that his body
was found in a locked room on the first floor of the court¬
house, with a cord around his neck and with two stabs in bis
body. Certainly it was a case for an immediate searching in¬
vestigation and for speedy punishment ; and steps were at
once taken by competent friends before Judge Tourgee to
that end. Every effort was made, but the deed was so veiled
in secrecy that no discovery of the murderers was made.

Tlie military

Under the Militia Act of 1868, the State was divided into
three major-general departments and the Governor had ap¬
pointed F. G. Martindale, a carpetbagger located in Martin,
general of the eastern division; W. D. Jones of Wake, and
J. Q. A. Bryan of Wilkes general of the central and west¬
ern divisions, and the races were not to be enrolled in the
same companies. The negroes in some of the eastern coun¬
ties were enamoured with their duties as militia men. “The
hottest and longest day did not abate their military ardor.
Through clouds of dust and stifling heat, from sunrise till
dark, amid the discord of tortured drums, they marched and
countermarched at the inexorable commands of their sable
captains.”

But Governor Holden did not deem it wise to send negro
troops into the white counties, so in the Shoffner bill it was
provided “that the Governor could call into active service
the militia to such an extent as may be necessary,” while
the proposition to make the military subordinate to the civil
authority was expressly rejected. During the first week in
June there were several councils held in the Executive office,
and finally it was determined to act under the eighth section
of the act of 1868, by which the Governor was authorized
to organize regiments of volunteer infantry.

It was suggested that Governor Holden should follow the
example of Governor Clayton of Arkansas, “who had taken
military possession of disaffected counties and had tried
and executed large numbers of men by military courts.”
Governor Holden seems to have accepted that suggestion.

NEWSPAPER SUGGESTS ASSASSINATION

1113

W. J. Clarke was at once commissioned colonel of the First
Regiment North Carolina State Troops and, going to Wash¬
ington, was supplied with an outfit for a regiment; and
George W. Kirk, the notorious Tennessee bushwhacker dur¬
ing the Civil War, was appointed colonel of the Second
North Carolina State Troops. The course of events aroused
the press. Turner was bold in expression and fearless in
denunciation. But it was perhaps the Tarboro Southerner
that precipitated a new situation. June 10, Mr. Biggs, ed¬
itor of the Southerner, said: “In the days of old, when a
ruler of the people prostituted his position to wicked pur¬
poses of oppression and so basely betrayed his public trust
as the Governor of North Carolina has so frequently done
for partisan purposes, the swords of patriots leaped from
their scabbards, the knife of the assassin felt, uneasily but
surely, for the heart of the ruffian ruler. While we do not
advise and could not countenance anything not warranted
by law, we are at a loss to say what should be done with
such a Governor.” The Governor’s reply was speedy. The
Standard, in its issue of June 11, declared: “We are author¬
ized by the Governor of the State to say that these outrages
must come to an end. He intends to have indemnity for
the past and security for the future. The Governor intends
to do this, and there are threats that he will be assassinated
for so doing. Let them try it. The Governor does not
fear these fiends in human shape. If he is ever personally
menaced, his friends will resent it and punish the man or
men who may do it; if he is slain or even wounded, it is
already determined that leading Democrats and Conserva¬
tives who might be named, will he instantly put to death.
The Governor’s mind is made up.” This publication fully
accords with the testimony of Col. Isaac J. Young and
Richard C. Badger, before the Broadfoot Investigating Com¬
mittee.

Kirk

The South¬
erner

Holden’s

spirit

Kirk’s action

On his appointment, Colonel Kirk had printed an adver¬
tisement for recruits addressed to Union men in general and
to his old Federal Tennessee soldiers in particular, the same

1 1 14

THE TROUBLOUS YEAR OF 1S70

Kirk in
Alamance

Goes to
Caswell

being in Governor Holden's own handwriting, as follows :
“The blood of your, murdered countrymen, inhumanly butch¬
ered for opinion’s sake, cries from the ground for ven¬
geance. . . . Rally to the standard of your old com¬

mander.” Kirk was notorious as a “desperate, merciless,
criminal, violent, cruel man; a plunderer, guilty of many
outrageous deeds and murders.” On June 21, Kirk was to
assemble his men from Tennessee and Wilkes and Mitchell
counties at Morganton. And then on July 1, two hundred
of his men came down under Colonel Bergen to Company
Shops, and took post in Alamance County. They were de¬
scribed as a disorderly set of men. At once they began to
roam the country in squads making arrests. Among those
arrested were some of the leading men in the county, the
venerable Dr. Wilson, Thomas M. Holt, his brother-in-law,
Mr. Moore, and others equally prominent. During this
period the Sentinel was most forceful in its editorials. Mr.
Turner had on his staff the accomplished Theodore B.
Kingsbury; and Judge Merrimon also made contributions
to his columns. On the 8th day of July, two months after
the murder of Stephens, Caswell County being then in en¬
tire quietude, that county was declared in a state of insur¬
rection, and on the next day Major Rodney in command
of a detachment of United States troops arrived at Yancey-
ville. He reported to the Sheriff and placed his force at
the disposal of the Sheriff to aid him in executing his office ;
but the Sheriff replied he had no difficulty in serving any
process. Caswell was in the same quiet order as any county
in the State so far as the functions of government were
concerned. But while the Federal troops were still at
Yanceyville, and everything was quiet, on the 16th of July,
Colonel Kirk arrived from Alamance where he left about
one-half of his force. Governor Holden had arranged for
a court-martial to be convened on the 25th of July, to be
composed of six men to be assigned by Kirk and others
whom he would designate, and Kirk was furnished with a
list of men he was to arrest. Kirk carried a lot of his
Alamance prisoners along with him. On arriving at
Yanceyville, he found that a public speaking was to be held

THE JUDICIARY SURRENDERS

1115

there that day by the candidates for Congress. When the
people had assembled in the court room, he surrounded the
building with his armed men and began arresting those on
his list, among them Judge Kerr, Dr. Roane, Thomas J.
Womack and others of high responsibility. These un¬
usual proceedings called for quick counteraction by public-
spirited men. Application was made by Governor Graham,
Governor Bragg, Judge Battle, Judge Merrimon and E. S.
Parker to Chief Justice Pearson for writs of habeas corpus
on behalf of A. G. Moore and others arrested by Kirk. The
writs were issued and served by A. C. McAllister on Kirk,
who said such papers ‘‘had played out” ; that a court had
been appointed to try the men ; that he was acting under
the orders of the Governor. Chief Justice Pearson was in¬
formed by the Governor that he was “satisfied that the
public interest requires that these military prisoners shall
not be delivered up to the civil power.” On the 25th, the
Chief Justice closed a long opinion with this declaration:
“The power of the judiciary is exhausted, and the respon¬
sibility must rest on the Executive.” Other similar proceed¬
ings followed. The submission to the Governor’s will, by
Judge Pearson, who said that two other members of the
court also concurred, heartened Governor Holden in his
plans and purposes ; but as the election was approaching —
the first Thursday in August, and perhaps the withdrawal
of the officers to serve on the court-martial might have been
inconvenient — he announced that he had postponed the court-
martial until August 8, after the election.

Habeas

corpus

64 N. C.
Rep., 802

Ibid., 804

Ibid., 811

Judiciary

exhausted

The election

As day by day progress was made in subverting civil
authority and in disregard of the liberties of the citizens,
there was evolved a spirit of resolution that has seldom
been equaled in the State. During the campaign the press
was firm in its denunciation. The Wilmington Journal,
under Maj. Joseph A. Engelhard; the Star, under Maj.
W. H. Bernard ; the Observer at Charlotte, and the Con¬
servative newspapers generally were strong and fearless

iii6

THE TROUBLOUS YEAR OF 1870

Turner

arrested

defenders of the liberties of the people. On the hustings
the eloquent George Davis and the powerful orators Ran¬
som, Vance, Graham, Waddell, Ashe, Scales, Dortch, Leach,
Merrimon and, indeed, every other speaker of reputation,
were appealing to the people to sustain constitutional gov¬
ernment. The excitement was intense. But the election
was now at hand, and perhaps because of the anxiety that
pervaded the State and the extreme importance of the issue,
there was a self-control that led to unbroken quietude. The
State was hushed through solicitude. The election passed
off without a clash. In Caswell the polls were not opened ;
in Alamance the military were at the polls. Kirk’s troopers
voted and the election was held void. As always, the re¬
turns came in slowly. From some first favorable reports
Governor Holden may have been misled as to the general
result and, emboldened by the thought, he now gave rein
to his impulses. Josiah Turner, having become more vio¬
lent and vituperative, daring the Governor to arrest him,
and Mrs. Turner having been shot at in her own home at
Hillsboro, on the evening of August 3, published the fol¬
lowing editorial : “Governor Holden : You say you will
handle me in due time. You white-livered miscreant. You
dared me to resist you ; I dare you to arrest me. You
villain, come and arrest a man, and order your secret clubs
not to molest women and children. Yours with contempt
and defiance. Habeas corpus or no habeas corpus. Josiah
Turner, Jr.” Such was the straw that broke the camel’s
back. The Governor had been strongly urged not to de¬
clare Orange County in a state of insurrection, and not to
have his militia to arrest Turner in that county; but now,
disregarding the advice, he acted according to his heart’s
desire, and immediately telegraphed Kirk to arrest Turner,
who was seized at Hillsboro and cast into prison at Yancey-
ville.

But in the meantime other actors were brought into the
scene.

The announcement of the Chief Justice that “the power
of the judiciary is exhausted” fell on astounded ears. At
once the great men, Bragg, Graham, B. F. Moore, Merrimon

1. Richmond M. Pearson
4. Josiah Turner, Jr.

3. William W. Holden

George W. Brooks
Randolph A. Shotwell

' m

BROOKS SAVES CIVIL LIBERTY hi 7

and Battle urged that the law requires : “Direct a precept
to a sheriff or other persons to bring those men before you
and he will call out the power of the county.” This Judge
Pearson declined to do. He said : “It will plunge the whole
State into civil war.” Such, indeed, would have been
the case; but the men who had fought under Lee and Jack-
son were ready, once the tocsin was sounded, under -the
leadership of Bragg and Graham. Indeed, Professor Mills
of Wake Forest wrote in 1908: “When I was running the
Biblical Recorder in 1870 and two or three times a day
passed Kirk’s negro troops at Raleigh, I thought that with
the company of sharpshooters I commanded in 1864, how
quickly I could wipe them off the face of the earth.” Such
was the spirit. And so the dreaded alternative oppressed
the people. But now the directors of events turned from
the State authorities and invoked Federal intervention. At
their instance Gen. M. W. Ransom hurried to Elizabeth
City, accompanied by James S. Grant, Sheriff of North¬
ampton County, to ask Judge Brooks, the Federal judge,
to issue his writ of habeas corpus. Then, said Mr. Grant :

“General Ransom, in presenting the petition, rose to the
heights of eloquent oratory, and his pathetic appeal touched
the very chords of Brooks’s heart. Tears gathered in the
eyes of the humane and patriotic Judge and coursed down
his cheeks.” The act of Congress permitted his action. He
assented, but waited until he had come to Raleigh when
he issued his writ requiring the prisoners to be brought
before him at Salisbury.

While election day had passed, the returns were not in.

Still thinking that the Legislature would be Republican, Brooksacts
Governor Holden at once telegraphed President Grant, de-
uyiuff Judge Brooks’s right, and saying that Kirk would
be directed to refuse to obey, and it was his purpose to
detain the prisoners unless the Army of the United States,
under the President’s orders, shall demand them. The
Attorney-General was A. F. Akerman, who had once taught
school in Hertford County, and had been a Confederate
soldier and was a resident of Georgia. He advised the
President that the State authorities should yield to the

1 1 18

THE TROUBLOUS YEAR OF 1870

The Presi¬
dent sus¬
tains Brooks

Result of
election

Holden

yields

United States judiciary, and the President so telegraphed
Governor Holden. Then Akerman himself came to Raleigh.
This created dismay in the Executive office. And then the
news from the election was not favorable. Those were bitter
hours. At length by the nth, the result of the election was
known. It had gone against the Governor. While the total
vote had fallen off from that of November, 1868, 10,000, the
Conservative vote had increased 3,000; and the Republican
vote was 13,000 short. Phillips was beaten by over 4,000.
Of the seven representatives in Congress, the Conserva¬
tives had elected five: Waddell, Harper, Leach, Rogers and
Shober, and they had a large majority in the House and a
two-thirds majority in the Senate. The situation put an
end to the Governor’s military proceedings. On the nth,
he directed Kirk to parole all his prisoners in whose honor
he could confide to report to him at Company Shops on the
15th, and, leaving one hundred men at Yanceyville, move
his command to Company Shops. Four days later, evi¬
dently to outflank Judge Brooks, he sent a special mes¬
senger to Chief Justice Pearson saying that the time had
arrived when he could restore the civil power ; and that
Kirk would produce his prisoners “as soon as his Honor
shall arrive in Raleigh.” Judge Pearson hastened to
Raleigh and announced that he would hear the matter on
the 1 8th.

Judge Pearson at Raleigh

But when the Chief Justice took his seat and Kirk sur¬
rendered his prisoners, who were thereupon placed in the
custody of the Sheriff of Wake County, the venerable Judge
Battle, counsel for the prisoners, reciting the former un¬
availing proceedings and the application to Judge Brooks,
asked leave to withdraw the application for habeas corpus
and to abandon any further proceedings before the State
judiciary. Their appeal to the State judiciary having been
in vain, they now had no further use for its powers. While
Judge Pearson could not object, he nevertheless held that
the prisoners being now in custody of the civil authorities,
the Sheriff of Wake, he could hear any charge to be made

LACK OF EVIDENCE

1 1 19

against them. Thereupon twenty-two of the prisoners were
released ; but F. A. Wiley, J. T. Mitchell and Felix Roane,
being charged with the murder of Stephens, were bound
over in the sum of $5,000 to answer that charge. Later,
these men were in open court at Yancey ville before Judge
Tourgee. Solicitor Bulla, a pronounced Republican, de¬
clared that he had examined the evidence against them and
did not feel warranted in drawing a bill against them.
They were discharged. In accordance with Judge Brooks’s
writ, Kirk attended at the District Court at Salisbury, and
without making any return as to why he had held these
men in custody, surrendered them, except those theretofore
surrendered to Judge Pearson, saying that those were not
now in his custody and he then purged himself of contempt.
On application Judge Brooks issued a warrant for the arrest
of Bergen “to keep the peace,” and for a time Bergen was
held in custody.

All of the prisoners then, one by one, were discharged,
in each case there being filed an order signed by Judge
Brooks, reciting: “It appearing to me that the prisoner
has been arrested and is still detained without any warrant
or authority whatever, and no evidence is produced to show
that he has committed any offense, he is now discharged.”
Thus, after a confinement of five or six weeks, these cit¬
izens were released by the Federal Court. For this action
Judge Brooks received, as he deserved, the plaudits of the
conservative people of the State and his name and memory
have ever been held in merited honor as a fearless, upright
and independent judge.

Treatment of the prisoners

The treatment to which these prisoners were subjected
was most barbarous. One of them, L. H. Murray, stated
in his affidavit filed in the Federal Court on the 19th of
August, that being informed that Bergen had sent to ar¬
rest him, he reported at the camp, and was declared a
prisoner. About one o’clock that night, Bergen took him
to his (Bergen’s) hut and ordered him to tell what he knew
about the hanging of D. Wyatt Outlaw. Murray said that

64 n. c.

Appendix,

824

Imp. Trial,
I, 825

Kirk obeys

Brooks’s

order

Imp. Trial,
I, 1019

I 120

THE TROUBLOUS YEAR OF 1870

Bergen’s

treatment

Murray

Imp. Trial,
I. 1021

Weldon

he knew nothing about it ; that he did not know that Out¬
law had been hanged until the next morning. Bergen put
a rope around Murray’s neck, and, having tied his arms
to his body, had him hung by his neck up a tree. After
being suspended for a short time, he was let down. Bergen
and his men then presented pistols to Murray’s breast and
threatened to blow his heart out. Bergen then seized the
rope and again suspended him by the neck. On being let
down, Murray could not speak for some time. Bergen then
said: “You must acknowledge it or die. Sergeant, hang
him to that tree and let him hang until eight o’clock in the
morning. Then cut him down and bury him’’; but that
was not done. After other threats, Bergen said: “I will
now give you till tomorrow night, and if you don't confess
then, I will kill you.” Murray was held by Bergen and
Kirk until August 18. -

D. W. Weldon, also of Alamance, in his affidavit said
about July 23 he was arrested and later was paroled to re¬
port to Kirk at Yffinceyville. Confined in an upper room,
a soldier fired his pistol, the ball passing near Weldon’s
head ; and Kirk and his officers cursed and maltreated him ;
that he was taken to jail at Graham and confined there till
brought to Salisbury; that when put in jail, Lieutenant
Burmer placed an iron manacle on one of his legs to which
was affixed a chain and staple, fastening it to the floor;
that he was kept thus ironed until taken to Salisbury ; that
he suffered for the want of water — was several times re¬
fused water ; when food was sent him, it was thrown on
the floor of the jail, and he was forbidden the use of knife,
spoon or fork — the guards presenting their pistols at him
and threatening to shoot him; that he never was informed
of any charge against him. Among the prisoners were some
of the most respectable and responsible men in the State,
against whom no charge whatever was .then made, or had
ever been made. The number arrested was perhaps three
hundred.

CHAPTER LXVI

Impeachment of the Governor

The Assembly. — The few carpetbaggers. — Jarvis Speaker. — The
Conservative majority. — The purpose of the Conservatives. —
Governor Holden. — Vance elected Senator. — Republican legisla¬
tion repealed. — Impeachment of the Governor. — The House acts.
— The Senate. — Caldwell acting Governor. — E\ J. Warren Presi¬
dent of Senate. — Constitutional reform. — The question of conven¬
tion submitted to the people. — The court of impeachment. — The
attorneys. — The witnesses and evidence. — The Ku Klux. — The
proceedings. — The result. — The formalities. — McClammy’s opin¬
ion. — The sentence. — The Chief Justice. — Judge Jones resigns. —
Senator Pool. — Swain County. — The University. — State officers.

The Assembly, 1870-71

With the overthrow of the military and the restoration
of civil authority, and with the complete victory at the
polls, the white people of the State experienced a feeling
of relief that cannot be expressed. All during the autumn,
from August to November, joy prevailed. There were
those who determined that it was due to constitutional gov¬
ernment that both the Governor and the Chief Justice should
be brought to the bar of justice.

On November 21, the Assembly met. Among the mem¬
bers in the House were Thomas J. Jarvis, J. L. Robinson,
David Settle, Thomas Sparrow, J. D. Stanford, F. N.
Strudwick, C. W. Broadfoot, John W. Dunham, T. D.
Johnston, Edmund Jones, J. C. Mills, L. M. McAfee, T. A.
McNeill, J. C. Reid, S. F. Tomlinson, R. P. Waring, J. O.
Wilcox, W. P. Welch, C. F. Young, S. A. Ashe, and others
of the majority destined to play prominent parts in the pro¬
ceedings ; while T. L. Hargrove, S. F. Phillips, John Brooks
of Brunswick, A. W. Fisher, G. Z. French and J. M. Justice
were among the more prominent of the Republicans. While
there were some vacancies, the House stood about seventy-
five Democrats, three Independents, forty-two Republicans
of whom nineteen were negroes and three were carpetbag-

ii 22 IMPEACHMENT OF THE GOVERNOR

gers. In the House, says the historian Moore, “Maj.
Thomas Sparrow of Beaufort, R. P. Waring of Mecklen¬
burg, Capt. S. A. Ashe of New Hanover, and T. J. Jarvis
of Tyrrell were the leaders of their party.”

Major Sparrow was esteemed for his legal learning, his
experience, industry, ability and blameless life. He had
been a gallant soldier in the war; and in culture and morals
he ranked high in the State. He was the leader of the
House.

Captain Jarvis had a fine reputation as a soldier, and had
been a member of the Convention of 1865, and in the As¬
sembly in 1868-70. He was elected Speaker. He was en¬
tirely familiar with State affairs, and was a capital presid¬
ing officer, and exercised almost a controlling influence over
the proceedings of the body.

The carpetbaggers had virtually disappeared. In the
House were G. Z. French of Wilmington, A. W. Fisher of
Bladen, Holden’s former Adjutant-General, and John Ren-
frow of Halifax. There were nineteen negroes in the
House, among them Mabson of New Hanover. New Han¬
over, where there was nearly one thousand negro majority,
there having been four Republican candidates for the House,
was represented by a carpetbagger, a negro, and a Dem¬
ocrat who ran in ahead of two of the negro candidates ; and,
similarly for the Senate, Maj. Charles W. McClammy was
elected over two Republican candidates for Senator in the
New Hanover District.

W. W. Gaither was elected Clerk, and Kerr Craige of
Salisbury, Reading Clerk. Later in the session, elections
being held in Alamance and Caswell, C. A. McAllister and
E. B. Withers and W. Paylor became members.

The Senate

In calling the Senate to order, Lieutenant-Governor Cald¬
well said among other things : “Much was done by your
predecessors calculated to advance the State in her onward
march to glory and greatness if the intention of the law¬
makers had been faithfully and honestly observed and their
enactments properly executed ; but candor compels me to

VETERANS IN THE LEGISLATURE

1123

admit that much also was done which it were better had it
been entirely omitted.” He suggested that thorough inves¬
tigation should be made into all well-founded complaints of
frauds and speculations, “as much to vindicate the character
of such as have been falsely charged as to bring to justice
those who have abused their high trusts.”

In the Senate were thirty-six Democrats, fourteen Repub¬
licans of whom .were two carpetbaggers and three negroes,
among them George W. Price of Wilmington. Among the
Conservatives were Dr. Speed, Lewis Latham, E. J. Warren,
John W. Graham, John A. Gilmer, J. M. Worth, Ham C.
Jones, W. M. Robbins, James Merrimon, W. L. Love and
others of the first water as sterling men. Col. William L.
Saunders was chosen Clerk. Colonel Saunders sometimes
has been alleged to have been the Chief of the Invisible Em¬
pire, but certainly that could only be a surmise. Henry A.
London was elected Reading Clerk.

While the membership of both houses was largely of
men who had no legislative experience, yet they were men
of intelligence, and were trained to command. They were
young men entering on the new life of the State under its
novel conditions with resolution. With intelligence and
patriotism they addressed themselves to the difficult task
of undoing the evils that had befallen the State and pro¬
moting the happiness and prosperity of the people, and with
a purpose to secure the future.

Later in the session, James A. Graham became Senator
from Alamance, L. Brown from Caswell and L. C. Edwards
from Granville. A majority of the members of the As¬
sembly had been in the Confederate service, and now they
felt that a duty had come to them quite equal to any they
had hitherto been charged with. They had fought in the
battlefield for their State and people; they were now to
rescue the State from the horrible fate that had overtaken
it under the dominancy of the tyrannous Congress. Ruin
lay ahead. To avoid it, wisdom and resolution were neces¬
sary. One of their first duties, plain and imperative, was
to unite the discordant elements of the white people and
consolidate them in a coherent party. Thousands detested

1124

IMPEACHMENT OF THE GOVERNOR

Gov.

Holden’s

message

the very name of Democrat, and still more were more bitter
than gall against the Secessionists. To avert impending ruin
and secure the future, these animosities were to be allayed,
and all opposed to Republican dominancy buttressed on
negroism were to be consolidated and brought into harmo¬
nious cooperation.

As soon as the Assembly had organized Governor Holden
sent in his message. After reminding the General Assem¬
bly of its high duties, he continued: "We have cause to
be thankful to Almighty God for the abundant harvests of
the year now closing, and for the peace and quiet now pre¬
vailing throughout the State. Scarcity of the means to
support life is no longer felt. All our people who labor
can have their ‘daily bread/ and many are retrieving and
rebuilding the fortunes which were lost or impaired during
the late war. We are entering as a people on a new career.
Time, labor, patience, harmony and good will among our¬
selves will make North Carolina more prosperous, more
wealthy and more respected than she has heretofore been
at any period in her history.” Had Governor Holden been
animated by those sentiments two years earlier — even
though accepting congressional reconstruction and negro
suffrage, far happier would have been his fate, and differ¬
ent, indeed, the course of events in North Carolina. With
respect to the State debt, counting in the special tax bonds,
he said : “The entire debt is about thirty millions, requiring
for interest and the State government, a tax of $2,500,000.”
But he did not think the people would submit to that tax,
although he believed it would be wise for them to do so.
He therefore suggested, “there must be a compromise of
the old debt and a payment on the new debt of such amounts
as were realized from the sale of bonds from first hand” ;
but he declared that his judgment was to pay the entire
debt in good faith.

The Governor, after a detailed review of public affairs,
finances, education, State institutions, etc., at great length
stated the successive incidents and events of the Ku Klux
outrages and operations and of his own course in putting a
stop to them, and he declared : “The result of this action

BIDDING FOR IMMIGRATION

1125

on the part of the Executive, in pursuance of the Constitu¬
tion and the laws, has been in the highest degree fortunate
and beneficial.”

In regular course a great mass of bills and resolutions
were presented and day by day progress was made in the
business of ordinary legislation.

On Tuesday, November 29, Governor Z. B. Vance was
elected United States Senator to succeed Gen. J. C. Abbott.
In the Conservative caucus there had been strong opposi¬
tion to the nomination of Governor Vance, particularly be¬
cause his disabilities had not been removed, and he could
not take his seat except by congressional action, while there
were some members who did not care for Vance because of
his attitude to the Confederate administration during the
war. General Ransom’s disabilities had been removed.
Although there were some few votes for Clingman and
Merrimon and others, the contest was between Vance and
Ransom. At length it was announced that if his disabili¬
ties were not removed Governor Vance would resign and
allow the position to be filled by one who could take his
seat, and so on the twenty-seventh ballot in caucus V ance
was nominated by two majority, and then was elected by
the full Conservative strength. He was entitled to take
his seat on March 5, 1871 ; but Congress not having relieved
his disabilities, on its adjournment in April, he held on,
awaiting its action at the December session.

Among the objects many had in view was the resuscita¬
tion of the State through immigration. A large stream of
immigrants was flowing into this country from Europe, and
it was thought possible to attract a part of it to North
Carolina. A commissioner of immigration was appointed
with authority to establish agencies in Great Britain, France
and Germany ; and a corporation was authorized to be
formed by any and all of the railroad companies, for the
purpose of promoting immigration. As the preceding Leg¬
islature had passed acts to give effect to the views and pur¬
poses of the Republicans, so this body speedily addressed
itself to reversing that action. It first repealed the Shoffner
Act under which Governor Holden had declared counties

Vance

elected

Senator

Immigration

Repealing

legislation

1 126

IMPEACHMENT OF THE GOVERNOR

Littlefield

House Jour¬
nal, 115

in rebellion, and passed acts to suppress secret political or¬
ganizations and to repeal the objectionable sections of the
militia law. Not a vestige was left of the instrumentalities
used by Governor Holden in his military operations.

The act dividing the Western North Carolina Railroad
into two divisions was repealed, and as far as practicable
the railroad organizations were restored to their original
situation before the issue of the special tax bonds. The
practice introduced by the Code of Civil Procedure was
suspended, and cases made returnable to term time. To
inquire into frauds and corruption a commission was raised,
of which Judge W. M. Shipp, Gen. J. G. Martin and Hon.
Joseph B. Batchelor, once Attorney-General of the State,
were the members. G. W. Swepson and M. F. Littlefield
having been indicted in the Superior Court of Buncombe
County, the Governor was requested to secure their ar¬
rests in whatever state they might be found, and the Gov¬
ernor was authorized to offer a reward of $5,000 for the
apprehension of Littlefield.

Impeachment of the Governor

On December 9, Mr. Strudwick offered a resolution im¬
peaching W. W. Holden, Governor, of high crimes and
misdemeanors in office; which was referred to the Judiciary
Committee. In the Committee the subject was fully and
carefully considered. Mr. Phillips made a strong appeal
for an adverse report. Lie spoke of the hundreds of thou¬
sands of negroes, a part of our population, who looked to
Governor Holden as their protector, and who regarded that
the actions for which he was now called in question were
taken by him in their behalf ; and were he now to suffer on
their account, and if they felt they no longer had any pro¬
tector, and were to fall back in their anger on a course of
violence, what social disorder might result. After careful
consideration, on the 13th, Major Sparrow, the Chairman,
reported the resolution favorably signed by the thirteen
Conservative members of that Committee, but without the
approval of any Republican.

COURT OF IMPEACHMENT

ii 27

After various motions in antagonism, the resolution was
adopted the next day by a vote of 60 to 46. On the 15th
Speaker Jarvis directed Messrs. Strudwick, Welch and
Sparrow to appear at the bar of the Senate and in the
name of the House of Representatives and all the good peo¬
ple of North Carolina to impeach W. W. Holden, Governor
of North Carolina, of high crimes and misdemeanors in
office. On December 19, articles of impeachment contain¬
ing eight different articles were presented to the House and
considered in committee of the whole, Strudwick in the
chair, and the House adopted them as presented and elected
seven managers, Sparrow, Gregory, Dunham, Welch, John¬
ston, Scott and Broadfoot, with authority to employ other
counsel. The Senate being notified the next day (20th) at
eleven o’clock, the House of Representatives attended the
managers in formal procession to the Senate and Major
Sparrow presented the articles of impeachment, and the
articles being read, the House returned to its chamber. Im¬
mediately Lieutenant-Governor Caldwell announced his re¬
tirement to take charge of the Executive Department; and
Judge E. J. Warren was elected President pro tern. On the
23d, the Senate organized as a court of impeachment,* the
Chief Justice presiding. Governor Holden appeared and
by his counsel, Richard C. Badger, asked for thirty days
for preparation, and the court adjourned until January 23.

Convention proposed

A committee on constitutional reform had been early
raised, and on December 14, Senator Cook had introduced
the bill the committee had prepared providing for a con¬
vention with limited power, each delegate elected to be
sworn that he will not evade or disregard the duties en¬
joined in the limits fixed to the convention. The Governor
was required to issue a proclamation commanding the
sheriffs to open the polls and hold an election, at which the
people were to vote either for or against the convention ;
and also for delegates to sit in the convention in case a
majority of the people should call it. The bill having been
debated in the Senate and many amendments offered was

Dec., 1870

The man¬
agers

Warren

1 128

IMPEACHMENT OF THE GOVERNOR

Caldwell

up for final vote on December. 19, when Lieutenant-Gov¬
ernor Caldwell stated that in his opinion the assent of two-
thirds of all the Senators-elect was necessary for its pas¬
sage. That being his opinion, he desired to vacate the chair
in case the Senate did not agree with him. On a vote taken
it appeared that twenty-eight Senators differed with him,
and only twelve agreed with him. The Lieutenant-Gov¬
ernor thereupon called Judge Warren to the chair, and the
bill having received twenty-eight votes to fifteen in the
negative was transmitted to the House for concurrence.
The House made some amendments, which were not agreed
to. So the bill went to conference, and the amendments
made in conference were adopted on February 4, and the
act was ratified February 8. Later Governor Caldwell, now
the acting Governor, having scruples as to the authority
of the Legislature under the Constitution, submitted the
question to the Supreme Court, and the judges concurred
in his view. Thereupon he transmitted the correspondence
to the Assembly. But the Assembly adhered to its own
view and passed another act, similar to the former one, ex¬
cept that it required the returns to be made to the Attorney-
General instead of to the Governor, and it fixed the election
for August. Then on April 5 it adopted resolutions that
the opinion of the justices in a case not properly constituted
'‘hath no binding force or effect. . . . That the Gov¬
ernor has no veto power and is not at liberty to sit in
judgment on an act of the Assembly and nullify it.”

The Senate as a court of impeachment having adjourned
to January 23, the Assembly, on December 23, took a recess
till January 16, 1871.

Impeachment

After recess the Legislature reconvened January 16. The
Senate being in session as a court of impeachment, on the
23d, Maj. John W. Graham offered the rules to be ob¬
served and the Governor filed his answer, answering each
of the eight articles. His counsel were R. C. Badger,'
J. M. McCorkle, Nathaniel Boyden, Ed Coningland and
' W. N. H. Smith.

UNPRECEDENTED SPECTACLE

1129

The managers had engaged the services of Governor
William A. Graham, Governor Thomas Bragg and Judge
A. S. Merrimon. It was not till February 2 that the trial
began. It was a solemn and impressive scene — the repre¬
sentatives of the people calling to the bar of justice the
Governor of the State charged with subverting the consti¬
tutional liberties of the people of the State. Never before
had there been such a proceeding in North Carolina. The
actors in the court were men of the highest standing in
the State, eminent for their learning and character. Man¬
ager Sparrow, in an able, learned and extended address, de¬
veloped the facts alleged as the basis for the impeachment.
To Judge Merrimon had been assigned the introduction of
evidence and the examination of the witnesses. In the per¬
formance of this duty Judge Merrimon won the highest
praise for acumen and careful preparation. Never per¬
haps was an attorney so fortunate in illustrating his per¬
fection in the duty assigned him.

Various were the many questions that arose for discus¬
sion, calling for the highest powers, and on both sides were
displayed great learning and efficiency. Indeed, both the
managers and Governor Holden were fortunate in the
selection of their counsel.

Among the witnesses for the respondent were some men
who had borne excellent reputations. Among them was
James E. Boyd, a young attorney of Alamance who had
been one of the Ku Klux. He said that the White Brother¬
hood came into the county of Alamance in November, 1868,
and that he was then initiated by J. A. Long, who was the
chief of the organization in that county. Shiloh was the
word of distress. While it was not so required in the oath,
yet he considered that each member had to protect other
members, whether as a witness or a juror, and that the
operations were to be kept secret ; that in the oath was a
declaration that the affiant did not belong to “any political
society or party whose aim and intention is to destroy the
rights of the states and of the people and to elevate the
negro with the white man.” There was an additional oath
as to secrecy and aid to members ; and that you “will never

Jan., 1871

Impeach¬
ment of
Holden, p.

1581

Boyd’s

testimony

Impeach¬
ment of
Holden, p.
1587

H30

IMPEACHMENT OF THE GOVERNOR

Impeach¬
ment of
Holden, p.
1589

Ibid., 1610

Long

The trial

The convic¬
tion

bear State's evidence against any member of this brother¬
hood/' There were ten camps in Alamance, and there were
seventy-five members in his camp. He was likewise initiated
into the Constitutional Union Guard, whose object was
the preservation of the Constitution as it was before the
Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. The oaths were
nearly similar. He did not remember taking an oath as a
member of the Invisible Empire and he did not think it
existed in Alamance County.

Mr. Boyd told of incidents occurring in the county that
he knew about. He knew of numerous whippings. On
being arrested he was taken to Yancey ville. While there
he sent word to the Governor that he had no disposition to
conceal anything he knew about the Ku Ivlux. He told
Kirk that if put on the stand he would tell all he knew,
and so later he became a witness. Another witness, J. A.
Long, testified that in May, 1871, the Ku Klux organization
had disbanded in Alamance, although some ridings may
have taken place after that. The evidence showed that of
the eighty persons arrested in Alamance only relatively a
few were members of the Ku Klux, and as to those arrested
in Caswell, it was not shown that any were, although there
had been many negroes whipped in Caswell as in Alamance.

The examination of the witnesses for the managers covers
about one thousand printed pages. On February 2, Mr.
Coningland opened for the respondent and on March 13,
respondent closed after introducing evidence covering eleven
hundred printed pages. There was some further testimony
by the managers, and on the 15th the argument began.
Governor Graham’s opening covers forty pages. Mr. Con¬
ingland replied. Mr. Boyden followed in an address of
fifty pages, and Hon. W. N. H. Smith in one of seventy
pages. Bragg closed in one of ninety-two pages.

Henry London, the Clerk, read the articles of impeach¬
ment. The vote was taken without debate. The respond¬
ent was acquitted on the first and second articles, but on
the third and all others he was found guilty ; two-thirds of
the Senators voting for his conviction.

HOLDEN FOUND GUILTY

1131

The Board of Managers, accompanied by the House,
now entered the chamber. Maj. John W. Graham offered
a resolution, reciting the proceedings and the judgment of
the Senate. While all of the speeches were of the highest
order those of Governor Graham, Governor Bragg and Mr.

Smith were of surpassing excellence and added to the high
reputation of these gentlemen. The Senators were allowed
to file opinions and these likewise were worthy of the occa¬
sion. That of Major McClammy, the Senator from New
Hanover, closes : “Of the large number arrested there were
none taken under warrants properly made out, but they
were seized at the instance and by direction of respondent
with utter disregard of the provisions of the Constitution.

If there had been insurrection and these men had engaged
therein, his acts might have been lawful, but there was no
insurrection and the capture and detention of these parties
were without the sanction of the law. Had they engaged
in any criminal undertaking their apprehension might be
excused, but there is not even an insinuation that most of
them had committed any offense known to the law. As
for the members of the secret organizations shown to have
existed in these counties, they do deserve harsh punishment
from the hands of inexorable justice. Not even can the
respondent entertain for them a greater aversion than my¬
self. But these societies were the outgrowth of the times,
and in checking them it was criminal in the respondent
to deprive innocent citizens of their dearest rights. The
Constitution and the laws are worth nothing if they can
be violated with impunity at the arbitrary will of one man.

They are intended not merely to limit power in quiet times,
but rather to prevent encroachments on the liberties of
the people when ‘reason forsakes its throne and passion
rules the hour.’ ”

Governor Holden being found guilty, the sentence im¬
posed was to be debarred from holding office in this State. The sentence

While presiding over the high court of impeachment, the
Chief Justice himself apprehended that he would next be
called to answer. He employed Col. Thomas C. Fuller to Pearson
defend him.

1132

IMPEACHMENT OF THE GOVERNOR

1871

Judge Jones

John Pool

On February 27, the Chief Justice, however, made a state¬
ment with reference to his action in not seeking to enforce
the writ of habeas corpus, in which he said : “As against
General Hoke or Colonel Mallett, during the late war, it
was my duty to enforce the writ. I had the power because
I could fall back on the Governor. But as against the Gov¬
ernor, who is the commander-in-chief of all the able-bodied
men in the State, it was otherwise; that is the point.” The
other members of the court concurred. The court virtually
determined to remain silent, while the Governor carried out
his purpose to put citizens to death by military court-martial.

There was, indeed, a purpose to impeach the Chief Justice,
but Governor Bragg, when consulted, suggested that a cor¬
rupt intent would have to be proved, and that among the
Conservative Senators were perhaps some who could not
be convinced of “corrupt intent.” So, after the conviction
of the Governor, since the majesty of the law and the po¬
tency of constitutional government had been vindicated, no
proceedings against the Chief Justice were instituted.

Edmund W. Jones, Judge of the Second Judicial Dis¬
trict, a man notoriously addicted to drunkenness, was im¬
peached by the House on March 27, and S. F. Phillips and
four other members having been appointed managers, the
Senate sat as a court of impeachment on March 31. Then
the Governor informed the House that Judge Jones had
tendered his resignation and the House thereupon with¬
drew its articles, and Judge Jones was allowed to resign.

On the last day of March the Assembly raised a joint
committee to inquire into the conduct of Senator John Pool,
reciting that from the testimony of Judge William J. Clarke
in the impeachment trial it appeared that Senator Pool had
advised Governor Holden in the course the Governor had
pursued, and that it was understood that he had urged the
Governor of the State to put in command of a military
force one Mac. Lindsay, a most desperate and lawless man
who would arrest and summarily dispose of every prom¬
inent citizen who opposed the policy of the Republican party,
without the useless form of a trial ; and that he urged that
the Governor should pursue the same course as Governor

CHANGES IN LAWS

ii33

Clayton of Arkansas, who had arrested and executed, with¬
out reference to the civil law, every individual who op¬
posed his policy. When the committee examined Richard
C. Badger and Isaac J. Young, the testimony was in accord¬
ance with these statements. But on the floor of the United
States Senate, when confronted with Badger’s testimony,
Senator Pool sought to explain that there were two or three
talking and that Badger got their views mixed; however,
Mr. Badger had testified that he “had at once declared
Pool’s suggestion to be infamous.” And Mac. Lindsay, as
benevolent-looking a man as a bishop, reminding one of
Jenkinson in the Vicar of Wakefield , himself declared that
he had never been a pirate as supposed, and was not quite
so bad a man as John Pool had represented him. It was
said that one of the Conservatives he was expected to lose
was Governor William A. Graham.

On April 6, being the hundredth day of the session,
the Assembly adjourned. It had raised the standard of
economy and had sought to march steadily under that
banner. Various were the changes made in the laws
to eliminate as far as practicable the unnecessary altera¬
tions introduced by the preceding Assembly. A new county
was established in the mountains and named Swain in honor
of the late President of the University. • A committee was
raised to report on the University. The year just ended
fifty-three pupils had entered, it being now a free school
and a part of the free school system. This committee com¬
posed of Edmund Jones, T. A. McNeill and E. B. Lyon
reported that “under the existing conditions the University
cannot prosper, and it is considered by every one to be a
total, miserable failure.” Reorganization was deemed nec¬
essary.

Among other changes to be noted was a requirement that
voters were hereafter to vote in the townships where they
lived and were registered, and they were no longer required

L eg. Acts,
1870-71, 489

Sentinel,
April 8

The As¬
sembly

The Uni¬
versity

ii34 IMPEACHMENT OF THE GOVERNOR

to vote on a single ballot. By an act of April 6, the power
vested in the Governor to appoint State proxies and direc¬
tors was annulled and this power was conferred on the
Speaker of the House and President of the Senate, and
the speakers exercised the power so conferred. But the
Governor claimed that all such appointees were officers
within the meaning of the Constitution, and eventually the
Supreme Court sustained his view. But the public printer
was held to be only a contractor.

CHAPTER LXVII

Bond’s Proceedings

Circuit Court judges. — Bond. — The Ku Klux. — The Enforce¬
ment Act. — The Scott committee. — Saunders. — Affairs in Ruther¬
ford County. — Biggerstaff. — Judge Logan. — J. M. Justice. — The
arrests. — Hester. — June court. — Bond. — The convention campaign.
— B. F. Moore. — Governor Caldwell. — The press. — Arrests without
warrants. — The convention defeated. — The Federal Court. — The
arrested. — Starbuck. — Plato Durham. — Rev. J. B. Smith. — Ran¬
dolph Shotwell. — Young men flee.

The Federal Court — Bond

The entire State at that period constituted the District of
North Carolina for which there was a district judge, who
together with a justice of the Supreme Court held the Circuit
Court in the district, the states of the Union being appor¬
tioned to nine judicial circuits. North Carolina was in the
Fourth Circuit, composed of Maryland, Virginia and the
two Carolinas. On April io, 1869, by an act of Congress,
a circuit judge was to be appointed for each circuit. On
July 13, 1870, Hugh L. Bond of Baltimore was appointed
Circuit Judge of the Fourth Circuit. Judge Bond, while
learned in law, had the firmness desirable in the judicial
office and likewise some of the qualities that characterized
Judge Jeffreys of the time of Charles II. On May 31,
1870, Congress passed a rigid act with respect to elections
of Representatives in Congress, and to persons going about
in disguise to intimidate others, and Judge Bond was well
chosen to give effect to the purposes of the act. Quickly
following Judge Brooks’s action binding over Bergen and
Kirk, Governor Holden appealed to Judge Bond to come
to Raleigh and review Judge Brooks’s action. Judge Bond
did so. Bergen was in jail ; Kirk was in the custody of
Marshal Carrow, but on parole. Judge Bond heard the
arguments but did not act until the Circuit Court met in
November, when he released Bergen and also Kirk. While
there were State warrants in Sheriff Lee’s hands for each

Nov., 1870

Circuit
Court judges

1136

BOND’S PROCEEDINGS

The Ku Klux

April, 1871

The Enforce¬
ment Act

The Scott
Committee

of these defendants, they were allowed to leave the State
without the State warrants being executed. Up to the open¬
ing of December, 1870, Congress had perhaps been so dum-
founded at the result of its carpetbag governments that it
brought forward no new measures in regard to the South.
In each Southern State there had been a reign of astound¬
ing corruption, the debt of some states being increased more
than fifty millions of dollars, and negro rule under the
carpetbaggers had resulted in so many excesses that the
whole country was shocked. But when the Ku Klux opera¬
tions began to attract attention an opening appeared for
the Republicans to retrieve the situation. Although the
Ku Klux did not aim at insurrection that cast was given to
its activities and when Congress met in December, 1870,
John Pool and General Abbott easily started proceedings.
The President was asked to furnish information as to dis¬
loyal organizations in North Carolina. At that time none
existed in the State, but that did not matter. A special
committee was raised and the testimony of Joseph W.
Holden, Colonel Kirk and James E. Boyd, as well as of
some fifty other persons, was taken. One of the purposes
was to deter the North Carolina Legislature from prosecut¬
ing the impeachment of Governor Holden, but it not only
failed, it did not even prevent the passage of the resolu¬
tion to investigate the conduct of John Pool.

Later in April, after the adjournment of the North Caro¬
lina Legislature, and after it had passed an act suppressing
and prohibiting all secret political organizations, Congress
passed what was called the Enforcement Act, aimed at the
suppression of the Ku Klux, and giving the Federal Courts
jurisdiction of all complaints of any violation of the amend¬
ments to the Constitution ; and a joint select committee of
Congress was raised known as the Scott Committee to in¬
vestigate alleged outrages in the Southern States. On this
committee were Beck, Bayard, Sunset Cox, Blair, Alfred
M. Waddell and some other Democrats; and while the ac¬
tion and report of the Republican members were bitterly
partisan, the report and the speeches made by the Dem¬
ocratic members were fearless and patriotic to the last de-

SAUNDERS REFUSES TO ANSWER

ii37

gree. The whole subject of outrages by the carpetbaggers
and negroes as well as by the Ku Klux organizations was
exploited. Among the witnesses brought up for examina¬
tion was Col. William L. Saunders, reported to have been
the Emperor of the Invisible Empire in North Carolina.
Notwithstanding threats to imprison him at the pleasure of
the House, he quietly said : “I refuse to answer.” But
while the operations of the Ku Klux in the central counties
had ceased in the summer of 1870, and quietude had reigned
there undisturbed, in South Carolina, especially in the west¬
ern counties near the North Carolina line where a large ma¬
jority of the whites belonged to the Ku Klux, its activities
continued. And they broke out afresh in 1871, in the south¬
western counties of North Carolina. So while the testi¬
mony in regard to North Carolina covered all the State,
yet particular attention was directed to affairs in Cleveland
and Rutherford counties. On the night of Saturday,
April 8, Aaron Biggerstaff in the lower part of Rutherford
County was visited by a large crowd and whipped. Elis
daughter said she recognized many of the assailants. The
next morning as Judge Logan was starting to go to hold
Cleveland court, Miss Biggerstaff met him and warned him
that the Ku Klux were about ; and he returned home and
wrote to Governor Caldwell that he was deterred from go¬
ing to Shelby by fear of personal violence. The people of
Shelby hearing of his action, sent the Sheriff and a posse
to meet him ; and although he declined to accompany them,
on Thursday he went on to Shelby alone and unattended.
Judge Logan had many persons arrested and bound over.
Later, when Biggerstaff and son and daughter were on their
way to attend court at the trial of these men, they were
assailed and turned back. Judge Logan then asked for
Federal troops and these came early in May. But a month
later, on June 11, J. M. Justice, a member of the House of
Representatives from Rutherford County, a Republican law¬
yer and very active in prosecuting the Ku Klux, was the
victim of an outrage. His attitude and conduct had been
very exasperating, and on that night some eighty men took
him from his house and treating him with indignity and
72

w. L.

Saunders

Outrages

April, 1871

Biggerstaff

Judge Logan

J. M. Justice

1138

BOND’S PROCEEDINGS

The arrests

Hester

June court

Bond

Sentinel,
April 15

cruelty carried him some distance into the woods and held
a council at which he said his death was decreed, but after
a while they released him and allowed him to return to his
residence. These outbreaks in that part of the State brought
the Ku Klux again into prominence and Judge Logan be¬
came busy issuing bench warrants for all whose names were
presented to him, a large number being thrown into jail.
Marshal Carrow sent out his deputies under a desperado,
J. G. Hester, who arrested not only those bound over by
Judge Logan but others, and held them for trial in the Fed¬
eral Court. In two months over a hundred arrests were
made, the prisoners being treated with great indignity.
About the middle of June they were brought to Raleigh
before Judge Bond, and although Plato Durham had powers
of attorney to sign their bonds Judge Bond would not ac¬
cept the security nor would he consent for a United States
Commissioner to go with the prisoners to Rutherford County
and take their bonds ; nor for them to appear at Marion,
where Judge Brooks was to hold a term of Federal Court
in August. Thirty-nine of these men were held in prison
at Raleigh. The others were bound over to appear before
Judge Bond at Raleigh at a special term in September, and
the jury was discharged, Mr. Phillips, then the Assistant
District Attorney, directing the Marshal to summon as new
jurors only those who were inclined to commit the prisoners.

The convention campaign

While these proceedings were in progress the convention
campaign began. The Conservative members of the Assem¬
bly issued an address to the people urging the need for a
convention to amend the Constitution and they announced
a campaign committee for each district, with a central com¬
mittee at Raleigh, on the latter being Governor Bragg,
Judge Merrimon, R. H. Battle, J. J. Litchford and C. M.
Busbee. Later this central committee issued a stirring ad¬
dress pointing out the changes proposed. At Washington
City, it was considered that the purpose of the movement
was to beget a disloyal and insurrectionary spirit in the
State ; but B. F. Moore, appearing before the Scott Com-

HOT POLITICAL CONTEST

ii39

mittee, made a strong statement to the contrary and ex¬
plained that although Governor Caldwell and some other
Republicans held that the movement was not authorized by
the State Constitution, yet it was lawful and proper, as
it was based on the sovereignty of the people. While Gov¬
ernor Caldwell thought the Constitution should be revised,
and some other Republicans also concurred with him, yet
they generally opposed the movement. The Conservatives
on the other hand all favored it. All the Conservative news¬
papers, twenty-seven in number, pressed for it, while the
seven Republican papers were arrayed against it. The cam¬
paign called out all the public men on the hustings. At¬
torney-General Akerman spoke as the mouth-piece of the
President against it, warning the people that Congress and
the President would withdraw their recognition of state¬
hood from the State if the people persisted. The negroes
were told that it threatened their rights, and were rallied
in the opposition ; and many whites feared lest it might lead
to complications and trouble. Marshal Carrow was pliant
and flexible, and his deputies under the notorious Hester
were enthusiastic in their congenial work. Warrants were
not necessary. The example Governor Holden had set of
making out lists of men to be arrested was followed. The
gates were ajar, to open and close in on any they wished
to arrest. Mr. Phillips had now thrown off every associa¬
tion of the past and entered with zeal on a new career. He
became chairman of the Republican organization and wrote
the Republican address, declaring the act, submitting the
question of a convention to the people, unconstitutional and
defending the Constitution of 1868, warning the people that
tampering with it would result in Federal interference.

Such was the Republican argument. However, under the
act the Convention could consider no changes inconsistent
with the Constitution of the United States or to impair the
rights or privileges guaranteed by the Thirteenth, Four¬
teenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution, or
to modify the homestead law, or the Constitution with re¬
spect to mechanics’ and laborers’ liens, nor could it pass
ordinances of a legislative character ; and no proposed

The press

Sentinel,
April 20

Hamilton,

567

The arrests

1 140

BOND’S PROCEEDINGS

Leg. Acts,

1870-71,

330

The conven¬
tion defeated

981 arrests

Starbuck

amendments could have any validity until ratified by a ma¬
jority of the qualified voters of the State. This convention
movement failed; of the 181,259 votes cast at the election,
95,252 were against the convention, 86,007 were for it, the
majority against it being 9,245. The Conservative vote was
three thousand less than that received by Judge Shipp the
year before; but the aggregate vote for delegates was differ¬
ent; the Conservative candidates receiving 84,300 while the
Republicans received only 74,510 and sixty-one Conservative
delegates were successful as against fifty-nine Republicans.
Evidently the result of the campaign had turned on appre¬
hension and fear of consequences. Still it was dishearten¬
ing to the men who had hoped to relieve the State from the
incubus of some of the features of the Constitution.

The Federal Court

The election being over, the judicial campaign against the
Ku Klux was now pressed with vehemence. In September,
Judge Bond began his proceedings. The Court was held
at Raleigh. Among the names of 981 persons reported by
District Attorney Starbuck to the department as indicted,
are to be found James Madison Leach, Fred N. Strudwick,
David Schenck, Allmand A. McKoy, Owen Holmes, David
Cochran, R. N. Robertson, Thomas McIntyre, W. D. H.
Covington, William Ledbetter, Col. L. M. McAfee, Lewis
Mitchell, Plato Durham, Rev. John Britton Smith, William
B. Hanes, Randolph A. Shotwell, and hundreds of others
that stand and had ever stood for virtue, honor and re¬
spectability in their respective communities. District At¬
torney Starbuck found in his work congenial employment.
In association with Hester and the other Federal instru¬
ments of that day, he played his part according to his mod¬
erate intelligence. He, however, reported that “the con¬
viction of some and the indictment of this large number
seem for the present to have broken the power of this wide¬
spread conspiracy against the friends of the Union; yet
the utmost vigilance will be necessary to suppress the spirit
of treason lurking in the hearts of the disaffected and
treacherous enemies of the government.” As for many of

KU KLUX CONVICTIONS

1141

these men indicted by the picked grand jury, there was no
substantial fault to be found. Plato Durham, who, because
of his patriotic service in the Legislature and his devotion to
the cause of civilization, was particularly obnoxious to them,
although arrested and indicted was so free from blame that
even Starbuck, Phillips and Bond had to abandon the pros¬
ecution. He bore himself with exemplary manhood, but
unhappily and unfortunately for the State he did not long
survive the exasperating trials of those trying days. A
singular case was that of Rev. J. B. Smith, a Northern
Episcopal clergyman sent to Raleigh to conduct a negro
school. He was of Republican sympathies and was mindful
of the duties with which he was charged to elevate and
benefit the negroes. He was guilty of telling a negro boy,
not of voting age, that he could not vote, and that being
his ofifense he was indicted under the Ku Klux Act, but
Judge Bond did not have the pleasure of imposing a sen¬
tence. He died. There were thirty-seven convictions. On
some a fine of $50 was imposed ; on others imprisonment
for one, two or three years. On one, imprisonment for
four; and on two for six years. Of these two, the case
of Randolph A. Shotwell called for the highest public sym¬
pathy. The historian, Moore, said : “The records of State
trials contain no more inhuman instance of useless and
wanton oppression than was seen in the case of Randolph
A. Shotwell. His real ofifense did not consist in any vi¬
olence inflicted upon the people who complained of Ku Klux
evils. Justice, the man who stood as prosecutor in the
cause, wherein the jury convicted, did not allege graver
misconduct in his visitors than what would be fairly con¬
sidered forcible trespass. Yet from the fact that Shotwell
was commander of his county camps he was singled out
in defiance of all propriety, and punished for the crimes of
other men. The fact that he had vigorously conducted a
Democratic newspaper and had been engaged in a personal
difficulty with Lusk, the assistant attorney for the govern¬
ment, led to the determination to make him an example for
the terror of many thousands. Captain Shotwell had been
delicately reared and manifested romantic courage and de-

Smith’s case

Moore, II,
371

Randolph

Shotwell

1142

BOND’S PROCEEDINGS

Hamilton
Reconstruc¬
tion, 579

votion as a soldier in the war. High-strung and sensitive
by nature, his tormentors supposed he would shrink from
the shameful punishment proposed and make such disclos¬
ures and concessions as they desired. They mistook their
victim, for no Roman ever showed more fortitude. He
rejected all their proposals and suffered imprisonment for
three years.”

And says Hamilton in his admirable and comprehen¬
sive work on Reconstruction: “Shotwell had assumed
the position of chief at the request of a number of leading
men in the hopes of checking the movement. He had never
been in a raid nor ordered one and had sought to prevent
the raid on Justice. Relying on his innocence, he stood
his trial without much fear of conviction. The false evi¬
dence against him had been carefully prepared. As soon
as sentence was passed upon him, he was tied with ropes
in the presence of the Court and carried in that condition
through the streets of Raleigh, not because there was any
fear of his escape, but simply to humiliate him and for the
effect it would have upon the public. When he was being
taken to Albany, C. L. Cobb, on behalf of the President,
offered him immediate pardon if he would implicate some
of the leading Conservatives in the State, and after reach¬
ing Albany, Gerret Smith, at the request of President Grant,
made a similar proposal to him.”

It was indeed a time of tribulation and trials. The course
of events had led many to associate for the safety of their
communities, and here and there had been acts of lawless¬
ness and now the administration had tortured these offenses
into insurrection and disloyalty. The Court was a machine
that offered no hope of fairness and justice. There was
an exodus of many who had cause of apprehension. Many
young men left the State and fled for safety. Packed juries
and perjured witnesses, controlled by Judge Bond, were
direr to their imaginations than all the tempest of death at
Gettysburg.

CHAPTER LXVII1

Conservatives Control Legislation

The new conditions. — Currency. — Banks. — Interest. — Transpor¬
tation. — No schools. — Robeson County. — Wilmington prospers.—
The movement to Georgia. — State finances. — Revival of manu¬
factures. — The Assembly meets. — Caldwell’s message. — Ransom
elected Senator. — Constitutional amendments. — The North Caro¬
lina Railroad. — The State debt. — Women’s property. — The end of
the Assembly. — The penitentiary. — Death of Manly and Bragg. —
The Western District. — Judge Dick, Boyden, Settle, Bynum. — The
campaign of 1872. — Social equality. — The nominees. — Republican
leaders revolt. — Horace Greeley. — Grant. — The press. — Neill Mc¬
Kay. — The great campaign. — The result. — The Republicans carry
the State. — The Assembly conservative. — Robinson Speaker. —
The Governor’s message. — The contest between Vance and Merri-
mon. — The long contest. — They withdraw. — Merrimon elected. —
Resulting divergences. — Constitutional amendments.

The new conditions

•

The collapse of the Confederacy in April, 1865, left the
people with no currency, and generally with nothing to sell ;
nor would there have been any purchasers, except a few
Northern speculators later came to the market towns to ob¬
tain Southern products, of which the North stood in need.
Cotton, for instance, was at first very high, but then dropped
down year by year. Naval stores, spirits of turpentine, tar
and rosin also were high. Fortunately there were many beds
of low grade rosin at former distilleries that were now valu¬
able. Every effort was made to bring to market products of
value. Presently some United States money became current
and within a year life began to take on its usual course. The
railroads, although much worn out, were running and there
was the former transportation.' Happily the seasons for the
production of crops were good and after a year or two fam¬
ilies became comfortable, everybody at work, making the best
out of a bad situation. The United States paper currency
had continued to depreciate in comparison with gold, so
that the relation was three paper dollars for two of specie,
and prices were high. Also, when the industry of the peo¬
ple had made requisite ordinary business facilities, there
was an obstacle to the reestablishment of civilized methods.

Trade

No banks

1144 CONSERVATIVES CONTROL LEGISLATION

Before 1874

The rail¬
roads

The old State banks were no more ; Congress had virtually
forbidden State banks by imposing a heavy tax on their
issue and it had so limited the number of National banks
that in 1867 only ten new banks could be established in the
entire Union, and in the following years, respectively, only
12, 9 and 22, and of these the North got the lion’s share.
So only two or three banks were in that period allowed to
North Carolina. The State was virtually denied banking
facilities, as were all the other Southern States. Such an
infliction on the Southern people at a time when the victo¬
rious North, rolling in its wealth, might well have desired
the prostrated South to have become a general scene of con¬
tented and profitable industry, recovering from the losses
of the war, cannot be too bitterly stigmatized. Even in
1870 the usual rate of interest was eighteen per cent while
often more was exacted for the loan of money. As the
old State banks were closed while their notes were outstand¬
ing, and they held the obligations of their former patrons,
their notes being of uncertain value, were bought up by
speculators at a low price, and after the passage of the
Bankrupt Act of 1867, the banks went into bankruptcy.

The Wilmington and Manchester Railroad from Wil¬
mington to Kingsville, S. C., was dismantled in 1865, and
two years later was sold, the purchasers being Walters,
Newcomer, Shoemaker of Baltimore, and a few others, who
completed it to Columbia. These gentlemen having later
bought out the State’s interest in the Wilmington and Wel¬
don in 1872 leased that road for ninety-nine years. The
Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad from Goldsboro to
New Bern having fallen into the hands of the Federals dur¬
ing the war was virtually out of business until after the
war the State revived it.

The Wilmington and Charlotte road was in operation,
as were the Wilmington and Weldon, the North Carolina,
and Raleigh and Gaston ; the Piedmont road from Greens¬
boro to Danville, the Western road from Fayetteville to
Egypt. The Atlantic and Tennessee from Charlotte to
Statesville was completed in 1863, but then its rails were

ILLITERACY IN THE STATE

1145

removed to build the road from Greensboro to Danville. It
was, however, reopened in 1871.

The interruption of the common schools had deplorable
consequences. During the war they had not only been
maintained but Superintendent Wiley had introduced graded
schools ; still their efficiency was more or less impaired, and
in 1865, for want of money, the entire system was neces¬
sarily abandoned. The invested $2,500,000 educational fund
had been rendered worthless by the conquest and overthrow
of the State. The schools had not been reopened. For
five years the children had not been taught and according
to the census of 1870 there were 70,860 children between
the ages of ten and twenty-one who could not write, and
the illiterates over twenty-one years of age were 96,000.
Such was one of the fateful incidents of Mr. Lincoln’s un¬
necessary war, supplemented by the reconstruction policies
of Congress. But the State now was in other hands. The
appointment by Governor Caldwell of Professor Mclver
as Superintendent of Public Instruction was an excellent
one. At the instance of the Legislature, he framed a school
bill. It provided for private aid to the public schools. The
school fund for the school district was to be supplemented
by private subscription and the schools were to be free.
This measure passed the House unanimously and went into
operation in March, 1872, when the public school system
began again to function after an interval of seven years.

In Robeson County, during the war, some Indians and
mulattoes had “banded themselves against the whites, and
engaged in murder and robbery.” This was continued after
the war. It was not founded on the circumstances that later
led to the Union League and Ku Klux. While at its height
in 1865, it continued with varying intensity until 1871. The
robber band was known as the Henry Berry Lowry gang.
Many whites were murdered and much pillage was done
and many houses burned. In a measure these robbers liv¬
ing in the swamps devastated the county and could not be
suppressed. At length in March, 1871, F. M. Wishart,
Murdock A. McLean, George L. McKay, Franklin and
John S. McKay, W. H. McCallum and I. Douglas and

The schools

1871

Robeson

County

1146 CONSERVATIVES CONTROL LEGISLATION

Chamber of
Commerce,
1872, 512

Archie McCallum, Archie I. McFayden, Malcolm McNeil
and Faulk Floyd entered on a campaign against the mur¬
derers and eventually succeeded in ridding the county of
them.

Wilmington prospers

The situation at Wilmington was hopeful, perhaps more
so than at any other point, but measurably the improvement
there had a counterpart elsewhere. It was necessarily hand¬
icapped for the want of bank facilities. Wilmington, how¬
ever, had the advantage of an established trade with the
West Indies and not only sent cargoes out in that direction,
but imported cargoes of sugar, coffee, molasses, salt and
fruits ; while that was the depot for exporting to Europe as
well as northward naval stores, receiving in return manufac¬
tures, and the commerce of the port had been constantly in¬
creasing. While the production of rice had ceased, that of
peanuts — a crop introduced in the vicinity before 1855 —
was worth $200,000; cotton, stimulated by the high price,
had considerably increased. At Wilmington it was esti¬
mated for the State at 200,000 bales and the exports
from that town had in 1871 reached 95,000 bales, the census
figures in 1869 being 63,000,000 pounds. And the British
mills that during the war had adapted their spindles to the
India staple, had now changed back, making an additional
demand for our American staple, and the price became
steady at about thirty cents a pound, which brought pros¬
perity to the cotton-growing communities. Spirits of tur¬
pentine was largely manufactured at Wilmington and “the
whole pine region is dotted with numerous distilleries.” Its
exports of 1871 were: spirits, 112,000 barrels; rosin, 568,-
000 barrels; tar, 38,000 barrels; and 18,000 of turpentine.
And the timber and lumber trade, shingles and staves had
constantly increased.

However, the lucrative business of making turpentine,
spirits and rosin about this time began its decline. Grad¬
ually coming down from the Pamlico region, it had been
very important in the eastern counties where the turpentine

NEW LIFE IN INDUSTRY

1 14 7

pines abounded. But now the business was measurably
transferred to the virgin forests of Georgia, carrying both
white operators and negro workmen. In subsequent years
the loss was greatly felt.

The general condition of the people may be seen in the
following figures from the Auditor’s report for the year
ending September 30, 1870:

Acres of land, 26,811,860, assessed at $69,990,991, being
about $2.50 an acre ; town lots, $9,566,323 ; live stock, about
$20,000,000 ; being horses valued at $65 ; mules, $79 ; cattle,
$7; hogs, $2. An acre of land was more valuable than one
hog, but 30 acres were less than a mule.

With some counties unreported, while the poll tax brought
in $108,987, the land tax was $221,367; livestock, etc.,
brought in $67,300, and money on hand and credits, $49,000.

The county taxes were about half those of the State. The
poll and some other taxes were for school purposes.

Revival of manufactures

According to the census there was in the State in 1869,
3,642 manufacturing establishments, with a capital of $8,-
140,473, employing 13,500 hands, chiefly males, the wages
being $2,195,711, and cost of material $12,824,000 and value
of products $19,021,327. The production of tobacco on
the farms was in that year 11,150,187 pounds and the man¬
ufacture of tobacco was well begun at Winston and Dur¬
ham. On the whole the progress had been constant and
gratifying. Indeed, at the session of 1871-1872 there were
so many applications for industrial charters that the then
Chairman of the Finance Committee addressed the House
on the subject, pointing out this indication of the association
of capital and the hope it gave that the State had entered
on favorable conditions, and substantial progress might now
be expected.

The Assembly meets

On the 20th of November, the General Assembly met in
regular session. The next day Governor Caldwell sent in
his message, in which he said : “It behooves us all to throw

Loss of
naval stores

The State’s
finances

1871

1148 CONSERVATIVES CONTROL LEGISLATION

Caldwell’s

message

Ransom,

Senator

Amendments
to Constitu¬
tion

N. C. Rail¬
road

the mantle of oblivion over our differences and devote our
energies to raising up our beloved old commonwealth’’ ; but
still he was true to his own convictions. He recommended
an adjustment of the public debt; called attention to the
Swazey suit in the Federal Court, by which the holders of
bonds issued to purchase stock in the North Carolina Rail¬
road had a lien on the dividends for their interest and on
the stock for the principal. He suggested the closing up
entirely of the University and likewise suggested five amend¬
ments that he thought should be made in order to reform
the Constitution. Governor Caldwell mentioned that on
March 31, Judge Thomas Settle had resigned from the Su¬
preme Court and after Mr. Phillips had declined the ap¬
pointment, he had appointed Hon. Nathaniel Boyden. On
May 3, Judge Settle had been appointed Minister to Peru by
the President. A. W. Fisher had resigned and John C.
Gorman had succeeded him as Adjutant General. S. S.
Ashley had resigned and Professor Alexander Mclver had
replaced him. All of these appointees were improvements
on their predecessors. On January 20, 1872, Governor
Vance tendered his resignation as Senator, which being ac¬
cepted, ten days later, after a caucus in which Judge Mer-
rimon was strongly supported, General Ransom was nom¬
inated. Ransom was elected by the full Conservative vote ;
and his disabilities having been removed two years earlier, he
asked admission to the Senate. But General Abbott now
claimed that as Vance was under disabilities at the time of
his election and was ineligible, he, Abbott, was the elected
Senator, and the matter was referred to a Senate committee.
On April 23, the Senate disallowed this claim, but awarded
him per diem up to that date, and on April 24, General Ran¬
som was sworn in as Senator. Since the method of amend¬
ing the Constitution by a convention had failed, a bill was
passed proposing to amend it in some sixteen particulars. In
conformity with that method, the bill had to be passed by a
three-fifths vote ; and then by a two-thirds vote of the suc¬
ceeding Assembly it was to be submitted to the people for
ratification or rejection.

The North Carolina Railroad having been leased by the
directors to the Richmond & Danville Railroad Company,

ADJUSTING THE STATE DEBT

1149

a legislative committee was raised to examine into that
proceeding and made an exhaustive report. This lease was,
indeed, a virtual abandonment of the North Carolina system
and made the future of our North Carolina interest largely
dependent on Richmond, and the Finance Committee
brought to the attention of the House that the bonds issued
in 1849 for the construction of the North Carolina Railroad
carried liens on the stock and dividends to the bondholders.
These liens were later declared by the Federal Court in the
case brought by Swazey to enforce them.

The subject of adjusting the State debt was taken up in
the House and a measure proposed by Ashe, Chairman of
the Finance Committee, was passed by the House, but the
Senate passed a different bill and although that was deemed
an impracticable measure, yet because of the divergent
views, it was allowed to pass the House ; as feared, it proved
without avail. At a subsequent Assembly, the House prop¬
osition was with some minor changes adopted and became
effective, being accepted by the bondholders.

Among many remedial acts were those making women
engaged in business traders, allowing contracts between
husband and wife and making the savings from a wife’s
property her separate property ; also new election laws and
much local as well as general legislation.

End of the Assembly

Thus drew toward its close in some respects the most
notable Assembly since the Provincial Congresses. Elected
as if in a whirlwind in the time that tried men’s souls in
1870, sweeping from power the corrupt emanation of the
conquerors, it had with prudence, if by a strong hand, re¬
stored constitutional government, reversed the policies of
the carpetbaggers and the negroes, and measurably consol¬
idating the discordant white factions, had rescued the State
from the dangers that threatened its civilization. Perhaps
no other body ever met in the State under conditions re¬
quiring so truly clear vision and determined action founded
on patriotism and prudence.

L eg. Doc.
27, 1871-2

State debt

Women’s

property

1150

May, 1871

CONSERVATIVES CONTROL LEGISLATION

Fortunately the leadership and prevailing spirit were equal
to the emergencies. During those long months of intense
action, there was no whisper of personal ambition on the
part of a single member. The former soldiers of Lee and
Jackson, now doing their duty in seeking the interest and
happiness of the people of the State, felt that the nightmare
of the past was behind them, even the vote for delegates
to the defeated convention affording some assurance of the
growing strength of the Conservative element, and a reason¬
able expectation of victory in the approaching State elec¬
tion. Their work being finished the Legislature adjourned
and the first chapter under the new conditions was closed.

The penitentiary having been sufficiently finished in 1871,
was now receiving convicts, the work being done under the
supervision of W. J. Hicks, who had the confidence of all
parties.

Death of Manly and Bragg

During this period of political excitement, when manhood
was subject to a strain and tension, the people were called on
to mourn the death of Charles Manly, who was Governor
of the State in 1848, a brother of Judge Matthias Manly and
of Bishop Manly, and in whom was combined every excel¬
lence of character. On the 19th of May, President Davis
visited Raleigh, remaining there several days, during which
the citizens paid him that attention which was in consonance
with their veneration for his lofty character and public
services.

Then, on January 21, 1872, Governor Bragg, after several
months of failing health, died. The next day at a meeting of
the bar in the Supreme Court room, Chief Justice Pearson
presiding, Governor Caldwell announced that the funeral
would be that afternoon, and that the members of the Court
and of the bar would attend as a body and be in the proces¬
sion at the funeral. The funeral was attended by an immense
concourse of citizens. The next day, at a meeting of the bar
in the Supreme Court, now presided over by the Chief
Justice, resolutions were adopted, giving “expression to our
feelings of admiration for his character and for a sincere

EMINENT LAWYERS

1151

tribute of respect for his memory.” Governor Bragg was,
indeed, one of the most eminent of Carolinians whether we
regard his great services to the State, his attainments or
his inflexible integrity. No other Carolinian was superior
to him in purity and noble conduct, while for massive
intellect and learning he was the equal of any of his genera¬
tion. Earlier George V. Strong, who had been the partner
of Hon. W. P. Dortch at Goldsboro, had moved to Raleigh
and had become the partner of Governor Bragg; and on
Governor Bragg’s death, Hon. W. N. H. Smith, who had
moved from the First District to Norfolk, returned to the
State and was associated with Mr. Strong in the practice of
his profession at Raleigh.

Tlie Western District

Early in 1872 the State that had formed one Federal Dis¬
trict was divided, and the Western District was laid off,
embracing the counties of Richmond, Moore, Chatham,
Orange and Person and westward to Tennessee. Judge
Dick of the Supreme Court was appointed the judge of
that District June 7, 1872, and Virgil S. Lusk became the
District Attorney, and Robert M. Douglas the Marshal. To
succeed Judge Dick in the Supreme Court, Governor Cald¬
well appointed, on December 5, 1872, Thomas Settle, who
after a brief sojourn in Peru, had resigned and had unsuc¬
cessfully sought the nomination for governor. Justice
Boyden dying on November 20, 1873, Governor Caldwell
the next day appointed William P. Bynum, who had been
a lieutenant-colonel during the war, and for ten years solici¬
tor, and was a man not only of much learning but of high
integrity. Notwithstanding the established reputation of
the Chief Justice, Judge Bynum was considered by some as
the superior judicial character on the bench.

Dick, Judge

Boyden,

Settle,

Bynum

The campaign, 1872

Immediately on the adjournment of the Legislature the APril< 1872
campaign began. The Republicans held their convention at
Raleigh on April 17. James H. Harris was made temporary

1152 CONSERVATIVES CONTROL LEGISLATION

1872

Social equal¬
ity

Goodloe’s

pamphlets

Caldwell

The conven¬
tion

chairman in recognition of the eighty thousand negro voters.
He declared that the time had come when the negroes de¬
manded social equality, not only in the cars, but the tables
and in the parlors of the hotels ; and, indeed, social equality
was in the atmosphere. Racial differences were to be elim¬
inated by law. Measures to that end had been introduced
in Congress and when advocated in a great speech by
Sumner, D. R. Goodloe made a strong reply, showing that
the clause of equality in the Declaration of Independence
related to justice and not to moral and intellectual equality.
He showed that in 1786 Massachusetts prohibited inter¬
marriage between the races, and refused to repeal that law
until 1843. Maine likewise prohibited it, and had in 1872
not repealed the act. Connecticut deprived negroes of the
right to vote, as also Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In
New York negroes had to have a property qualification.
Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa not only excluded
negroes from the polls and the witness box, where whites
were parties, but denied negroes the right to settle in those
states, and even Kansas and Nebraska excluded negroes
from the polls and prohibited intermarriage. The bill did not
then pass. Mr. Sam Phillips, now in entire accord with his
Republican associates, was chosen as permanent presiding
officer. Judge Settle desired the nomination for Governor, but
Governor Caldwell was too strong for him and was chosen
on the first ballot. Curtis H. Brogden, who had been Sen¬
ator from Wayne, was nominated for Lieutenant-Governor.
Treasurer Jenkins was renominated and W. H. Howerton
for Secretary of State. Alexander Mclver, who had made
a good start as Superintendent of Public Instruction, was
supplanted by Dr. James Reid, as Mclver was opposed to
Rev. Solomon Pool’s continuing as President of the closed
LTniversity.

The platform adopted was Republican to the core, recom¬
mending further legislation for the enforcement and protec¬
tion of the civil and political rights of all classes, but it was
in tune with Governor Caldwell, saying, with regard to the
proposed constitutional amendments, “The Republicans can
endorse a portion of said amendments. ” It requested the

CANDIDATES AND PLATFORM

United States Senate to seat Abbott instead of Ransom and
it endorsed Governor Holden. A fortnight later, on May I,
the Democrats held their convention at Greensboro. Hon.
John Kerr was permanent president, and Thomas C. Fuller,
temporary chairman. Judge Kerr whose temperament was
somewhat impulsive made a characteristic speech : “My
friend has spoken of me as a martyr to liberty, a victim to
tyranny. I felt more highly honored, my person subjected
to their rude insults than I would be to shake hands with
any scalawag official, however high in office.” Speaking of
Caldwell : “He has as good as told that you were all spared
utter annihilation by the colored race because of their tender
mercy. He told the colored people that they had the power
to murder us, if they chose to.” There was again some
difficulty in securing a candidate for Governor. Vance
would not consent. Then thoughts turned to Merrimon, for
it was desirable to have a candidate not associated with se¬
cession and one that the western people would cheerfully
support. Merrimon hesitated ; but on it being freely said
that if he were not elected, he would succeed John Pool
in the Senate in case the Legislature was Conservative, he
consented. Maj. John Hughes of Craven was nominated
for Lieutenant-Governor. The platform took issue with
that of the Republicans, declaring that “while we accept
and faithfully abide by the Constitution with all amend¬
ments, including emancipation and equality before the law,
we denounce that latitudinous construction which makes
the discretion of Congress superior to the Constitution,”
and it declared against all secret political parties. Gen.
D. M. Barringer was made Chairman of the Executive
Committee, among the new members of which was Gen.
W. R. Cox ; and the organization was perfected. Among
the nominations for State officers were John E. Womack
for Secretary of State, Maj. John W. Graham for Treas¬
urer, Judge Shipp for Attorney-General and General Leven-
thorp for Auditor.

1153

Merrimon
for Governor

H54

CONSERVATIVES CONTROL LEGISLATION

1872

Republicans

dismayed

Liberal Re¬
publicans

Horace

Greeley

Grant

At the North

In the progress of events it came about that some Repub¬
lican leaders at the North were dismayed at the course of
their party, and broke away from the organization. Among,
those were Lyman Trumbull, David Davis, B. Gratz Brown
of Missouri, Carl Schurz, Senator James R. Doolittle of
Wisconsin, Charles Francis Adams of Massachusetts, Sen¬
ator Tipton of Nebraska and Horace Greeley, one of the
fathers of the Abolition party. Their position was defined
in their address to the people, and in their resolutions,
adopted at their National Convention held in Cincinnati
May i, they declared that the Republican administration
had usurped powers not granted by the Constitution, and
had acted as if the laws had binding force only for those
who are governed and not for those who govern, and it
had struck a blow at the fundamental principles of con¬
stitutional government and the liberties of the citizens. On
the first ballot for the presidency, Adams received 205 votes,
Greeley 258, with 150 scattering. Unfortunately, in the
next ballot the Convention turned to Greeley, who received
482 votes to 187 for Adams. Had Adams been nominated
the result of the election might have been better. Gratz
Brown was nominated for the vice-presidency. A month
later, June 5, the Republicans held their convention at
Philadelphia, Judge Settle, who resigned as Minister to
Peru, presiding. They nominated Grant and Senator Henry
Wilson of Massachusetts. On July 9, the Democratic Con¬
vention met at Baltimore. It was considered best to present an
object lesson to the people of the Northern States certifying
the national character of the Southern Democrats by accept¬
ing as their candidate for the presidency, Horace Greeley ;
and with the hope that that might assuage the bitter sec¬
tionalism of the Republican people. On the first ballot
Greeley received nearly the unanimous vote of the Conven¬
tion. Indeed, Greeley’s prime purpose, the abolition of slav¬
ery, being accomplished, he had manifested in many ways
a kind feeling for the Southern people.

CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATES

1155

And now Raleigh, always a center of political action, be¬
came more important and active than ever. The Standard
had disappeared and the Era had taken its place as the Re¬
publican organ. The News had been removed by Jordan
Stone from Weldon to the Capital. The Sentinel was
aflame. The Executive Committee began to send out doc¬
uments. J. J. Litchford, the Secretary of that Committee,
devoted himself for months continuously to that work, and
in June Blasting Powder , a campaign paper, was begun,
with John Spelman and S. A. Ashe as editors. The canvass
was hot from the beginning. In the meantime the candi¬
dates for Congress had been nominated in the several
districts of the State: Carter, Kitchin, Waddell, Leach,
Thomas S. Ashe, Robbins, R. B. Vance. In the Fourth
District the Convention nominated Josiah Turner, but he
declined and S. H. Rogers was substituted. The reason for
his refusal was not then understood ; but it developed that
he thought he would be sent to the Senate. Carter and
Rogers failed of election, their defeat being ascribed to
their personally fraternizing with their opponents, thus in
a measure vouching for their personal respectability and
relieving them from the general charges of misconduct at¬
tributed to Republicans. In the campaign Neill McKay in
the Third District said on the stump to the negroes : “Rally
this last time and carry the election and there will be no
kitchen and no parlor”; and Alfred Waddell walked over
the District, while James Madison Leach had 680 majority.
Judge Thomas Settle, who, after being disappointed in not
securing the nomination for Governor, ran for Congress,
meeting with defeat, but later was seated once more on the
Supreme Court bench. In the New Bern black district,
C. R. Thomas was elected. During that campaign as in
the previous ones, no former Democrats were selected as
standard bearers, all old-time Whigs. Vance entered into
the canvass with vigor, and the other leaders as well ; but
the great campaign was made by Judge Merrimon. He
often spoke four hours at a time and with much force and
vigor, and the State rang with applause at his great efforts.
The election coming off in August, prior to that of any

1872

The press

Nominees

The election

McKay

The great.,
efforts

1156 CONSERVATIVES CONTROL LEGISLATION

Northern

orators

The arrests

Republican

majority

The presi¬
dential elec¬
tion

other state, much importance was attached to the probable
effect in other states, and so it happened that for the first
time, Northern Democrats sent funds to the Executive Com¬
mittee for campaign purposes. The poverty of our public
men was so great that this aid was most helpful. Then in
addition, Senator Doolittle made some of the grandest ora¬
tions ever delivered in North Carolina, and others equally
famous also came to aid in the campaign. But the Repub¬
licans were not sleeping. Grant’s Cabinet officers, Boutwell
and Delano, and the candidate for the vice-presidency, Wil¬
son, and many other Republican leaders came and around
them gathered their friends. Money was unlimited and
patronage was plentiful. And, besides, Marshal Car row’s
deputies were everywhere. His expenditures increased
from $5,000 to $250,000. Twelve hundred citizens had been
indicted by February; and before the election this number
had been nearly doubled. In the Republican counties the
election machinery » was in charge of Republicans. Over
two hundred negroes were fraudulently registered in one
township in Halifax County. Nine hundred were sent
from Washington City to Norfolk and thence distributed
throughout the State. I11 Halifax, Caldwell received 3,640
votes, while four years earlier Holden’s vote was 3,080, and
so it was in most of the negro counties, the vote cast being
largely in excess of the real voting strength. Nor were the
Republicans' efforts without avail. Caldwell’s aggregate
was 98,132 and Merrimon’s 96,234. Judge Merrimon was
beaten. There was, however, some comfort to the disap¬
pointed Conservatives ; both branches of the Assembly con¬
tinued Conservative. The presidential election remained,
but the Conservatives had but little hope. Their willing¬
ness to vote for Greeley was taken at the North as base
pusillanimity; the tender of the olive branch to Northern
sentiment was denounced as a vile prostration to secure
power in the government. There was entire accord between
the Conservative committees and the executive committees
of the liberal Republicans, but the contest was hopeless from
the beginning. While Grant’s vote fell to 94,304, Greeley’s
fell to 70,322, being 26,000 less than Merrimon’s. In the
Union Greeley was badly beaten ; then he sickened and died.

CONTEST ABANDONED

ii57

Presently Vance’s particular friends began to suggest that
Merrimon should contest Caldwell’s election. Judge Mer-
rimon was willing if sufficient frauds could be proved to
justify a contest. A committee was charged with the duty
of making a particular examination. Eventually on October
20, at a meeting of the State Executive Committee, this
committee reported the results of its investigations. How¬
ever dishonest had been the registration the evidence was
not at hand to show conclusively that Caldwell had not been
legally elected. It was suggested that the Assembly would
be able to vote Caldwell out and Merrimon in ; but Merri¬
mon said he could be no party to any proceeding not founded
on legal right and justice. The State Committee declined
to recommend a contest. The matter was dropped.

The Assembly

The Assembly met on the 18th of November,' 1872.
Among the Senators were John W. Dunham, W. A. Allen,

L. W. Humphrey, John W. Norwood, John W. Cunning¬
ham, J. Turner Morehead, James T. Morehead, Jr., John

M. Worth, R. P. Waring, W. P. Welch, W. L. Love and
A. S. Seymour; in the House being R. T. Bennett, T. D.
Johnson, Edmund Jones, J. M. Moring, V. V. Richardson,
J. D. Stanford, J. L. Robinson, H. A. Gudger, John E.
Brown, S. W. Reid, Pride Jones, Montford McGhee, T. A.
McNeill, David Settle, Kerr Craige and Richard C. Badger.
Twelve negroes were returned to the House and two to
the Senate. The carpetbaggers had virtually passed out.
James T. Morehead of Guilford was elected President of
the Senate, and for Clerk William L. Saunders, one of the
editors of the Wilmington Journal, was reelected and
W. H. H. Cowles of Wilkes was assistant. In the House
James L. Robinson, who had been associated with Jarvis
and Dunham and John W. Graham in their admirable work
in the previous session, was chosen Speaker ; a fine soldier
during the war, a nephew of Governor Swain, having the
confidence and respect of the western people, his election
to the Speaker’s chair gave great satisfaction. He uttered
as a keynote what was in the hearts of his colleagues :

1872

Nov., 1872

Robinson

1158

CONSERVATIVES CONTROL LEGISLATION

Caldwell’s

message

Merrimon
and Vance

Humphrey

“Let party ambition and party strife be buried here, in the
presence of the great interests of our people. Let us strive
to promote their prosperity and well-being by a faithful
application to our duties and the enactment of such laws
as the good of society and the business interests of the
State may demand.”

Stephen D. Pool of Craven and Col. W. M. Hardy of
Buncombe were chosen clerks. Governor Caldwell sent in
his message, a very long document, urging the doctrines
and purposes of his party, and pointing out the inequalities
of the congressional and senatorial districts as they had
been established by the previous legislatures, which he de¬
clared was a gross outrage upon popular rights.

As soon as the Democratic caucus met trouble was dis¬
cerned in regard to the election of a United States Senator.
It developed that some members had been nominated only
on their pledging their support for Governor Vance ; and
Vance told Merrimon that there was no use for him to
seek the nomination as a majority of the Democratic mem¬
bers were pledged to him, Vance. Merrimon then took
the position that if the members of the caucus had been
pledged in advance he would not go into the caucus, as it
was not a free caucus. The caucus was held and Vance
was understood to have received one majority and to have
been nominated. Under the act of Congress, the Legisla¬
ture voted for Senator on November 26, but there was no
election. A number of members from the mountain coun¬
ties claimed that their people preferred Merrimon; but their
refusal to abide by the action of the caucus would not of
itself have prevented Vance’s election. His election was
defeated by Senator Lott W. Humphrey of Onslow County.
It was the aftermath of one of Vance’s first actions when
Governor in 1862. Ten years had elapsed and time brought
its revenge. Humphrey had been a Secessionist, had early
raised a company of cavalry and had been elected colonel
of the regiment, and although not commissioned had been
recognized as such by Adjutant General Martin. Just then
Vance was sworn in as Governor and, animated by a pur¬
pose to do justice to Whigs who had been against seces-

MERRIMON ELECTED SENATOR

ii59

sion, he refused to commission Humphrey and appointed
John A. Baker colonel of the regiment, a man who had
not been in the military service at all and had no connection
whatever with the regiment. Humphrey’s former position
as captain had been filled by his company; so he raised
another company; but his treatment by Governor Vance
rankled in his breast. He now evened up matters between
them and controlled enough votes, along with Merrimon’s
mountain adherents, to prevent Vance’s election. Day by
day the vote stood: Vance 78, Merrimon 20, Pool 72 — no
election. For about a week there was the most intense inter¬
est and excitement. At length on Merrimon’s declaring
that he would retire if Vance would withdraw, there was
a mutual agreement that both would retire. Each aban¬
doned the contest. As Vance was leaving on the train,
Bryson, a representative from Swain, who had stood for
Merrimon, implored him to come back, saying: “My peo¬
ple preferred Merrimon, but next to him, you. I cannot
go back to them if neither of you is elected.” But Vance
left the city. On Monday, December 2, the Democrats
scattered so that while nine voted for Merrimon, there were
some eighty other persons voted for, no votes for Vance.
The next day, December 3, another caucus was held, the
caucus running into noon, the hour for the joint session;
and Vance was nominated again. It happened that Judge
Merrimon was engaged in a case in the Federal Court and
perhaps had not heard of the caucus action at all when the
news was brought that in the joint session he had been
elected. The joint session was held in the hall of the House.
Cowles nominated Vance ; Senator Love nominated Merri¬
mon. As the names of the Republicans were reached they
began to vote for Merrimon, and then the Merrimon Dem¬
ocrats and those opposed to Vance voted for him, so that
he received 87 votes, while Vance received but 80. Merri¬
mon was in the midst of a speech when this news came to
the Court. Judge Brooks stopped all proceedings. Merri¬
mon, very much agitated, conferred with Governor Graham
and others, who advised him to accept the election. He
did so, and thanked the Republicans for voting for him,

1872

The long
contest

They with¬
draw

Merrimon

elected

1 160

CONSERVATIVES CONTROL LEGISLATION

The after-

math

R. C. Badger

saying, however, that he was the same Democrat that he
had ever been, and that he would ever remain so.

At first, while there were many disappointed that Vance
had again failed to attain the coveted position of Senator,
yet there was no disposition to regard Judge Merrimon
otherwise than he had been regarded and esteemed in the
trying days of recent years and when he was the candidate
for Governor. He was among the most forceful of the
public men, a man of singular purity, and while not college
bred he possessed such a capacious mind, such strong intel¬
lect, such logical powers and had been so trained in his pro¬
fession that he ranked among the great men of his genera¬
tion. But after a while, some of Vance’s particular friends
set out to make Merrimon and Humphrey odious and the
war they waged was bitter, and although it did not disturb
Merrimon it resulted in Humphrey’s leaving the Democratic
party and joining the Republicans.

Amendments to Constitution

On February 24, 1873, the Legislature by a three-fifths
majority passed eight of the proposed amendments to the
State Constitution, among them those relating- to the State
debt and taxation ; providing for biennial instead of annual
sessions of the Assembly and allowing the General Assem¬
bly to provide for the election of trustees of the University
and for the maintenance and management of the institution.
These eight amendments were agreed to in separate acts,
which were then submitted to the popular vote, and in
August, 1873, they were approved by the people by a ma¬
jority of about forty thousand, and thus became a part
of the Constitution. However, Governor Caldwell raised
the point that under the Constitution the several amend¬
ments proposed in the original act could not be separated
and only a part of them passed by three-fifths votes, and
submitted to the people. That objection was nevertheless
ignored.

On the adjournment of the House on March 3, 1873, Mr.
Badger offered very handsome resolutions in respect to
Speaker Robinson, and in his remarks said: “Public busi-

PANIC WEATHERED SAFELY

1161

ness has been greatly forwarded, and the true interests of the
State, not solely party ends, have been the result of our
deliberations.” Indeed, the conduct of Speaker Robinson
was in line with the general policy of the Conservative
leaders to establish themselves and their party in the con¬
fidence and esteem of the people so as to secure the future
of the State. Badger, although a Republican, approved.

During this year, 1873, a remarkable bank panic caused
much disaster throughout the Union, but while North Caro¬
line was inconvenienced, its effect in this State was limited.
There were then two banks at Raleigh, which afforded trade
facilities for the entire surrounding region. By the skill
of Mr. Willard, the president of one of these banks, ar¬
rangements were made that so minimized the disastrous
effects of the closing of the Northern banks, that although
throughout the Union there were a great many failures in
business, in this section there were none.

CHAPTER LXIX

1874

The

Democrats

Conditions

Conservative Success

The progress in the State. — Cotton. — Tobacco. — Education. —
Publications. — Civil Rights bill. — Cox chairman. — The successful
candidates. — Brogden succeeds Caldwell. — The new members. —
The Democrats carry the North. — Affairs in Louisiana. — The
meeting in New York. — Merrimon and Ransom. — The Civil Rights
bill amended. — The Assembly calls a convention. — The uncertain
result. — Dr. Ransom President. — The Robeson delegates. — The
contest. — State elections changed to November. — Meeting of As¬
sembly in January. — County government. — Thirty amendments
proposed. — The Mecklenburg Centennial. — Graham’s address. —
His death. — The University reorganized. — Battle President. —
Western North Carolina Railroad bought by the State.

State progress

The year 1874 was a milestone. Since 1870, the Con¬
servatives had had control of the Legislature and their course
had brought not only hope for the future but a spirit of
contentment and cheerfulness. The purpose of the leaders
in the Assembly was reasonably accomplished. In a general
way the several elements that had been brought into coopera¬
tion began to feel that they were of the same party. And
while they had at first called themselves Conservatives, then
Democratic Conservatives, they now answered to Conserv¬
ative Democrats. Indeed, they felt affiliated with the National
Democratic party, and, looking to that organization as their
only friends they gradually became accustomed to consider-,
ing themselves Democrats.

The Legislature had adhered to its policy of retrenchment
to the last degree; but it had manfully performed its duty
with regard to the unfortunates of the State. Its course
was in such striking contrast with that of the irresponsible
men who had ruined the State that the people at every elec¬
tion continued to choose Conservatives to manage their
affairs.

COTTON AND TOBACCO

1163

There had been progress in the counties. Labor had be¬
come more settled, and industry had brought its rewards.

The people were living in relative comfort, the total volume
of farm products for 1873 had risen to near $58,000,000.

In the eastern counties where the negroes were numerous
there was misgovernment, extravagance and often corrup¬
tion. But even in those counties labor was stable ; although,
when elections came around there were inflammatory ad¬
dresses that tended to array the races against each other
and kept the negro voters in line.

Perhaps the quick ending of the Kirk war, and the im¬
peachment of the Governor — the strong action of the whites
not being interfered with by President Grant nor the Fed¬
eral government — may have had an effect in indicating to
the negroes that the whites were to be dominant in the
State.

There were always negroes in the Legislature, but there
was little personal friction between them and the white
members. Generally, in the Assembly the negroes deported
themselves well, and the white members were considerate. 1 0

Cotton was a profitable crop and its culture was extended
into new counties : and tobacco became a money crop farther
to the west, the smoking tobacco factories at Durham and
the factories manufacturing the weed at Winston paying
very good prices. It was at that period that the basis was
laid of the great fortunes subsequently amassed in the to¬
bacco business. The internal revenue tax on tobacco alone
in the Fifth District in the previous year was near $450,000,
while for January, 1874, in that District it was $80,000,
and in the Fourth District it was, in February, $53,000.

While the South was still suffering for the want of bank-

• 1 B Siiiks

ing facilities, in 1874 the law limiting the amount of na¬
tional bank notes was amended so that the number of na¬
tional banks could be largely increased. Even under the
repressive and tyrannical previous conditions the South had
made progress ; and now with this beneficial change the
South was in a situation to forge ahead in industrial pur¬
suits and develop the natural resources of the country.

1 164

CONSERVATIVE SUCCESS

But the educational condition was still deplorable. In
the towns excellent private schools and seminaries were in
progress ; and there were in the State some twenty-five
Schools graded schools — each with more than one hundred pupils,
kept for ten months in the year, and receiving aid from the
Peabody Fund ; and there were likewise other schools aided
by Northern associations. But thousands of children in
the country had been growing up illiterate. This unfor¬
tunate and unhappy circumstance left a deep impression on
the inhabitants. However, efforts were being made to rem¬
edy the evil of Mr. Lincoln’s legacy, and in July, 1873, an
. educational convention was convened, Judge Battle being
association the president, and an association was formed to promote
education, its executive committee, formed the next year,
being Gen. W. R. Cox, W. N. H. Smith, C. H. Wiley,
T. H. Shelby and Dr. S. S. Satchwell. For many years
this association was effective in its work. Nor were others
inactive ; soon after the war Gen. D. H. Hill began the
publication in Charlotte of The Land We Love; and Mrs.
Cicero W. Harris, at Wilmington, of the South Atlantic;
and in 1874, Col. S. D. Pool at Raleigh, Our Living and
Our Dead, edited by Rev. T. B. Kingsbury — all magazines
of a high order of merit. The press generally was strongly
The press in favor of public education, while every newspaper itself
was an aid to the dissemination of literature and made for
elevation of the masses. And now papers were being pub¬
lished in every section of the State, three at Asheville, four
at Charlotte, four at Fayetteville, five at New Bern, ten at
Raleigh, and about fifty more in other towns. Of these
ten were Republican in politics, an equal number were reli¬
gious publications or agricultural, while the great prepon¬
derance were Democratic in accord with the prevailing senti¬
ment of the reading public.

In the year ending June 30, 1873, there attended the
public schools 146,737 pupils, white and colored, for two
and a half months; and there had been 3,311 schools in
operation. The Legislature was now ready to press for¬
ward in this work : and a bill was prepared.

• CIVIL RIGHTS AGITATION

1165

The Assembly had the purpose at heart. The Supplemen¬
tal Civil Rights Bill, however, now loomed up as an ob¬
stacle. It contained a provision that forbade separate
schools for the races ; and that was a prohibition of public
schools in North Carolina. The Assembly naturally held
its hand.

On the 13th of February, 1874, the Legislature passed an
election law providing for the election in August of Rep¬
resentatives in Congress, of judges in the several districts,
and of a Superintendent of Public Instruction, a Legislature
and county officers. Congress had at that time before it a
bill making it a penal offense punishable by a fine of a
thousand dollars or imprisonment for a year, as well as a
forfeiture of five hundred dollars to the person bringing the
suit, for any one to deny to a negro equal right in any
hotel, conveyance, theater or public school ; so the race
question was made more acute than ever. And while it
stirred the whites as never before, it aroused some of the
negroes to the possibilities, and negro candidates appeared
in the eastern counties in greater numbers than in previous
years.

On the death of General Barringer, the Chairman of the
Conservative Executive Committee, Gen. William R. Cox
was chosen to that position, and an active campaign was
inaugurated. A campaign paper, the Crescent, edited by
Captain Ashe, the Secretary of the Committee, was very
helpful, being one of the most useful of the political instru¬
mentalities utilized by the whites.

The Conservatives nominated S. D. Pool for Superintend¬
ent of Public Instruction ; Thomas R. Purnell being put
forward by the Republicans. The successful Democratic
candidates for Congress were J. J. Yeates, who had the
pleasure of driving Cobb from the field, A. M. Waddell,
Thomas S. Ashe, J. J. Davis, General Scales, William Rob¬
bins, and Gen. R. B. Vance. In the second black district,
J. A. Hyman, a negro, was elected.

In the judicial districts, the Superior Court judges hav¬
ing been divided into two classes, and the term having been
extended two years by the decision of the Supreme Court,

Civil Rights

Bill

Election

In Congress

Cox, chair¬
man

1874

1 1 66

CONSERVATIVE SUCCESS .

The judges

1874

Death of

Governor

Caldwell

Brogden

The As¬
sembly

Nov., 1874

elections were held with the result of supplanting Judge
Russell by A. A. McKo'y, Judge Logan by David Schenck,
Judge Clarke by Seymour, Judge Albertson by Judge Eure.
Judge Tourgee withdrew on the announcement of Thomas
Ruffin as an independent candidate, but John Kerr was
elected. The contest was bitter.

The Conservatives polled about 96,000, Republicans 82,-
000, giving Pool a majority of 14,000. The Conservatives
held the same vote as that given to Merrimon, while the
Republicans lost about 16,000 from the Caldwell vote. In
the Legislature the Conservatives had a three-fourths vote
in each house. In the House, of the 27 Republican mem¬
bers, thirteen were negroes and in the Senate, of the 18
Republicans, four were negroes.

On the nth of July, Governor Caldwell died, being suc¬
ceeded by Curtis H. Brogden, the Lieutenant-Governor.
The change was possibly for the better, although the power
of the Governor was limited. Caldwell, of decided personal
honesty was very bitter toward his Democratic fellow cit¬
izens, while Brogden, inferior in intellect and social stand¬
ing, was more in sympathy with his political opponents who
were seeking to promote the prosperity of the people of the
State.

The Assembly of 1874 was composed very largely of new
members. Because of Republican divisions in Wake, the
delegation from that county was Democratic. Charles M.
Busbee was in the Senate and George A". Strong in the
House. Among the Senators were R. P. Waring, Maj.
William A. Graham, Col. James T. Morehead and Robert
F. Armfield, who was chosen President of the Senate.

In the House were S. McD. Tate, Paul Means, S. M.
Finger, John M. Moring, V. V. Richardson, James C.
MacRae, H. A. Gudger, A. M. Erwin, I. F. Dortch and
James L. Robinson, who was again elected Speaker.

The skies were then bright ; apparently the storm was
over and a rainbow arched the heavens. Every heart was
buoyant, for the worst had passed and the future seemed
secure. The Conservatives under the lead of the patriots
in 1861-65 had addressed themselves to the duty of rescu-

REPUBLICAN REVERSAL

1167

ing the people of the State from the dominion of the carpet¬
baggers and Africans, and had successfully accomplished
the task.

This sweeping victory brought with it a spirit of high
elation as it seemed to give assurance that the conservative
elements in the State were now united, and the State was
redeemed. Moreover, when the congressional elections were
held in November in the other states, the result was all the
Democrats could have hoped for. They secured a majority
of seventy-five in the House of Representatives, whereas
in the Congress then closing the Republicans were largely
dominant.

This reversal in the Union at large was because of the
popular disapproval of President Grant’s personal adminis¬
tration and of the violent partisan actions of the Repub¬
licans at the South. Nor did the administration readily
learn the lesson it taught. The same fate had attended the
carpetbag governments in other Southern States as in North
Carolina, Louisiana and South Carolina alone remaining
unredeemed. In Louisiana, the White Liners had been
bold, resolute, determined. General Sheridan commanded
the army, and he suggested to the President to declare them
as banditti, and “no further step need be taken except what
would devolve on me.” He proposed to try citizens by mil¬
itary commission or to shoot them down as banditti. The
Louisiana Republican Returning Board counted out Dem¬
ocrats elected to the Legislature ; and there was a dispute
as to which party controlled that body. On January 1, the
Legislature was to meet. The Democrats perfected the
organization of one of the houses. The Republican Gov¬
ernor called on the President to save the State to the Re¬
publicans, and the President intervened. He “authorized
General Sheridan to interfere and use troops to force from
their places in the State House Democratic members whom
the Republicans wanted to unseat.” Sheridan sent Gen¬
eral De Trobriand to do the work. De Trobriand carried
his troops into the hall, seized possession, cleared the legis¬
lative hall of the Democratic members, according to the
directions of the Republican Governor, and the work was

At the North

Nov., 1874

Louisiana

mi':.

n68

CONSERVATIVE SUCCESS

Jan., 1875

W. M.
Evarts

Merrimon

Ransom

done. It was like Napoleon driving out the French Assem¬
bly — like Cromwell dispersing the Parliament of England.

As the news flashed over the wires, it fell on the ears
of the American people like a fire bell at night. The whole
country was aroused.

A great mass meeting was held on January n, 1875, in
New York City to consider it. William M. Evarts, the
Republican Senator from New York, was the principal
speaker. In burning words he denounced the outrage upon
the freedom of the American people. He said: “If the
depositories of power of the Republican party are ready
to put themselves before the country upon the constitu¬
tional proposition that a file of soldiers can empty a state
legislature under any of the circumstances proposed by any
body as prevailing in Louisiana, I think these representa¬
tives in power of the Republican party will find they have
as few supporters in their own party as they have in the
Democratic party/’

Other Republicans joined in denouncing the despotism of
the President and the radical plan to subvert the state gov¬
ernments of the South aeain by military force. Nor were
the Democratic leaders silent.

In the Senate, Merrimon, every fiber of whose frame bore
evidence of sincerity and honesty of purpose, delivered a
great speech of unusual power and effect on affairs in
Louisiana ; and Senator Ransom likewise spoke, making the
greatest speech of his life. As an orator he was not ex¬
celled by any of the Senators. His subject was, “The
South Faithful to Her Duties.” In the original contest in
the Assembly of 1870, many supported Vance from admira¬
tion and personal regard ; the Cape Fear members chiefly
supported Ransom as being the better suited to allay the
animosities of the Mortons and Stevenses whose vindictive
measures threatened such dire evils to the South. Ransom
in the Senate answered their expectations. He said : “I
came with a sacred purpose to reconcile the once divided
people of my country ; to harmonize all sectional differences ;
to bury in oblivion every bitter recollection ; and to con¬
vince the people of the North that our people of the South

POLITICAL ENORMITY

1 169

sincerely desired to live with them in concord. Before
this greatest and best desire of my life, all other passions
sink into insignificance. This was the great object of my
political existence. To accomplish it no sacrifice seemed i^fg11*8*
too dear, except the dishonor of my State and the South.”

In lofty strains, Merrimon and Ransom gave expression
to the manhood of the Southern people.

And, indeed, by that time many at the North were ex¬
pressing themselves something after this fashion ; that the
history of the race furnishes no other example of the con¬
querors, not merely freeing the slaves of a conquered peo¬
ple, but giving the slaves dominion over their former mas¬
ters ; and, to add to the enormity of the proceeding, the
slaves were not merely a different race, but ignorant Afri¬
cans, ever considered by the world as utterly inferior to
white Europeans.

Nor was Congress indifferent. The Supplemental Civil
Rights Bill having passed the Senate, with the provision in
it forbidding separate schools for the races, was on Jan¬
uary 20, 1875, taken up in the House, on motion of Benja¬
min Butler of New Orleans fame; but this objectionable
provision was stricken out. It was approved by President
Grant, March 1, 1875.

The Assembly calls a convention

There being more than a two-thirds majority in the As¬
sembly, some of the leaders urged that advantage should
be taken of that fortunate circumstance and a convention
should be called to reform the Constitution without sub¬
mitting the question to the people. Others considered the
proposition as of doubtful expediency; while a considerable
number of the members were either directly pledged against
such a measure or knew so well the wishes of their constit¬
uents that they felt constrained to oppose it. However,
bills were introduced to that effect in each house, but they
were held without action.

On the 19th of December, the Assembly took a recess for
a month, and during that period the subject was discussed.

1170

CONSERVATIVE SUCCESS

Jan., 1875

Hamilton,
Recon., 605

The uncer¬
tainty

Hist. N. C.,
Hamilton,
186

Sept., 1875

The older public men more generally favored it, for per¬
haps they felt more strongly than their juniors the changes
made in the fundamental law by the Constitution of 1868.

At length, after many conferences, the Democratic cau¬
cus, by a vote of 68 to 13, agreed to the measure. The bill
having passed the Senate by the middle of March, on the
18th passed the House by 81 to 33.

It was, however, to be a limited convention, like that of
1835, with the delegates taking an oath to observe the limi¬
tations and prohibitions contained in the act. As the elec¬
tion was to be in August, both parties at once addressed
themselves to the campaign.

The Republicans entered most actively upon the work,
and succeeded in rallying their full party strength. They
urged that the convention would undo everything that the
Republicans had accomplished ; that the oaths limiting the
power of the convention would be nugatory ; that the ne¬
groes would be deprived of every right; that a conflict
would again ensue with the Federal government ; that the
State would have to be reconstructed as before. Perhaps
there were some 20,000 whites who cooperated with the
75,000 negroes, for the Republican vote aggregated 95,191.

As the news came in from the counties showing a very
full turnout by the people, within a fraction of that in the
heated election for Governor three years earlier, the result
seeming adverse to the Conservatives, the effect was ex¬
tremely disheartening to them, while it inspired the Repub¬
licans with new joy and enthusiasm. It seemed as if the
delegates would be about equally divided. It happened that
the Returning Board of Robeson County had reason for
questioning the legality of the election in some township
of that county and telegraphed General Cox, the Chairman
of the Democratic State Committee, who replied : “As you
love your State, hold Robeson/’ Although on the precinct
returns the two Republican candidates had the majority,
the Board gave certificates to the two Democratic candidates.
Governor Graham, who had been elected in Orange County,
died at Saratoga Springs on August 10, thus diminishing
the Democratic strength. When the Convention met Sep-

ABLE MEN IN THE CONVENTION

tember 6, there were fifty-nine Democrats, fifty-eight Re¬
publicans and two independents, one of whom was Edward
Ransom from Tyrrell. Ransom had previously been a Re¬
publican, but had run as an independent candidate for
Congress, and had been voted for as an independent — favor¬
ing amendments to the Constitution, and had been elected
as such.

Among the delegates were some of the most prominent
men of the State in either party. It was a strong body :
Col. R. T. Bennett, J. O. Wilcox, J. E. Shepherd, Gen.
Thomas L. Clingman, David Coleman, A. C. Avery, Edmund
Jones, E. B. Withers, M. L. McCorkle, John Manning,
Plato Durham, Col. Forney George, Ralph P. Buxton, F. C.
Robbins, Charles Price, Gen. W. P. Roberts, J. Young,
A. Tourgee, S. L. Love, W. S. Carter, Gen. Rufus Bar¬
ringer, B. H. Bunn, G. Z. French, Josiah Turner, J. W.
Albertson, J. W. Cunningham, Thomas J. Jarvis, O. H.
Dockery, Governor D. S. Reid, F. E. Shober, J. S. Hender¬
son, R. C. Badger and W. T. Faircloth. Certainly it was
a body amply able to amend the Constitution. Judge Settle
administered the oaths. Governor Reid nominated Mr.
Ransom for President, and Judge Albertson nominated
O. H. Dockery. The vote stood 59 to 58. Dockery and
Ransom voting for others; while 60 was necessary for an
election.

Two days were consumed in fruitless balloting, but when
the fourteenth ballot was being taken, Mr. Ransom said :
“I have not sought this position. I do not desire it. The
people demand that this body be organized. I now cast
my vote for Edward Ransom.” And a President having
been elected the Convention was further organized by the
election of Johnstone Jones as Secretary.

As Dr. Ransom had not desired this responsible position
much difficulty was encountered in overcoming his objec¬
tions, but at length Captain Jarvis and the venerable Gov¬
ernor Reid succeeded in accomplishing that end : and to
them was due the merit of preventing the failure of the
Convention movement and securing Conservative organiza¬
tion of the body.

1 1 71

Sept., 1875

The dele¬
gates

Ransom,

President

Convention
Journal, 22

1172

CONSERVATIVE SUCCESS

Robeson County

As the control of the Convention would be determined by
the votes of the Robeson County delegates, the question of
the title to those two seats was at once referred to the Com¬
mittee on Privileges and Elections of which John Manning
was Chairman. Duncan Sinclair and C. A. McEachin were
the sitting members, and Dr. R. M. Norment and Neil
McNeil were the contestants. The case for the former had
been committed to Captain Ashe, the working member of
the State Executive Committee, and when the contestants
submitted their claim to the Committee, an answer was filed
denying their election based on the allegation that at the
election some three hundred negroes had been allowed to
register and vote, men recently brought from Virginia into
Robeson County to work on a railroad then under construc¬
tion, who were not citizens of the State and had no right of
suffrage. The Committee was asked to take testimony ; and
by resolution of the Convention the Committee was directed
to appoint commissioners for that purpose. The contestants,
unable to successfully meet this issue, now determined to
abandon their claims ; arid on October 4, the Convention, at
the instance of Mr. Holton, a Republican leader, authorized
the payment of their per diems to the contestants; and the
contest, which had been very bitter and protracted, was
closed.

On September 18, W. N. Patterson, who had been elected
to the vacancy from Orange County, was sworn in, making
the full membership of the body. As the Republicans would
have adjourned the Convention sine die, at any moment
when they had a majority in the chamber, there were never
any absentees. Every member was always in his seat, ex¬
cept when some few were paired. And as it was essential
for the Conservatives to act as a unit, every matter brought
before the body by them had first to be agreed to in caucus.
The business of the Convention was thus determined in the
Conservative caucus.

On October 11, after a month’s arduous session, the Con¬
vention adjourned. Because of the narrow majority in the

AMENDMENTS PROPOSED

n 73

body and of the evident indisposition of the people to have
the Constitution altered in some features, not so many
changes were made in it as some of the Conservative lead¬
ers desired.

The amendments

In order to have the State elections held in November,
the date of meeting of the General Assembly was fixed on
the first Monday in January.

The number of Supreme Court judges was reduced to
three, and those of the Superior Court to nine : and the
judges were to ride the circuit of the State, while the As¬
sembly was authorized to confine the election to their sev¬
eral districts, and increase the number of districts. Among
the most important of the alterations was that vesting in
the Assembly plenary power in regard to county govern¬
ment, and that authorizing separate schools for the races.
And constitutional conventions were thereafter to be called
only on the approval of the people. Thirty amendments
in all were adopted, of wdiich one-half passed unanimously.
The proposed amendments to the Constitution, adopted by
the Convention, were to be submitted to the people for
ratification or rejection.

Mecklenburg Centennial

This being the centennial year of the Mecklenburg Dec¬
laration there was a great celebration of the event held at
Charlotte on May 20. Fully thirty thousand patriotic North
Carolinians assembled there on that occasion. Among the
distinguished visitors were Governors Thomas A. Hendricks
of Indiana, Chamberlain of South Carolina and Gilbert
Walker of Virginia. General Cox was chief marshal. Ad¬
dresses were made by John Kerr and Governor Graham,
while Governor Vance, who then resided at Charlotte, was
one of the lions of the day. At that time there was but
little question of the authenticity of the Declaration of
May 20. The origin of the narrative and resolves first pub¬
lished in 1819 had not been made known to the public.

Election day

County gov¬
ernment

May 20,
1875

ii74

CONSERVATIVE SUCCESS

Graham's

death

Aug., 1875

Moore, II,
415

Governor Graham’s address was a fine logical presentation
of the Declaration, based on such premises as he was then
acquainted with. But it being suggested that the difference
in the alleged dates, May 20 and 31, might have originated
in the difference between "the old and new styles’’; that
idea later found favor with Governor Graham.

During the summer he accepted an invitation to act as
an arbitrator between the states of Virginia and Maryland,
and in August was at Saratoga Springs in the performance
of the high duties he had assumed. He had also been
solicited by Dr. Barnard of Columbia University in New
York to contribute an article on the Mecklenburg Declara¬
tion to Johnson's Universal Cyclopedia of which he was
the editor. Such an article later appeared in that publica¬
tion, attributed to Governor Graham. In the article it is
stated that there was but one meeting held at Charlotte and
that it was on the day known in the calendar as May 31.

Governor Graham unhappily died at Saratoga Springs on
August 10, and that he had contributed such an article
was not known in North Carolina until about thirty-five
years after his death. Governor Graham’s death caused
profound sorrow throughout the State. He was not only
one of the most distinguished North Carolinians, but he
was distinguished among men for his elegant and manly
personal appearance and bearing as well as for His purity
of character, his excellence and attainments. During his
long and useful life, devoted to public service, he passed
through many vicissitudes. When he was the nominee of
the Whig party for the vice-presidency, and, perhaps later,
the Democratic people were not in love with him ; but after
1865, there were no such differences among the bulk of
the white people, and he was the leader of thought and
largely directed popular action.

“No other citizen of North Carolina ever received at his
death such distinguished testimonials of public regard.”

1875

The University

On the ratification by the people of the amendment to the
Constitution vesting the appointment of trustees of the

UNIVERSITY DOORS OPENED

ii75

University in the Assembly, that body appointed trustees,
but Governor Caldwell insisting that the amendments had
not been legally adopted, a suit was instituted at spring
term, 1874, to determine that question.

When it reached the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice
being ill, the case was continued : and it was not until Jan¬
uary term, 1875, that it was decided, declaring the amend¬
ments legally adopted. In the meantime in preparing for
this, Kemp P. Battle had canvassed the State for funds in
the interest of the University. “No other man would have
undertaken the task, and no other man could have accom¬
plished it at that period.” He raised $20,000 from the Battle,
alumni and other patriotic citizens, and then he secured President
from the Assembly an annual appropriation of $7,500 as
interest on the $125,000 land scrip donated by the Federal
government and invested by the Republicans in special tax
bonds.

The trustees now met and reorganized the University by
electing a faculty of which Dr. Charles Phillips was the 1375
chairman ; and the institution was again opened Septem¬
ber 6, 1875. On May 31, 1876, there was a great com¬
mencement by way of celebrating the revival of the Uni¬
versity, Judge Dick making the address before the alumni,
and Colonel Waddell delivering the address before the so¬
cieties. Then on June 13, 1876, the Trustees elected Kemp
P. Battle President of the University, and for fifteen years
he devoted himself to maintaining the institution.

Western North Carolina Railro-ad sold

Under a decree of the United States Circuit Court the
W estern North Carolina Railroad was sold at auction at
Salisbury on June 22, 1875, and purchased by the State
for $850,000, bonds being issued for that purpose. The
property was thereafter to be managed by a commission,
and Governor Brogden appointed W. W. Rollins, W. S.

Pearson and W. P. Canaday, Commissioners to conduct its
affairs. Citizens of Wilmington voluntarily paid $10,000

1176

CONSERVATIVE SUCCESS

cash to aid construction, and such convicts as could be
so employed were to build the road, and 332 convicts were
furnished for the work. Similarly the Spartanburg and
Asheville road had 200 convicts for two years. The con¬
struction of the penitentiary itself made good progress
under the able and capable management of W. J. Hicks,
the architect: and under the act of March 20, 1875, to
provide an asylum at Morganton, satisfactory progress had
been made by the Commissioners of which Dr. Nereus
Mendenhall was President.

CHAPTER LXX

End of Reconstruction

Vance and Settle. — Tilden and Hayes. — Turner an independ¬
ent. — The great campaign. — The result. — The Electoral Commis¬
sion. — Hayes inaugurated. — Vance inaugurated. — New conditions.

— The Observer. — County government. — Judge Cox. — Death of
Pearson. — Merrimon and Vance. — Jarvis Governor. — Sale of West¬
ern North Carolina Railroad. — Local option. — Prohibition de¬
feated. — Emigration. — Kerr and Chase. — The Boston Exposition.

— State Exposition. — The fine display. — Advanced coditions. —

Scales Governor. — County government. — Department of Labor. —

Fowle Governor. — Governor Holt. — Illiteracy. — Scarborough. — Su¬
preme Court. — Literary activity. — State Records.

Vance and Tilden

In view of the presidential election, Governor Tilden of
New York was being pressed for the Democratic nomina- June, 1876
tion by his New York friends. He had not been widely
known, but he had performed a great public service as a
lawyer in bringing to justice the corrupt members of the
Tweed ring in that city, and such a service in that era of
corruption, commended him to the confidence and good will
of honest men. The Democrats of the State held their
Convention in Raleigh on June 14. General Cox, as Chair¬
man of the State Committee, had so admirably managed
party affairs that the newspapers and public men were ac¬
cording him the nomination for Governor, but just before
the Convention met Governor Vance announced that he
would be glad to have the nomination. As he had suffered
by the election of Merrimon to the Senate, Cox at once
declared for Vance, and when the Convention met he was
nominated by acclamation. Then by a sudden combination
of several of the aspirants for other positions, and the west¬
ern counties particularly appreciating the great services of
Thomas J. Jarvis, that gentleman was nominated for Lieu¬
tenant-Governor.

1178

END OF RECONSTRUCTION

The nom¬
inees

Judge Settle

Hayes and
Tilden

Dr. John W. Worth was nominated for Treasurer, Joseph
A. Engelhard for Secretary of State, S. L. Love for
Auditor, and Col. Thomas. S. Kenan for Attorney-General.
Col. S. D. Pool, having resigned June 30, Governor Brog-
den appointed John Pool as his successor, and the Dem¬
ocrats nominated John C. Scarborough as Superintendent
of Public Instruction. Every part of the State, except the
northwest, had a representative on the ticket ; and they were
all men worthy of popular support, many of them excellent
canvassers. General Cox remained Chairman of the Com¬
mittee. All of the Democratic Representatives in Congress
were renominated except Mr. Ashe, who was replaced by
Col. Walter Steele and on the adjournment of Congress, in
August, they entered actively into the campaign.

The Republican Convention met July 12, and nominated
for Governor Judge Thomas Settle, and his running mate
was William A. Smith of Johnston County.

When the Republican National Convention met June 14,
in Cincinnati, James G. Blaine, the Plumed Knight, was the
choice of his party generally ; but there were complications
that induced the leaders to set him aside. Other aspirants
met the same fate ; and it was not until the seventh ballot
that the nomination was tendered to Rutherford B. Hayes,
a man of no great distinction, but whose name was free
from scandals. The Democrats met in St. Louis two weeks
later, and on the second ballot Governor Tilden of New
York was nominated for the presidency. He, like Hayes,
had never served in Congress, and he had no great record ;
but the Democratic nominee for the vice-presidency, Thomas
A. Hendricks, then Governor of Indiana, had already ren¬
dered notable public service. It was considered that the
Southern States would go Democratic, and New York, New
Jersey, Connecticut and Indiana were quite certain for the
Democratic nominees. At last the Democracy was sanguine
of victory.

In addition to the candidates for office canvassers were
appointed in every county, and an immense quantity of lit¬
erature was distributed.

VANCE-SETTLE CAMPAIGN

1179

The press, hopeful of success, was particularly strong in
its advocacy of the ticket. But the Wilmington Journal
had suspended, the Star, under the management of W. H.
Bernard, having supplanted it. And Mr. Turner had been
unable to meet his obligations incurred in the purchase of
the Sentinel, and had quarreled with those who had for¬
merly aided him, so that the Sentinel had likewise suspended.
Mr. Turner, who had been elected to the Convention along
with Governor Graham, now offered himself as an independ¬
ent candidate for the Senate from Orange in opposition to
Maj. John W. Graham. Other than that, the Democratic
party was closely united. Vance and Settle entered into
joint debates, and immense crowds attended their speaking.
Settle, a man of splendid personal appearance and fine ad¬
dress, conscious of fine attainments and eloquent, entered
with eagerness into the contest; and Vance, masterful on
the hustings, ready with wit and humor, and powerful in
debate, was glad to meet his adversary. It was by far the
greatest campaign ever known in North Carolina; but while
the central figures were the two giants in contest, George
Davis, General Ransom, Judge Merrimon and others, made
great addresses; and Engelhard, Jarvis, Kenan, and others,
who devoted themselves to the less-frequented communities,
rendered services of great benefit and of lasting advantage
to the party.

The Executive Committee of each party was well sup¬
plied with funds for campaign purposes throughout the
State. Tilden and Vance clubs were formed in every town¬
ship, and constant reports were made of the progress of the
enrollment. So perfect was the organization that toward
the end of the campaign, Colonel Keogh, the Republican
Chairman, said to Captain Ashe, the Secretary of the Dem¬
ocratic Committee: “We are going to beat you, this time.”
“What makes you think so?” “We will increase our vote
by 10,000.” “Well, if that is all, we will beat you by 20,-
000.” “How is that?” asked Keogh. “My reports of en¬
rollment in the clubs indicate that we will increase our vote
more than 30,000,” was the reply; and so it turned out sub¬
stantially.

Biog. Hist.,
Ill, 425

Turner

The great
campaign

The clubs

n8o

END OF RECONSTRUCTION

The vote

The other
states

The total vote for President was 234,481, an increase of
40,000 over the greatest vote ever cast, and Tilden’s ma¬
jority was 17,533. For Governor, the total vote was only
222,588, and Vance’s majority was reduced to about 14,000.
Engelhard and the others on the State ran ahead of Vance,
and the ticket had 18,000 majority.

It was a sweeping victory; and, in addition, apparently
Tilden had been elected. Hayes had 166 votes at the North.
If the Democrats carried all the Southern States, as re¬
ported, Tilden had 208; but the night of the election the
Republican headquarters at Washington announced that
Hayes had one majority. To secure that, the Returning
Boards of Florida, South Carolina and Louisiana had to
act; and there wyere double returns from these states; as
well as from Oregon. The House being Democratic and
the Senate Republican, the count of the votes was committed
to an electoral commission that was composed of eight Re¬
publicans and seven Democrats. On every question they
voted eight to seven : and by their action, elected Hayes by
one majority; but their finding was not approved by the
public. The popular vote was 4,036,298 for Hayes ; 4,300,-
500 for Tilden, who had over 250,000 popular majority, and
a majority of about a million of the white voters of the
country. Hayes was inaugurated, but he seems to have
agreed that the Republicans “should not do that again,” and
all the Southern States were abandoned to the whites.

Thus ended the dominion of the conquerors over any part
of the conquered states, after a decade of government insti¬
tuted by the Republican statesmen of 1867.

The Assembly

The Legislature met November 20, 1876, the Republicans
having but ten Senators and thirty-five Representatives ; and
among these were a dozen negroes. Charles Price was
chosen Speaker. It is remarkable that relatively few of the
well-known men were members of the House ; among them
were Montfort McGehee, W. E. Ardrey, Randolph A. Shot-
well, W. P. Roberts, and on the Republican side, Daniel L.
Russell and T. R. Purnell.

PROGRESS THE KEYNOTE

In the Senate were James L. Robinson, H. B. Short, Maj.
John W. Graham, Col. John W. Cunningham, J. I. Scales
and Thomas D. Johnston.

With the opening of the new year, Governor Vance was
inaugurated Governor for the third time. Although it was
bitter cold, and snow lay on the ground, there was a great
concourse of people to celebrate the event, and many mil¬
itary companies participated in the demonstration.

Vance gave the keynote to the new administration; it was
progress. And he soon allayed the apprehensions of the
negroes. In his message, advocating their education, he said :
“Their desire for education is an extremely creditable one,
and should be gratified as far as our means will permit. In
short, I regard it as an unmistakable policy to imbue these
black people with a hearty North Carolina feeling, and
make them cease to look abroad for the aids to their prog¬
ress and civilization, and the protection of their rights, as
they have been taught to do ; and teach them to look to
their State instead ; to convince them that their welfare is
indissolubly linked with ours.”

In every department he wanted progress.

New conditions

After the election, Peter M. Hale and William L. Saun¬
ders, men of the first ability, began at Raleigh the publica¬
tion of the Observer , the keynote of which, like what was in
Vance’s own heart, was progress. Already a decided ad¬
vance was observed throughout the State, and those who
had devoted themselves to the work rejoiced.

Natural resources

As North Carolina was the first state to have a geological
survey, begun in 1823 by Olmstead and continued by Dr.
Mitchell, and on his death by Professor Emmons, whose
valuable publications were supplemented by Edmund Ruffin’s
report on swamp land, so at the close of the war in 1866
Professor W. C. Kerr was appointed State Geologist and
steps were taken to attract immigrants to the State. Pro-

1181

Vance inau¬
gurated

Il8 2

END OF RECONSTRUCTION

Dept, of
Agriculture

State v.
Hoskins

643 Rev.
Stat.

Death of
Pearson

fessor Kerr continued to render most acceptable and val¬
uable service, bringing to his work fine intelligence and
earnestness of purpose.

Vance now promoted the establishment of the Department
of Agriculture and appointed Col. L. L. Polk of Anson
County, admirably fitted, for the head of that work of such
great value to the farm population who comprised the bulk
of the people of the State. At once an experimental station
was authorized, the second established in America, and
along with it an experimental farm, and State weather serv¬
ice, and other divisions. From that beginning the Depart¬
ment of Agriculture continually grew in importance and
valuable service.

The Raleigh insane asylum being found overcrowded,
the State Hospital at Morganton was hurried to completion,
as well as one for the colored insane. A commission was
established to report on the feasibility of compromising the
State debt, disregarding the special tax bonds.

The tax on distilling whiskey from grain led to many
illicit distilleries, especially in the western counties, while
the conduct of the revenue officers arrayed the population
against them. A deep-seated antagonism prevailed, and
the politicians fed the flame. In 1877, to fill a vacancy in
the Superior Court, Governor Vance appointed General
Cox, who had served with particular credit as Solicitor of
the Wake district since 1868. Soon after General Cox was
appointed an interesting case arose. Hoskins, Starr and
another revenue officer being arrested for an assault and
battery and bound over to the State Court obtained an
order removing the case to the United States Court, under
an act of Congress. Judge Cox held that the removal was
legal. There was much popular feeling against it. The
Supreme Court, however, sustained Judge Cox, and Cox’s
decision may be taken as an indication of the law-abiding
purpose of the public men of that period.

On the 5th of January, 1878, Chief Justice Pearson, while
on his way to hold the Supreme Court, died at Winston.
Governor Vance, on the 14th of January, appointed to suc¬
ceed him W. N. H. Smith, eminent because of his character

JARVIS BECOMES GOVERNOR

1183

and great legal ability, who had been one of the central
Executive Committee.

Vance proved himself in every way worthy to be at the
head of the people of a great state under the unusual con¬
ditions of that period ; and he found such favor even among
the colored people that they called several of their military
companies Vance Guards in token of their satisfaction.

Beginning in 1879, the Supreme Court was to consist of
only three members, and the Democratic Convention nom¬
inated Smith for Chief Justice; Thomas S. Ashe and John
H. Dillard for associates, who were elected.

In the Senate, Judge Merrimon being an indefatigable genator
student thoroughly familiarized himself with all public ques- Merrimon
tions. His great capacity for work, his acute intellect, his
thorough knowledge of the law, his ardent devotion to the
principles of constitutional liberty and the cause of the Bioo, Higt
Southern people, united with his purity of character, his viii, 334
simplicity of demeanor, his directness and abhorrence of
duplicity gained for him an influence that rendered him one
of the most conspicuous as well as one of the most useful
of the Southern Senators. Fortunate was it for the South
that he was’ Senator at that period. His forcible addresses
commanded attention and measurably influenced action.
However, Governor Vance’s friends were now urgent that
he should replace Merrimon who, six years earlier, liad won
over him by the aid of Republican votes. A great contest
was waged by their respective adherents, but a week before
the Legislature met Tudge Merrimon, finding it unfavor- Governor
able to him, withdrew, and Vance was elected to the Senate,

Jarvis becoming Governor February 5, 1879. Jarvis had
been a poor boy, then a school teacher, a fine soldier, a
thoughtful and firm legislator. He now began a service of
six years as Governor that for efficiency and benefit to the
State has no counterpart in our history. Engelhard, the
Secretary of State, having died, editor William L. Saunders
succeeded him; and in July, 1879, the Observer was bought
by S. A. Ashe, the Chairman of the State Committee, while
the fine service of Peter M. Hale to the State was other-

1 184

END OF RECONSTRUCTION

County gov¬
ernment

Sale of the
Western
N. C. It ail-
road

wise continued. Under the administration of Governor
Jarvis, sustained by those who surrounded him, the people
readily responded to his leadership and immense progress
was made in every line of development.

The Constitution which had allowed mixed schools be¬
ing now amended, the public schools were in greater favor.
The poll tax and some other taxes were appropriated for
their maintenance but the large addition to the school pop¬
ulation by the addition of the negroes required many more
schoolhouses and teachers, and all the school fund that could
be raised was inadequate for efficiency. The townships
were authorized to levy taxes for graded schools, and a
normal school for each race was provided for and a summer
school was likewise authorized.

In order to keep up the construction of the Western North
Carolina Railroad that had reached the foot of the moun¬
tains the people of Wilmington had at first with great patri¬
otism made a liberal donation, now the continuation of that
work was necessarily a matter for the State at large.

The east wished to be relieved of the incubus of the Re¬
publican system of county government, while the western
counties, dominated by the whites, preferred to continue to
elect the county commissioners by popular vote — while it
wanted the railroad built.- By mutual concessions, the As¬
sembly made an annual appropriation for the road and
adopted a new county government system, under which the
county commissioners were to be chosen by the board of
magistrates appointed by the Assembly.

But when in 1879 the construction of the railroad had
progressed into the mountains a point was reached where
a slide of the mountain side kept moving the roadbed down
the slope. It seemed to be impracticable to arrest the move¬
ment. All the money spent by the management on the work
was without avail. Some of the newspapers started what
was called “the mud cut boom,” and many of the people
became dissatisfied with being taxed for such hopeless ex¬
penditure. While this dissatisfaction was prevalent, in Jan¬
uary, 1880, W. R. Grice of New York, W. J. Best and their
associates proposed to purchase the railroad. Eventually

RAILROAD EXTENSION

1185

they agreed with Governor Jarvis and Vance and other rep¬
resentative men on certain terms, and a special session of
the Legislature was called for March 15, 1880, when the
subject was presented by George Davis and Thomas Ruffin
in advocacy of the sale. The proposition was amended in
several particulars and, as finally agreed to by the Legisla¬
ture, the purchasers were to pay $600,000 in cash, and build
the branches to Paint Rock and to Murphy without delay,
that being the chief consideration. Grice and others having
failed to complete the contract, the road eventually passed
into the hands of the Richmond and Danville which com¬
plied with the conditions of the agreement. Best subse¬
quently leased the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad,
and proposed to run a new line through the State from
Goldsboro; but after some work on his road to Smithfield,
that was abandoned.

In 1874 W. W. Peebles was a Republican Senator from
Northampton County. He was a man of character and Localoptlon
among his constituents was a Quaker community. They
asked for a local option law to prohibit the sale of liquor
in their township and he obtained it for them. Such was
the beginning of local option in the State. It quickly spread
here and there. By 1880 one-third of the State was under
local option. A party of “Liberals” sprang up seeking to
eliminate old issues, they being in effect against the Dem¬
ocratic administration, and they fanned the flame of pro¬
hibition, which the ministry and many of the best men
espoused. At length in June, 1880, a prohibition conven¬
tion was held at Raleigh whose personnel was very superior,
and among the most powerful speakers was a black man
named Price. The Observer had declared that prohibition
was a social and not a party question, and urged that it
should not be brought into politics; suggesting that if left
alone, the larger part of the State, would soon be dry. But
the convention called for a State-wide election on State¬
wide prohibition. The activities of the revenue officers, the
Liberals, the western dissatisfaction at county government
led to the development of additional strength by the Re¬
publicans who gained 11,000 votes at the election, while
75

n86

END OF RECONSTRUCTION

the Democratic vote increased but 3,500. However, when
the Legislature met and a special vote on State-wide pro¬
hibition was ordered for August, at the election the pro¬
hibition was defeated by 118,000 majority.

The Department of Agriculture had now so greatly ex¬
panded as to require more offices, so without any authority,
Governor Jarvis bought for the State the hotel property on
the site of which its new home still is, which was then en-
The Mansion larged to meet the requirements ; and he had the Governor’s
Mansion planned and began its construction.

Emigration

When Congress manifested its illiberal spirit toward the
people of the South some persons deemed it best to remove
to the far west, and there was some emigration on that ac¬
count. Then the managers of the western railroads offered
inducements, and special trains loaded with emigrants took
out many more families. Again, especially in the eighties
there was a demand for labor farther south and emigration
agents established themselves in the counties and induced
many laborers to leave the State. When these railroad
efforts abated, still there continued to be a disposition par¬
ticularly in some of the western counties to seek fortunes
in other states, and this led at times to an actual diminution
of the population of some counties at the end of the census
decade.

There was also a natural flow of the people into adjoin¬
ing states without regard to state lines, so that Richmond,
Norfolk and other Virginia cities attracted North Caro¬
linians who found congenial employment there, while others
merely crossed the line regardless of citizenship. Indeed,
this movement, relatively local, has been the chief cause
of most of the changes in population in recent years ; and
it is to be observed that more Virginians have been moving
into North Carolina than North Carolinians have been go¬
ing to Virginia. It will be found that the majority of the
native born North Carolinians living out of the State have
merely crossed the line over into a neighboring state.

STRONG MEN ON THE BENCH

1187

In 1882 James E. Shepherd of Beaufort County was
nominated for the Superior Court bench and was elected.
In 1883 Justice Ruffin resigned from the Supreme Court
and Governor Jarvis appointed Ex-Senator Merrimon to
succeed him. Thus two jurists of fine capacity were at that
period added to the bench, each of whom later became Chief
Justice.

The Boston Exposition

In 1872 the Press Association was organized and year by
year it had increased in membership until nearly every paper
was represented, a result of the personal contact being a
modification of tone, an elevation of standard and increased
efficiency. In 1883 there was a great exposition to be held
in Boston, and North Carolina was to make an exhibit.
Governor Jarvis was asked to make the principal opening
address. He was disinclined, but at length yielded to per¬
sonal solicitations and complied. The North Carolina press
agreed to hold its annual meeting at Boston during the ex¬
position. The result was happy and fortunate beyond all
expectations. Governor Jarvis’s address was so notable,
met with so much applause, and aroused such enthusiasm
that the Grand Army of the Republic had him to address
them at a dinner, and were in such sympathy that they car¬
ried him away to Connecticut to address the Grand Army
there. North Carolina was in every one’s mouth. The
North Carolina press was given a great dinner and the city
government furnished many carriages carrying the mem¬
bers and others to see the points of interest. The press,
divided into committees, visited the other towns to see the
manufacturing processes of the State. Had there been any
lingering vestiges of unpleasant feeling, they could not have
survived that fortunate occasion. The fountains of patriot¬
ism had been struck and the waters gushed forth.

The next year was the end of Jarvis’s administration.
There was a purpose to signalize its close by an appropriate
illustration of the State’s appreciation of its benefits. At
the suggestion of F. H. fries of Winston, instead of the

Shepherd
and Merri¬
mon, Judges

State Expo¬
sition

1 1 88

END OF RECONSTRUCTION

Phosphate
beds and
coal

The great
display

Cotton

factories

usual agricultural State Fair, there was an exposition of
our growing manufactures. W. S. Primrose was the Presi¬
dent of the State Exposition held at Raleigh in October. It
was a complete success and attracted numberless visitors,
for every section of the State was then very prosperous. It
was to continue for three weeks, but instead was kept open
for six weeks.

In 1883 the Agricultural Department, which, now under
Montfort McGehee, had broadened its operations, em¬
ployed Dr. H. M. Chase to make a particular examination
of the coal fields of the Dan and the Deep River regions,
and also of the phosphate deposits of the southeastern coun¬
ties. It was found that the coal beds were not so extensive
as was hoped, but the Department was led to make an
effort to utilize for the advantage of agriculture the phos¬
phate deposits in New Hanover that probably had their
origin when the Gulf Stream ran along there; and as an
illustration of the value of the coal, more than a hundred
tons were used in connection with the State Exposition.

As that was the centennial of the landing of Raleigh's
colony on Roanoke Island, the State press had its meeting
at Raleigh, with appropriate exercises. Captain Ashe of
the Observer delivered an address on the life of Raleigh.
Among the resolutions adopted by the press was that “the
ninety thousand articles of great merit and particularly the
seven thousand exhibited by the Agricultural Department
at the exposition are highly creditable, and their exhibition
must result in great benefit.” Indeed, the display of the
manufactures was a revelation. North Carolina had emerged
from her mere agricultural life and was entering on a
manufacturing career. Cotton manufacturing begun here
and there years before had during the war been pressed
vigorously, and now was making progress. The Holts, the
Fries family, and the Pattersons were among those leading
the way in development. The Leaks, Steels and Mack
Morgan in Richmond, and Watkins at Ramseur and Odell
in Randolph and Cabarrus, Borden in Wayne, Mclver at
the Gulf were also at work ; and George Gray along with

1. Washington Duke
4. William A. Erwin

3. Edwin M. Holt

Richard J. Reynolds
Daniel A. Tompkins

MANUFACTURES

1189

Oates and with McAden had started mills at Charlotte ;
while others were following the example of the pioneers.

In tobacco at Durham, Green, Cheek, Geer and Lyon,
Morris, Tomlinson, Blackwell and Julian Carr and the
Dukes had originated the enterprises ; while at Winston
J. W. Hanes and R. J. Reynolds led the way in the business
that was to be of great benefit to the State. The internal
revenue tax, chiefly for tobacco, was $1,761,000.

While W. H. Snow had started the hardwood industry
at High Point additional impulse was given it in 1880 by
J. E. Cox who later organized the Home Furniture Com¬
pany and laid the foundations of the important development
that has brought to High Point its foremost position as
the center of the hardwood industry. Blue in Moore, Chad-
bourn on the lower Cape Fear and others at the east were
exploiting the forests.

The census of 1880 showed 49 cotton and 49 woolen mills
and 1 18 tobacco factories, employing $4,571,800, while 3,622
other manufacturing establishments employed $8,473,207,
and there had been considerable additions every year. Nor
were the minerals overlooked ; the gold and other mines
were yielding up some treasures. The trucking that now had
been considerably developed in the east had its parallel in
the extension of tobacco and cotton and the growth of fruits
at the west and agriculture, with Montfort McGehee and
Charles W. Dabney urging forward the Agricultural De¬
partment with its various branches, was flourishing. It was
realized that there was “more in the man than in the land"
and the Junior Reserves who had won such encomiums at
Bentonville had proved even more efficient in peace than
in war.

Transportation facilities had been greatly increased. In
1878 there were 22 railroads operating 1,425 miles within
the State and this mileage had been annually increased, in
1889 being 2,851 miles. The State's interest in the Western
Railroad from Fayetteville to the Gulf had been sold to
become the basis of the Cape Fear and Yadkin, which now
was in operation from Bennettsville to Greensboro. The
value of real estate had risen by leaps and bounds.

Tobacco

Hardwood

Conditions

Transporta

tion

1 190

END OF RECONSTRUCTION

1886

County gov¬
ernment

Activities

The ideal
of 1887

Scales Governor

Governor Jarvis was succeeded by Gen. Alfred M. Scales
of Rockingham County. General Scales had served in the
Federal Congress ; had then become a Confederate general
of particular excellence and had subsequently represented
his district in Congress for four terms. Because of his
personal characteristics he had the respect and confidence
of the people beyond others. He was the first of the ante¬
bellum Democratic public men to serve — for nearly a gen¬
eration — and the last. Without flaw or blemish, in war and
in peace, he honored the office of Governor. Maj. Charles
M. Stedman of Wilmington, also highly esteemed, was the
Lieutenant-Governor. Now for a decade public affairs ran
smoothly save one little ripple on the waters. There was
dissatisfaction in the western white counties because of the
system of county government under which the county com¬
missioners managing county affairs were elected by the
magistrates and not by popular vote. In 1887 J. R. Webster
of Rockingham, a Democratic editor of good repute, led in
that crusade and was elected Speaker of the House. But
eventually the opposition was quieted and the issue passed
away. The progressive spirit that had prevailed was still
manifested, and the people were busy, prosperous and con¬
tented. The Assembly of 1887 established the Department
of Labor; nine banks were incorporated, a dozen academies
and colleges, and no less than forty-seven industrial com¬
panies, while sixty acts were passed incorporating railroads
and amending railroad charters. The most pretentious of
these enterprises were the Atlantic & Northwestern Rail¬
road from Smithville to Tennessee, and the Central & North¬
western from some point on this road in Richmond County
to the northwestern section of the State, connecting with
any Tennessee or Virginia road; and the Southport Ter¬
minal Company ; while the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley
Railroad was relied on eventually to bring the coal from the
coal fields to the Cape Fear. There was indeed a remark¬
able vision of possible achievement. The purpose extended
not only to the development of the west, but to building

HOLT SUCCEEDS FOWLE

up a seaport and establishing facilities for commerce. To
this end the State was to furnish convicts to assist in the
construction of the new roads as it had in the building of
other railroads.

After a steady growth in quiet development in all lines
for four years Judge Daniel G. Fowle became Governor
and the Governor’s Mansion being now in readiness, Gov¬
ernor Fowle occupied it. But after two years of service,
Governor Fowle unhappily died in the prime of life, being
succeeded by Lieutenant-Governor Thomas M. Holt, a
tiained business man, manufacturer and agriculturist. Gov¬
ernor Holt’s administration was likewise marked by entire
quiet and progress. Prosperity prevailed.

On the death of Judge Ashe in 1887, Joseph J. Davis
succeeded him in the Supreme Court, and the next year be¬
cause of the greatly increased work of the Court, by consti¬
tutional amendment, two more justices were added, A. C.
Avery and James E. Shepherd becoming the new members.

In 1889, after ten years of service, Chief Justice Smith
passed away, ending a career in which he had proved him¬
self equal to every station; and Justice Merrimon became
Chief Justice, Judge Walter Clark of the Superior Court
being appointed to the vacancy of the members. In 1893
both Chief Justice Merrimon and Judge Davis died. Judge
Shepherd then became Chief Justice and James C. MacRae
and Armistead Burwell were appointed justices.

Illiteracy

In 1850 the number of illiterate white males in North
Carolina was 26,239; in Massachusetts, 11,578; in Pennsyl¬
vania, 24,380; and in New York, 39,179. Ten years later
the number in North Carolina was 26,024; in Massachusetts,
16,909; in Pennsylvania, 27,560; and in New York, 47,703.
The illiterates in North Carolina had slightly decreased, those
in the other states named had increased. Such was the con¬
dition when the war brought on its disturbances. In the east¬
ern and western counties in a large degree the schools were
interfered with, and in 1865 they ceased throughout the State

1 191

Fowle, Gov¬
ernor

The

Supreme

Court

1 192

END OF RECONSTRUCTION

Scarborough

Pub. Doc.
1901, No.
9, 158,
Mebane’s
Report

Literary ac¬
tivities

Mrs. Moore

Mrs.

Spencer

until 1871. As a result the white male illiterates increased
in the State to 44,420 in 1880, while the addition of the
unlettered negroes largely increased the number.

The schools were partially opened in 1871. The number
of pupils enrolled being only 115,060. At that time the
Constitution made no distinction as to races, and the term
was very short.

The Constitution was then soon altered allowing separate
school districts for the different races.

The Superintendent of Public Instruction for seven years
was John C. Scarborough, to whom is largely due the act
remodeling the school law and who served very acceptably.
By 1884 the average number of children attending school
was, negroes, 66,619; whites, 106,318; total, 172,905. In
1890 negroes, 68,992; whites, 134,108; total, 203,912.

In 1880 the amount expended for the schools was $376,-
662; and in 1890 it was $714,903. The attendance was not
in proportion to the expenditure. So many families were
still indifferent to education that it was hard in the prevail¬
ing conditions to overcome the difficulties. Illiteracy still
persisted.

While literary activity had generally been confined to
essays and addresses, yet there were some publications of a
different nature. Mr. Wiley had early caused to be pre¬
pared some school books, different from the Northern pub¬
lications. During the war Mrs. Marinda Branson Moore,
who was a teacher in Glenn Anna Seminary under Rev.
Charles F. Deems, prepared the Dixie Primer; the Dixie
Speller; the Dixie Readers, 1, 2, and 3, and a geographical
reader ; and these were in use during the war in the public
schools.

Mrs. Cornelia Spencer, the daughter of Dr. James
Phillips, the professor of mathematics for forty years at the
University, was fully equal to her distinguished brothers in
intellectual power and her life was largely devoted to serv¬
ice. At the instance of Governor Vance and Governor
Swain she prepared the valuable work the Last Ninety Days
of the War, and, beginning in 1866, for twenty years she
contributed a weekly column to the North Carolina Preshy-

1. Mrs. Marinda Branson Moore 2.

3. John H. Wheeler
4. Mrs. Sallie Southall Cotten 5.

Mrs. Cornelia P. Spencer
Mrs. Frances Christine Tiernan

LITERARY ACTIVITY

ii93

terian, the series being a remarkable achievement in breadth
and depth of Christian culture, and exerting a strong in¬
fluence. She aided Dr. Battle’s efforts to reopen the Uni¬
versity with marked success, and later wrote a school history
of the State of particular merit. She was the most illus¬
trious woman of her generation in the State.

Mrs. Sallie Southall Cotton was first called to services as
a North Carolina manager at the World’s Fair, 1892, and
her life has been much devoted to woman’s work; making
her influence felt among the Daughters of the Confederacy,
and King’s Daughters, and in the Federation of Woman’s
Clubs, whose activities, extending to every department of
social and educational life, have made a marked impression
on the State. Her principal literary effort has been The
White Doe, an Indian legend, “fine in conception, true
to tradition and graceful in execution : it reveals the intel¬
lectual breadth and poetic cast of the mind of the author.”
Indeed, Mrs. Cotton has- largely contributed to rescue Vir¬
ginia Dare from oblivion.

Quickly after peace, Haywood W. Guion published The
Comet, Captain- Maffitt, The Nautilus; there were novels
and poetry by Miss Fisher, daughter of Col. Charles
F. Fisher, under the name of Christian Reid ; Holden’s no¬
table poem, “Hatteras” ; publications by Boner, Fuller, Hill
and Vance, and, later, St’ockard. In 1877 appeared Sketches
of Western North Carolina by Hunter, and in 1880, Moore’s
excellent history of the State, the first narrative history at¬
tempted. The next year Moore compiled the roster of the
Confederate soldiers and then published a school history of
the State. Then in 1889 Schenck’s contribution to Revolu¬
tionary history was published, and Colonel Saunders ad¬
dressed himself to the collection and publication of the
colonial records, performing that great work most admir¬
ably.

There was much intellectual activity among the public
men. Doubtless the development was a natural effect of the
experiences of the war and its subsequent strains. The
Vances, Ransom, Armfield, Robbins, Schenck, George Davis
and Joseph J. Davis, Ruffin, the Battles, Bynum, Merrimon

Mrs. Cotton

Literary ac¬
tivities

Colonial

Records

U94

END OF RECONSTRUCTION

Social con¬
ditions

and many others of particular excellence gave luster to the
period. Peace reigned, the people ever law-abiding were
busy and contented. More than 6,000 schoolhouses and
6,500 churches dotted the hills. Indeed, North Carolina had
nearly as many church edifices as all of the six states of
New England put together. When one regards this happy
scene and conditions of that period are contrasted with
those they superseded, imposed by malignants, one is re¬
minded of what has been elsewhere said: “Never in history
has a people been so clearly and effectually vindicated as
those gallant souls of North Carolina, who emulating the
constancy of Hamilcar, swore their children to undying op¬
position to those who would destroy their civilization. Let
the oppressed of future ages gaze on the scene and take
courage/’

CHAPTER LXXI

Fusion

The Farmers Alliance. — Peoples Party. — Carr Governor. — Vance
reelected. — Vance dies. — Jarvis Senator. — Material progress. — The
press. — The election. — Fusion. — The Democrats beaten. — Butler
and Pritchard Senators. — The Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley
Railroad. — The Federal Court. — Boyd, Seymour, Purnell, judges.

— Fusion continues. — The new State officers. — Friction. — The
campaign of 1898. — At Wilmington. — The Revolution. — The re¬
sult. — The war with Spain. — North Carolina Volunteers. — Arm-
field and Burgwyn colonels. — James H. Young colonel of colored
regiment. — Ensign Bagley. — Lieutenant Shipp. — Lieut. E. A.
Anderson, U. S. N.

The Farmers Alliance

Some years earlier the farmers in various remote states
had started organizations for the benefit of those engaged
in agriculture, the Alliance, the Patrons of Husbandry and
the Grange; and eventually in 1887 the National Alliance
was organized throughout the great Northwestern States.

This was more political than the others and demanded that
the government should control all money and transportation
and every other public function. It soon extended into all
the agricultural states, and under the active management of
Col. L. L. Polk, a man of fine address and great plausibility,
who had begun the publication of the Progressive Farmer L‘ L' Polk
and was an apostle to promote the prosperity of the farmer,
it quickly became prevalent in a large portion of North
Carolina. It appealed not only to those engaged in agricul¬
tural pursuits but as well to many others who desired to see
the farmers attain the highest prosperity and reap the re¬
ward of their industry; and although no one could become
a member unless he was a farmer, as all of North Carolina
was more or less interested in agriculture, it had general
sympathy. Soon it began to exert political influence within
the established parties. Marion Butler, a brilliant young
graduate of the University, bought the Clinton Caucasian

1196

FUSION

The great
campaign

and along with the Progressive Farmer , and with the added
influence of S. B. Alexander, Dr. Cyrus Thompson, Elias
Carr and many other agriculturists of prominence, it soon
exerted a strong power in the General Assembly and within
the Democratic party. In 1891 Butler came to the Legisla¬
ture as Senator from Sampson and began a notable political
career. He urged with success the establishment of a Rail¬
road Commission with power to fix rates and was strong
for progress.

The University

After the University had been revived through the efforts
of Dr. Kemp Battle, in 1875, its usefulness increased year
by year, and its graduates were helpful to the State. One
of the troubles had ever been the need of competent teach¬
ers ; already there were the Teachers Assembly, the county
institutes, State summer schools, and summer normal schools
at Wilson, Sparta and elsewhere. But while these were
useful they did not increase the supply of teachers. Mrs.
Cornelia Spencer was apparently the first to exert an influ¬
ence that was beneficial. She urged higher education of
women. Professor Winston at the University was imbued
with a spirit to educate the people ; and among his pupils
who became in sympathy with him were Charles D. Mclver
and Edwin A. Alderman. Mclver became a teacher himself
and realizing the conditions, the need of trained teachers,
while there were so many women of fine capacity in the
country homes whose lives were being wasted, he deter¬
mined to try to open the door of opportunity to them. His
first wish was to fit women for a livelihood, and the need
of teachers offered the means. In 1889 he successfully
urged the Teachers Assembly to appeal to the Legislature
to establish a training school for teachers, but at first the
Legislature did not respond. However, Mclver and Aider-
man now began one of the most interesting campaigns in
the history of the State. Lor three years, winter and sum¬
mer, they preached a crusade in behalf of universal educa¬
tion. Their text was substantially “universal education ;
woman the educator ; education of woman the foundation

EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS

1 19 7

of human progress.” In 1891, the Legislature agreed, and
the State Normal and Industrial College for young women
was established. Greensboro donated $50,000, R. S. Pullen,
R. T. Gray, E. P. Wharton and others gave $10,000. Tu¬
ition is free to those who are to become teachers. Every
county . sends representatives, and the benefit in elevating
the social condition throughout the State has been incalcu¬
lable, while the advantage to general education has also been
great.

In the meantime another agitation was in progress. While
the University had continued to grow in usefulness, it had
been suggested that it should broaden its curriculum and fit
its graduates for more of the activities of life. The Legis¬
lature had in 1887 required the institution to take the notes
of students for their tuition, and as to those who would
agree to teach one year, to make no charge for the Normal
Department. From time to time the appropriations had
increased until it reached $77,000.

This fostering care of the University, which under the
Constitution was at the head of the educational facilities of
the State and under State regulation, however, led to op¬
position from some of those interested in the denomina¬
tional colleges, and constant efforts were made to deprive
the institution of State aid.

These efforts came to a head in 1891 when Dr. Winston
was President and was urging larger appropriations. It
was insisted that the public school system should be confined
to elementary education ; that the people should not be taxed
to provide higher education. Dr. Winston on the other
hand, with great spirit and skill, maintained the cause of
education in general and of higher education in the State.
For months the battle raged and the subjects were agitated.
W hen the Assembly of 1892 met the result was doubtful.
It depended on the attitude of the Alliance members. Marion
Butler, Senator from Sampson, was in sympathy with Presi¬
dent W inston and the University, and he influenced the
Alliance members to stand for higher education by the State.
1 hat cause then triumphed. The result has been notable,
not merely as to the Lmiversity itself but in incidental con-

The Univer¬
sity

The Raleigh
Observer

The oppo¬
sition

The contest
for higher
education

1198

FUSION

sequences. While in 1891 the University ranked only second
among the colleges in the State, in 1896 it outnumbered any
two colleges, and its curriculum had been extended to many
branches of applied sciences. Incidentally, there resulted a
general interest in higher education and all the colleges have
been benefited.

Death of Scales and Holden

In February, 1892, the State had to mourn the loss of
Governor Scales, who survived his retirement from office
only three years. In entire fidelity to the highest traits of
manhood, Governor Scales had been distinguished among
the public men of his generation and he enjoyed the esteem,
respect and confidence of the people to an unusual degree.

In March, 1892, Governor Holden died. While after his
impeachment he refrained from political activity, he en¬
gaged in editorial work at Washington City, and he was
the postmaster at Raleigh where he resided. He was a
man of gentle manners, courteous and kindly in his dis¬
position, and had the personal esteem- and good will of the
community. He wrote historical and other articles, and for
years he contributed a column of Sunday reading matter to
the News and Observer, of which the author was the editor.
His walk in life was entirely exemplary. After about twenty
years there was a disposition, even among some of the
former members of the House who had impeached him, to
pass a resolution relieving him of his disabilities. When
the subject was mentioned to Governor Holden, he said,
“If they will say that I was right." That, however, ended
the movement.

After his death, his Memoirs, which he had prepared,
was published, being a valuable contribution to the literature
of the period in which he was such a prominent actor.

The influence of the Alliance

When the election of 1892 was coming on the monetary
condition of the country and perhaps of the world gave
great concern. Here the coinage of silver had been entirely
stopped. Silver was demonetized.

FARMERS ALLIANCE IN POLITICS

1199

The Alliance had now so grown that it almost controlled The gub
the Democratic State Convention. It had announced the treasury
support of the Subtreasury Bill as a test of fealty to
the interests of the public. This measure provided for
the establishment of government warehouses in which
produce could be stored and for the loan of money to the
farmers by the government on that security. When the
Convention met in June, 1892, as President Cleveland was
a gold man, the supporters of his administration were os¬
tracized, and while the Alliance delegates participated in
the proceedings relating to State affairs, they withdrew
when delegates were to be chosen to the National Conven¬
tion. Governor Holt and others were candidates for the
nomination for Governor and there appeared to be no ex¬
pectation of any agreement when the name of Elias Carr Elias Carr
was brought forward. Carr had been at one time President
of the Alliance, was a farmer of large means and well
educated. He had never concerned himself with public
affairs. Now he desired to be nominated for State Treas¬
urer but had no thought of being Governor. The Alliance
men joined with others and nominated him. Then Rufus
A. Doughton of Alleghany was selected for Lieutenant-
Governor. But after some months the Alliance politicians
joining the Peoples party offered a ticket of their own, Dr.

W. P. Exum of Wayne for Governor. This was the con¬
summation of the desire of the editor of the News and
Observer, and of others ‘who deprecated the dominancy of
the Democratic party by the leaders of the Alliance, threat¬
ening its integrity and degradation as had been the result
in South Carolina. The News and Observer had sought to
make it intolerable for Colonel Polk to remain in the party
wearing the garb of a Democrat and his separation from
the Democratic party was a relief and satisfaction. Not¬
withstanding this defection, at the election the Democrats
lost only 13,000 votes, Judge David M. Furches, the Re¬
publican candidate for Governor, lost 40,000, while 47,800
were cast for Exum. Carr’s majority over Furches was
41,000. The vote for President Cleveland was 8,000 short
of that for Carr.

The Peoples
Party

1200

FUSION

Vance
elected by
the Alliance

Death of
Polk

1893

April, 1894

Vance

While the Democrats still held the two houses of the
Legislature those connected with the Alliance dominated in
the caucus. As Senator Vance’s term was about to expire
a Senator was to be elected. Vance was ever close to the
popular heart. He was not a supporter of President Cleve¬
land's policies. He ever declared that he owed his public
life entirely to the boys who wore homespun, the plow-boys,
and he was sincere in his devotion to them. Colonel Polk,
the directing genius of the Alliance, said he himself could
be elected Senator, but he favored Vance. Vance was nom¬
inated by the caucus, but there was a resolution that he
should support the subtreasury. It became known that he
would not accept under that resolution, so it was modified,
and he accepted and was elected to succeed himself. Quickly
following these events Colonel Polk died and Butler became
the leader in the Peoples party.

Governor Carr in his inaugural said: “Having never
sought office, nor held office before, I am unacquainted with
the routine or detail thereof, nor is the knowledge of the
fact that the administration of my predecessor is considered
one of the most substantial in the history of the State cal¬
culated to increase my confidence," etc. But he brought to
the office a purpose to discharge every duty with integrity
and patriotism.

The great Vance died April 14, 1894. He had been a
popular favorite for decades, and in the Senate had come
to be more and more esteemed. During his fifteen years of
service he was vigilant to protect the liberties of the people
and to defend the fair name of the people of the South.
Then by incessant toil he mastered the great questions of
tariff and finance and became the recognized leader of his
party on those subjects of constant debate. “As the ex¬
igency demanded he used the battle axe of logic or the
scimitar of irony with equal ease," and by his courage, can¬
dor and sincerity he commanded the respect and confidence
of his adversaries and the applause of his friends. He was
indeed a great Senator. But his labor left its mark. He
suffered the loss of an eye, and impaired his health, and
died in harness widely regretted.

LEASE OF N. C. RAILROAD

1201

To supply the vacancy in the Senate Governor Carr ap¬
pointed Governor T. J. Jarvis, who, under Cleveland, had
been Minister to Brazil and was versed in national politics ;
but he, like Vance, was now out of line with the President’s
financial measures.

Towards the end of his term, Governor Carr agreed to
the lease of the North Carolina Railroad to the Richmond
and Danville Railroad Company for a period of ninety-nine
years. This was some years before the existing lease would
expire and for such a long period as to amount to a sale.
As a mere business transaction it yielded the State fine
profit, but it was ill-advised since it deprived the State of
its control over an important transportation line and was in
contravention of the original purpose to market our western
products through our own seaports.

Conditions

At this time there were 173 cotton mills in the State, of
which twenty-three were in Gaston County, twenty in Al¬
amance, fifteen in Randolph, fourteen in Mecklenburg, nine
each in Richmond and Guilford, seven each in Cumberland,
Durham and Catawba and five in Lincoln. The tobacco crop
under the stimulus of the factories now perhaps of more
importance than the cotton factories, had increased until in
1895 it had reached 114,000,000 pounds, valued at $10,556,-
300. The cotton crop had in twenty years also reached 100,-
000,000 pounds, or 250,000 bales. The railroad mileage
within the State was now 3,616 miles. The Paint Rock
branch of the Western North Carolina Railroad was com¬
pleted in 1882, and the Murphy branch in 1890, and every
part of the State except the northwestern counties had trans¬
portation. The expenditure for schools in 1895 was $783,405
and the schoolhouses numbered 6,566, while there were
about 100 academies and private high schools. The Uni¬
versity was flourishing and the antagonism to higher edu¬
cation by State aid had subsided. Trinity, Wake Forest and
Davidson were well patronized as were also the female
seminaries ; the A. & M. College and the Normal College
76

Jarvis,

Senator

1895

He leases
the N. C.
Railroad

Material

progress

1202

FUSION

1894

The Pop¬
ulists and
Republicans

at Greensboro were answering the expectations of their
founders and gave promise of great benefit to the State.
Twelve daily papers and 170 weekly papers now attested
the growing dissemination of general information ; and it
should be noted that early in 1894 the News and Observer ,
the leading paper in the State, passed into the hands of
Josephus Daniels who has since continued to be its owner
and editor. With these fortunate advances in every line
of industrial and intellectual progress, no longer could
North Carolina be called “Rip Van Winkle/’ for the State
was fully awake, activity prevailing in every community, the
development being a cause of great gratification.

Two Senators were to be elected by the next Legislature,
and Donald Bain, the Treasurer, having died in 1873, the
Governor had appointed S. McD. Tate to the vacancy and
the position was now to be filled by election, and a Chief
Justice and two Associate Justices were also to be elected.
Thus the campaign of 1894 was of particular importance.
In the meantime the attitude of the Cleveland administra¬
tion toward silver and the prevailing low prices of produce
had driven from its support all interested in agriculture.
The financial situation was indeed on the verge of a panic
and business depression was ominous. Marion Butler and
his associates agreed with the Republican leaders for co-
operation, and the Populist Convention nominated William
H. Worth of Guilford for Treasurer, William T. Faircloth,
a Republican, for Chief Justice, and for associates David
M. Furches, the late Republican candidate for Governor,
Walter Clark, then on the bench, and Henry G. Connor,
Democrat, who had but recently left the Superior Court
bench, highly esteemed for his judicial career and having
the confidence of the State. Judge Connor, however, de¬
clined the nomination, and Walter A. Montgomery, another
Democrat, was substituted for him. The Democrats nom¬
inated the several incumbents of these offices. In Septem¬
ber the Republican Convention confirmed “the fusion,” it
being understood that they were to have one of the Senators.
Thus “the cooperation” became effective.

1. Jeter C. Pritchard
4. Theodore B. Kingsbury

3. Walter Clark

Asa Biggs
Joseph P. Caldwell

DEMOCRATIC WORK UNDONE

1203

Ransom and Jarvis actively entered on the campaign for
the eastern senatorship, the latter not sustaining Cleveland’s
attitude as Ransom did. Captain Ashe also was a candidate.
The divergence between the administration and the agricul¬
tural people seemed to render the cause of the Democratic
party hopeless and Ransom’s candidacy gave positive point
to the difference. He bore the banner of the administration.
It had been better had he realized the conditions. By skill¬
ful arrangement the cooperation was entirely successful, the
Democrats electing only 54 out of the 170 members of the
Assembly, two members of Congress, and Judge Clark,
who being voted for by all parties, was retained on the
Supreme Court. The Populists had 60 members and the
Republicans 56, but while the former dominated in the legis¬
lative caucus, the Republicans organized the House, elected
Zeb A ance Walser Speaker, and carried out their platform
undoing what the Democrats had done in removing causes
of friction between the races and in establishing local gov¬
ernment at the east on a reasonable basis. Again the coun¬
ties were placed under popular control, the charters of the
towns amended, and the negroes were dominant over the
whites in many instances.

Butler and Pritchard were elected Senators. Butler in
the Senate made an enviable record, for he led the way in
establishing rural route mail deliveries, postal savings banks
and parcel posts, and in providing for the construction of
submarines ; while Pritchard so impressed himself at Wash¬
ington that he later entered on a judicial career in the Fed¬
eral Courts that brought him high distinction and particular
esteem.

The Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Railroad divided

The Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Railroad in 1883 prom¬
ised to be of great importance to the State, offering the
hope of a through line from Wilmington to Cincinnati and
other northwestern cities. In 1893 after it had been com¬
pleted to Mount Airy and had 284 miles in operation and
was near making connection with the Norfolk and Western

1894

The Demo¬
crats beaten

1895

The Senators

1204

FUSION

The Cape
Fear and
Yadkin Val¬
ley Railroad

Railroad, the financial depression of that period brought
disaster. For five years the road was in the hands of a
receiver, and it was later sold under proceedings in the
Federal Court. The purchasers now divided it, the part
from Sanford to Wilmington going to the Atlantic Coast
Line and the Mount Airy Division to the Southern. The
expectation of great benefit from a through line to the west
was thus defeated.

The Federal Court

The State having, in 1872, been divided into two Federal
Court Districts, while Judge Brooks continued as the Judge
of the Eastern District, Judge R. P. Dick was appointed for
the Western District. In July, 1892, Judge Dick was suc¬
ceeded by Hamilton Ewart who like his predecessor was
highly esteemed both for his judicial learning and personal
characteristics. However, he resigned in July, 1900, and
was succeeded by Judge James E. Boyd, who had been
District Attorney since 1881. In the Eastern District the
esteemed Judge Brooks was succeeded on February 20, 1882,
by Judge Augustus S. Seymour, who, after a most accept¬
able service, was succeeded by Judge Thomas R. Purnell in
May, 1897.

1896

Russell

elected

Governor

1896

Fusion continued

In view of the approaching election of President and of
State officers some of the active men in the several parties
sought to form new combinations, but the general result was
to leave the former cooperation in force, as to all officers
except presidential electors. There seemed no hope of Dem¬
ocratic success, but Cyrus B. Watson of Winston allowed
the use of his name for Governor while W. A. Guthrie, an
Alliance man, also was a candidate, and Daniel L. Russell
was the Republican nominee. Bryan carried the State but
Russell received 153,787 votes; Watson 145,266, and Guth¬
rie, not fully supported by the Alliance, 31,143. Only one
Democrat, W. W. Kitchin, was elected to Congress ; and
only thirty-three Democrats were elected to the Legislature.

REPUBLICANS IN CONTROL

1205

The Republicans now were virtually in full control of all
the great departments of the State government. Russell,
who in early life had become greatly embittered against the
Democrats of his section, was entirely out of touch with
the men who had had administrative control of affairs.

When the Assembly met January, 1897, Lieutenant-
Governor Charles A. Reynolds presided in the Senate and
A. F. Hilleman of Cabarrus was elected Speaker.

While the chief State officers, Dr. Cyrus Thompson, the
Secretary of State; William H. Worth, the Treasurer; Zeb
V. Walser and Robert D. Douglas, the successive Attorneys-
General, and Hal W. Ayer, the Auditor ; and particularly
Charles H. Mebane, the efficient Superintendent of Public
Instruction, performed their duties well, yet many of the
Republican officials were untrained and some of them were
deficient in proper qualifications for management.

Excesses were complained of and the attitude of the ad¬
ministration toward the races and the alteration in local
government led to friction in communities. At last condi¬
tions here and there at the east became unbearable. The
conduct of some of the negroes could not be tolerated. It
was no longer a matter of mere political domination but of
public safety. Locally, civilization was in danger of giving
place to anarchy. Social order was threatened. Business
men took alarm. F. M. Simmons, who had earlier been the
Chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee, a man
of fine administrative ability and gifted with wisdom, was
again called to the helm. Difficult and almost hopeless was
the situation, but Mr. Simmons addressed himself to it with
fine intelligence and a purpose to succeed. He sought to
placate all who had withdrawn from the Democratic party
and to engage the service of all who might be led to
assist in the work of rescuing the State, calling to his
aid every one who could exert an influence to that end.
Governor Jarvis, C. M. Cooke and a bevy of other repre¬
sentative men were constant workers at his headquarters
during the entire campaign, preparing literature and other¬
wise rendering material assistance. White supremacy clubs
were organized and in several communities there appeared

1898

Friction

Simmons,

Chairman

The whites
consolidated

1206

FUSION

companies of Red Shirts. It was, however, the club organi¬
zations that rendered the most effective service in drawing
the white people together under the pressure of the exist¬
ing conditions that called for remedial action. Every county
was visited by chosen speakers. Charles B. Aycock, R. B.
Glenn, the Kitchins, Locke Craig and others made memo¬
rable canvasses, while nearly every public man the people
held in regard was doing his best to consolidate the whites.
Whether at the council board or in the field, the devotion
of the participants was equal to the emergency. The ap¬
peals were not in vain. Former differences were largely
ignored. The whites again stood together. At Wilming¬
ton there had been such intolerable conditions that the future
of the community seemed at stake. Before election day this
feeling was so intense that it was deemed essential that there
should be some remedy. In the hope to effect it the Dem¬
ocratic nominees for the House of Representatives with¬
drew and Judge George Rountree and Martin Willard re¬
placed them as candidates, and some white Republicans
themselves cooperated, and they were elected. When the
great campaign ended the Democrats had secured 134 mem¬
bers of the Assembly, the Republicans had thirty, and the
Populists six, the Alliance men having returned to the Dem¬
ocratic fold. While there were shocking conditions else¬
where, at Wilmington the business men found it necessary
to take action. After the election a mass meeting of one
thousand citizens was held and took what they deemed ap¬
propriate steps to meet the conditions.

At Wilmington

The negro editor of a newspaper who had editorially
maligned the chastity of the white women and otherwise
had fomented race antagonism, was on November 9, after
the election, required to leave the town. He did not do so.
A procession of a thousand white citizens went to his office,
proposing to render it useless. Although not so intended,
it was burned. During the subsequent excitement, when
the negroes on the streets were directed to go to their homes,
some of them fired on the whites and a race conflict was

WILMINGTON’S RACE CONFLICT

1207

precipitated. The military was called out. Four hundred
special policemen were put on duty. Two hundred men hur¬
ried from Fayetteville, Goldsboro, New Bern and interven¬
ing points ; and an unascertained number of negroes were
killed.

The business men and their leaders acted with a strong
hand and expelled from the city several white men who
were particularly obnoxious, and also some negro men. Mr.
Chadbourn, one of the most substantial business men of the
Cape Fear region, a Republican in politics, offered to secure
a change of city administration by having the local officials
to resign, to be replaced by such others as the business men
would select. This was done, and Alfred M. Waddell be¬
came Mayor. This has been called the Wilmington Revolu¬
tion. Apprehensions were entertained that similar steps
might be taken elsewhere leading to' an extensive race con¬
flict, and Mr. Simmons hastened to New Bern and in¬
fluenced his friends to remain quiet. And so also at other
points there was forbearance. The clearing of the atmos¬
phere at Wilmington and the removal of the incubus that
had stifled that city were happily followed by a revival of
business and of prosperity and of renewed friendly inter¬
course between the races, so that the city speedily entered on
a fortunate career of development.

The war with Spain

When suddenly in 1898 war broke out with Spain and
the President called for volunteers, North Carolina was
among the first to respond, whites and blacks manifesting
their patriotism. Joseph F. Armfield, who had been Colonel
of the Fourth Regiment of State Guard for several years and
was eminently qualified for the distinction, was on April 27,
1898, commissioned Colonel of the First North Carolina
Volunteers and the men who had long been trained by him
now gathered around him. Capt. C. D. Cowles of the
United States Infantry was assigned as Lieutenant-Colonel
and W. G. Smith of Asheville, George P. Rutzler of Char¬
lotte and George E. Butler of Clinton were the Majors of
the Regiment. The regiment was assembled at Camp Bryan

1898

Nov.

The Revolu¬
tion

1898

Colonel

Armfield

Adjt.-Gen.
Royster’s
roster, 1900

1208

FUSION

Colonel

Burgwyn

Adjt.-Gen.
Royster’s
roster, 1900

The Third
Regiment,

J. H. Young,
Colonel

Grimes, near Raleigh, and was mustered into service May 2,
1898. On May 18 they were ordered to proceed to Florida
and on May 23 they were in camp at Jacksonville. It was
not until August that the War Department needed these
troops for foreign service, and then the regiment was di¬
rected to be in readiness to proceed to Porto Rico, then
Spanish territory ; but peace negotiations being now begun,
the regiment was held in Florida until December 7, when
it sailed for Cuba, arriving near Havana on the nth. Be¬
ing the first American soldiers to arrive at Havana they re¬
ceived a welcome that will be remembered by those who
witnessed it. Pen cannot describe the intense gladness, al¬
most bordering frenzy, displayed by the Cuban people at
the sight of their liberators. On the 18th of March the
regiment returned to Savannah and were mustered out.

William H. S. Burgwyn was commissioned Colonel of
the Second Regiment May 7; Andrew D. Cowles of States¬
ville, Lieutenant-Colonel; William T. Wilder, a graduate
of West Point with fifteen years of military service, Benja¬
min F. Dixon of Shelby and John W. Cotton of Tarboro
were the Majors. Colonel Burgwyn had commanded the
celebrated Fifth Maryland Regiment of Baltimore. Major
Cotton had seen twenty-three years service in the State
Guard, during seven of which he served as Brigadier-Gen¬
eral. Of this regiment it is recorded that Colonel Burgwyn,
Majors Dixon and Cotton, Captains Dawes, Bell, Jones,
Smith and Cobb had followed Lee and Jackson and Hoke
in the great war, and Chaplain Osborne, as Colonel of the
Fourth North Carolina Troops, was one of the most gallant
officers of the Lost Cause, bearing on his person the scars
of many wounds, and now for years had been a beloved
soldier of the cross. The Second Regiment, like the First,
assembled at Raleigh, and after six weeks different bat¬
talions were sent south and were assigned duties at Atlanta
and along the coast of Georgia and Florida. It was. mus¬
tered out in November, 1898.

The Third Regiment was composed of colored troops.
James H. Young of Raleigh was commissioned Major of the
Russell Black Battalion of three companies, which was mus-

BAG LEY AND SHIPP

1209

tered into service as of May 12, 1898. On the 19th of July
it, with seven other companies, became the Third North
Carolina Regiment with Young as Colonel; Charles S. L. A.
Taylor Lieutenant-Colonel, Andrew J. Walker and Andrew
J. Haywood as Majors. This regiment remained at Fort
Macon until September when it was moved to Knoxville,
Tennessee, and in November to Macon, Georgia. The regi¬
ment was mustered out at Macon in January and February,
1899. It is thus seen that only the First Regiment went
abroad, but all were ready and willing, anxious to do their
part for their country and the flag.

Ensign Bagley — Lieutenant Shipp

While our regiments were not in an engagement, two
young North Carolinians in the regular service fell in this
war, deeply regretted. One was Ensign Worth Bagley of
the Navy, whose figure stands in Capitol Square, erected
by a spontaneous movement of private citizens in token of
their admiration. He was the grandson of Governor Worth
and possessed many of his fine characteristics and was edu¬
cated at Annapolis. An officer of the Winslow that was
engaged in the harbor of Cardenas, he fell on May 11, 1898,
along with two others instantly killed, and two others
wounded. His loss was greatly regretted.

On July 1, 1898, Lieut. William E. Shipp of the Tenth
Cavalry, fell in the battle of San Juan near Santiago de
Cuba. He was a son of Judge William M. Shipp, Attorney-
General, elected in 1870, was educated at West Point and
had served in the warfare with the Indians with distinction.
In this battle he was leading a charge up a hill when shot
through the heart, and was instantly killed. His death was
deeply lamented.

Ensign Bagley was born and raised in Raleigh ; and Lieu¬
tenant Shipp had married Miss Busbee of Raleigh, and the
sacrifice of their lives was a community .sorrow.

Lieutenant

Shipp

1210

FUSION

Navy officers

On the sea the North Carolinians in the regular Navy did
their duties well. Lieut. Edwin A. Anderson of Wilming¬
ton was on the U. S. S. Marblehead. He did such work at
night in Cuanbeno Bay that his commander reported to the
Commander-in-Chief : “I desire to call your attention to
the work done in this respect by Lieutenant Anderson, which
required courage, coolness and great nerve.” Later on the
occasion of cutting ocean cables from an open boat, close
to the shore off the harbor of Cienfuegos, August 15, 1898,
while exposed to the fire of a regiment of Spanish infantry,
half of his crew being killed or wounded, he was promoted
by act of Congress, five numbers, for “Extraordinary hero¬
ism in action.”

CHAPTER LXXII

White Supremacy

The Assembly meets. — Connor Speaker. — The constitutional
amendment. — The Corporation Commission. — Department of In¬
surance. — The Democratic Convention. — Aycock nominated. —

The amendment adopted in August. — Aycock elected in Novem¬
ber. — Impeachment of judges. — Governor Russell’s message. —

The close of the century. — New things.— Schools. — Education. —

Tobacco manufacturing. — Cotton manufacturing. — Electricity
transmitted. — The passing of old customs. — Musters. — Camp
meetings. — Memorial Sunday. — Patriotic societies. — Guilford Bat¬
tleground Park. — Moore’s Creek. — Mecklenburg Declaration of
Independence. — The outlook.

The Democratic Assembly

When the Assembly met Judge Henry G. Connor was jan. 4, 1899
elected Speaker of the House, the choice being illustrative
of the character of the body, and fortunate, for Judge
Connor had more thoroughly than any other man the confi¬
dence and esteem of the people.

In 1897 Captain Ashe had proposed as an incentive to
stamp out illiteracy, a constitutional amendment, that after
three years no one coming of age should be admitted to
registration unless he could read and write. The conse¬
quences of fusion had brought the State to the verge of a
race war, with its untold horrors if once begun. The most
thoughtful men of the State realized that something had
to be done, not in the way of partisan politics but to pre¬
serve peace between the races. Mr. Simmons had Mr.

Daniels to go to Louisiana and ascertain the working of
the amendment to the Constitution of Louisiana, known as
the “Grandfather’s Clause.” Mr. Daniels reported in favor
of the amendment.

In the meanwhile Judge Rountree had been urged by the
most interested citizens of Wilmington to consider what

1212

WHITE SUPREMACY

The Con¬
stitutional
Amendment

Corporation

Commission

Department
of Insurance

County gov¬
ernment

might be done. A bill was drawn to amend the Constitu¬
tion similar to the Louisiana amendment. When the As¬
sembly met Judge Rountree was appointed Chairman of the
Committee on Constitutional Reform. Judge F. D. Win¬
ston, who had been very active in the campaign, introduced
it, and it was referred to the Rountree committee. It was
long and elaborately discussed in caucus.

Mr. Simmons invited many men of standing to express
their views in the newspapers. It was generally thought free
from objection. Rountree’s committee finally reported the
measure amended in some particulars, and it passed both
houses, receiving the vote of nearly every Democrat. In
effect the bill was that no person shall be admitted to regis¬
tration unless he can read and write, but with the exception
of those persons who could vote in 1867 and their descend¬
ants, who were to be enrolled on a permanent registration
which, however, was to be closed in 1908.

The Legislature transacted much other business of impor¬
tance. It abolished the Railroad Commission and established
the Corporation Commission, electing Franklin McNeill,
S. L. Rogers and E. C. Bedding-field the Commissioners ;
the superintendence of insurance companies had been com¬
mitted to the Secretary of State; now a Department of In¬
surance was established and James R. Young was appointed
the Commissioner ; and the Department of Agriculture was
now of such importance that the Commissioner was to be
an officer elected by the people. And besides, the Assembly
reversed much of the Republican legislation. A dozen coun¬
ties, where there was most need, were now placed under
the system of county government that had been established
twenty years before, but the other counties were allowed to
remain under commissioners chosen by the voters.

The all-absorbing matter in the public mind was the pro¬
posed constitutional amendment. Mr. Simmons considered
that it should be divorced from national politics and voted
on by the people in August, rather than in November, and
as there might be some possible interference because of con¬
stitutional questions, the Legislature deemed it wise to ad¬
journ to meet in June, 1900, before the election.

AYCOCK’S EDUCATIONAL PLEDGES

1213

The amendment was regarded as of vital consequence, but
there were apprehensions ; and while naturally the negroes
were arrayed against it, both Senator Butler and Senator
Pritchard strongly opposed its adoption, and their argu¬
ments found favor with many of their supporters ; but on
the other hand many men of capacity and intelligence held
that the amendment was not obnoxious to any constitutional
objection, and urged that it should be adopted. At the pre¬
vious election the whites had stood so solidly together that
the Democrats now felt that the Alliance defection had
ebbed and that they were again to have the care of the State.

As the day approached for the State Convention to con¬
vene the friends of several gentlemen presented their names
for Governor, but Mr. Aycock’s canvass in 1898 had en¬
titled him to particular consideration, and Mr. Simmons, the
Chairman of the Executive Committee, thought it his due.
When the Convention met in April Aycock was nominated
by acclamation. His father was long the Clerk of the Su¬
perior Court at Goldsboro and as Senator had been a true
man in Confederate times, and he himself was the embodi¬
ment of the virtues, likewise inherited from his mother, a
descendant of the Hooks, a family of local distinction for
generations. He was an orator whose work had in part
brought about the situation, and now with clarion voice he
dedicated himself to fulfilling his obligation. W. D. Turner

of Iredell was the nominee for Lieutenant-Governor. Ben-
»

jamin R. Lacy for Treasurer, J. Bryan Grimes for Secre¬
tary of State, General T. F. Toon for Superintendent of
Public Instruction and Robert D. Gilmer for Attorney-
General.

The campaign for the adoption of the constitutional
amendment was well on, and Aycock and nearly every other
Democrat was heart and soul for the measure. Aycock,
however, was the knight bearing the banner. In particular
he sought to assure those whites who apprehended that their
children might be disfranchised. He pledged himself that
no white child should ever be disfranchised for the want of
school facilities. He registered a solemn pledge that there

The question

April, 1900

Aycock •
nominated
for Governor

June, 1900

The cam¬
paign

1214

WHITE SUPREMACY

Aug., 1900

Nov., 1900

The Repub¬
licans vote
for

amendment

Ay cock
elected

Robert

Douglas,

Attorney-

General

Cook

Judge

should be ample school facilities, and to that end he ded¬
icated himself and his energies. So earnest were his assur¬
ances and such was the spirit of those in cooperation with
him that the vote for the amendment was 182,217 while the
negative vote was only 128,285. The vote for Russell had
been 153,787 and for Watson 145,266. About 25,000 white
Republicans voted for the amendment on the promises of
Aycock and his confreres, and in November when the elec¬
tion for Governor came on, Aycock received 6,400 additional
votes and by far the largest vote ever then cast in the State ;
and the Democrats elected all the Congressmen except two.
Such was the consummation of Mr. Simmons’s desire, bring¬
ing peace to the State, setting at rest forever those disturb¬
ing causes that put in jeopardy the best interests of all the
people of the State. And now the Democrats had to make
good their campaign pledges.

On November 13 Attorney-General Walser resigned and
Robert D. Douglas, a grandson of the famous Senator
Stephen A. Douglas, was appointed to the vacancy. On
December 20 Chief Justice Faircloth died and Governor
Russell appointed David M. Furches Chief Justice, and to
supply the vacancy on the Court he appointed, January 7,
1901, Charles A. .Cook of Warren County. This was about
the last of Governor Russell’s official acts.

Before Judge Faircloth’s death there had been presented
to the Supreme Court a series of cases involving questions
relating to tenure of office, and Chief Justice Faircloth and
Judges Furches and Douglas having concurred in decisions
that some deemed based on political rather than judicial
considerations, under the spur of outside influence the House
proposed articles of impeachment against Chief Justice
Furches and Judge Douglas. While many of the leading
Democrats, not members of the Assembly, were not in sym¬
pathy with this proposition, it still was pressed through the
House. At the trial Lieutenant-Governor Turner presided
in the Senate as a court of impeachment, and his fairness
received the plaudits of all interested. The Democrat mem¬
bers of the Senate were not convinced that there was any

IMPEACHMENT FAILS

1215

criminal intent on the part of the members of the Court in
rendering the decisions, and the judges were acquitted.
Indeed, on only one article was there even a majority voting-
guilty, the vote on that being twenty-seven to twenty-three
instead of a two-thirds majority, while there were forty
Democratic Senators and thirty-four was necessary for con¬
viction. Among the attorneys appearing for the judges
were Governor Jarvis, F. I. Osborne, Charles M. Cooke and
F. H. Busbee, while others who had long been associated
with the Democratic party had no sympathy in the impeach¬
ment proceedings.

On retiring from office, Governor Russell pointed with
satisfaction to the conditions prevailing in the State : “Cot¬
ton manufacturing is increasing beyond the dreams of
thoughtful men of the past. . . . The actual aggregate

wealth of the State has increased so that for the first time
in forty years it probably equals the values which prevailed
before the destruction and disasters of the civil conflict/’
In particular he commended the work of the Geological
Survey and the Agricultural Department, and while he ex¬
pressed gratification at the general development, he said of
the A. & M. College, he believed that no other institution
“is doing more to elevate the standard of our civilization
than is being done at this college.” The annual State re¬
ceipts had now reached $1,545,000 but the expenditures were
in excess of the receipts. During his administration the
public schools had been under the supervision of C. H.
Mebane, who won the esteem of the State by his devotion.
But still public education had not made satisfactory advance¬
ment. In 1893 the average white attendance had been 142,-
362, and colored 74.417; now in 1900 it was, whites 142,418
and colored 64,505 ; while the number of public schools
taught had increased from 6,818 to 7,391 and the annual
school fund was over $1,000,000.

But notwithstanding the increase in the number of schools
and of the expenditures and despite the influence exerted
by the graduates of the University, the A. & M. College,
the other colleges and the Greensboro Normal, the attend-

Russell

retires

Mebane’s
Report,
1901, No.
8, 158

I2l6

WHITE SUPREMACY

ance remained about stationary. Indeed, the census of 1900
recorded that there were 111,222 white illiterates over
twenty-five years of age, and therefore born before 1875.
Of these about 76,000 were affected during the school age
by the war and its results. But there were some 35,000
others who had had opportunities to attend school and yet
were in 1900 rated at illiterates. The necessity for com¬
pulsory attendance was apparent and Mr. Mebane in his
report recommended compulsory education.

The close of the century

At the close of the century many changes were noted in
the condition and life of the people. Indeed, it had been the
most progressive century in history and North Carolina
shared in the benefits. The Sunday schools, the public
schools, general education, city hospitals were here ; the
lightwood fire on the hearth had given place to candles,
lamps, gas and electricity ; the steamboats, railways, street
cars provided transportation. The telegraph and telephone
quickened life ; the cook stove and vegetables and fruits
were in the homes ; and it is to be noted that the use of corn
meal was now not so general.

While the settlement of the far west with the use of steel
rails with large locomotives for transportation had brought
the products of Western fields in competition with Eastern
food crops ; yet cotton and tobacco were sources of revenue.
The fisheries on the sounds continued, the rice fields of the
Cape Fear had reverted to nature. The turpentine indus¬
tries had passed from the coastal plain to the south, and in
a measure were replaced by trucking and small fruits. The
inland waters were turning busy wheels and manufacturing
was employing many families.

While the new corporations formed under the general
law of the State evidencing association of capital were 115
in 1894, in 1900 the number had risen to 309. The State
revenues that were in 1877 $533,635 now were $1,618,103.

The University under George T. Winston had greatly
extended the scope of its work. Alderman in 1896 sue-

GREAT INDUSTRIES

1217

ceeded to the presidency and for four years pressed for¬
ward the work of making the institution a benefaction to
the State. Under his administration women were admitted
as members of the higher class, and he urged for women a
post graduate course. Now the students numbered more
than five hundred and were constantly increasing.

Likewise the A. & M. College under President Holladay
and the State Normal College for Women under Mclver
had educated thousands of young men and women who had
returned to their homes in every county, carrying culture
and elevating and broadening social life and imparting a
spirit of independence, self-reliance and enterprise to their
respective communities that was working a most beneficial
change throughout the State. And in this great work Wake
Forest, Davidson and Trinity — Trinity having been removed
to Durham in 1892 — were doing their part in ever-increas¬
ing usefulness, widening the influence of education and
building up the social structure of the commonwealth.

In time tobacco manufacturing brought remarkable re¬
sults. In the early years before 1872 Blackwell of the
Blackwell & Carr Company used personally to peddle their
product, the Durham Bull smoking tobacco, throughout the
country and similarly P. H. Hanes and others likewise trav¬
eled and personally sold tobacco.

The Dukes, in 1870, had a little log house on their farm
where they were the only hands in preparing smoking to¬
bacco, but in 1873 they started business at Durham, then
a mere station on the railroad, James B. Duke being the
traveling salesman. In 1872 Hanes. and his brother began
business at Winston, a little suburb of Salem, and three
years later R. J. Reynolds followed the example. Event-
tually the Durham Bull Tobacco became worldwide and that
company was very prosperous.

The Duke Brothers, James Buchanan Duke being the
active head, G. W. Watts the financial secretary, W. W.
Puller the legal adviser, became so successful, their par¬
ticular output being cigarettes, that in 1890 they brought

Tobacco

manufac¬

turing

1218

WHITE SUPREMACY

Cotton

manu¬

facturing

together many of the leading tobacco companies and formed
the American Tobacco Company, with J. B. Duke as Presi¬
dent.

About the same time R. J. Reynolds organized the R. J.
Reynolds & Company at Winston and after some years
bought out “at a princely fortune'’ P. H. Hanes & Company,
whose output was seven million pounds. The Reynolds
Company within two decades had a capital of five millions,
employed forty-five hundred operatives and turned out
twenty-seven million pounds of flat tobacco, and before the
close of the century Duke bought out the Blackwell & Carr
Company for about a million dollars. The money received
by Gen. J. S. Carr in that sale and that received by P. H.
Hanes became of great value in their respective cities, be¬
ing used as the foundation of many diversified industries.
Especially was this the case at Winston-Salem, where all
the profits of manufacturing have been at once converted
into other manufacturing plants, with the result that Win¬
ston has outstripped all other cities in the State in wealth,
population and manufactories.

Cotton manufacturing had likewise made great headway.
While in 1883 and earlier Edwin Atkinson, the practical
philosopher and publicist of Massachusetts, had pressed the
view that cotton manufacturing- could not succeed in North
Carolina because of an unfavorable atmosphere, yet the
event disproved the theory. The first factories were small
but being profitable the earnings were speedily used to build
others, and that process continued. The stockholders were
North Carolinians and the profits not being carried off to
other parts were invested locally yielding compound inter¬
est, in the way of multiplying the plants.

While Mr. Atkinson was in error as to the atmosphere
he likewise overlooked the real advantages of the Piedmont
section as a seat of manufactures, which consist in the con¬
venient water power, and more than all in the character
of the operatives. At the North many of the operatives
speak a different language from that of the managers and
owners of the mills ; here incident to the thickening of popu¬
lation they are drawn from the families of the neighboring

RURAL POPULATION

1219

country, being of the same stock as the owners, thrifty, in¬
dustrious and persons of character, and having such per¬
sonal relations with the managers that measurably there are
no grievances to complain of, so that contentment and co¬
operation prevail. That, indeed, has been the particular
reason why cotton manufactures have prospered, the char¬
acter of the operatives and the attitude of the managers
toward the employees ; and since the factories are chiefly lo¬
cated in the country, one of the results has been the reten¬
tion of the people in the counties instead of their being
drawn to the cities, so that the State is fortunate in the
distribution of its population.

Indeed, while during the decade ended in 1900, the urban
population had increased sixty-six per cent, still the rural
population had increased some two hundred thousand and
only Arkansas, Mississippi, Idaho and the two Dakotas had
such a large per cent of rural population. In 1899 there
were 3,465 manufacturing establishments in the State with
72,322 wage earners, their products being valued at $85,-
274,000; and the number of farms had increased forty-six
thousand, with an increased valuation of $37,000,000.

Fries supplies electricity

The end of the century marked a most interesting develop¬
ment — one of the great footprints of time. From the early
years of the Moravians of Salem there was witnessed in
that community enterprise united with intelligence, and'
among those who ever stood among the foremost in useful¬
ness was the Fries family. In 1898 the Fries Manufacturing
& Power Company of Winston-Salem installed the first
power transmission plant in the State. They developed a
water-power on the Yadkin River near the crossing of the
Mocksville Railroad which marked the beginning of a new
era. In April, 1898, they converted the water-power into
electricity and transmitted a thousand horsepower more than
thirteen miles to Winston-Salem. It was a great achieve¬
ment in connection with our expanding industries.

Abstract

1914

Power

transmission

1220

WHITE SUPREMACY

The first consumers of the power were : The Arista Cot¬
ton Mills, who used 300 h.p. ; the Wachovia Grain Mills,
80 h.p. ; the F. & H. Fries Woolen Mills, 80 h.p. ; Fogle
Brothers, 50 h.p. ; J. A. Vance, 30 h.p. ; Southside Cotton
Mills, 300 h.p. ; Southern Chemical Company, 80 h.p. ;
Winston-Salem Railway & Electric Company, 300 h.p.

The beneficial results have well answered the promise.
Since that first entrance into this new realm, water-powers
have been developed and transformed into electric power
until in a quarter of a century there is now being generated
about a billion kilowatt hours of electric power.

The new century thus opened great possibility of indus¬
trial progress.

The passing1 of old customs

Many of the old customs had fallen into desuetude. The
quarterly meetings of the county courts, the musters, the
many camp meetings had passed away.

Of the muster, one account is : “Occasions of much inter¬
est were the old field and general musters, which were kept
up until the late war. Beall’s Old Field, situate about four
miles from Beattie’s Ford, was the most noted muster
ground.

“Here all the able-bodied freemen, from the age of
eighteen to forty-five, constituting the militia of the coun¬
try, would assemble for inspection at least once a year.
■Here, also, came the old men and the children, the matron
and the maid, the rich and the poor, to view the pride of
their country, its sturdy yeoman soldiery.

“Here the devoted maid, the fond and affectionate mother
and the proud wife saw alike her gallant lover, her dutiful
son, and her manly husband 'pass muster.’

“Here also came the 'ginger cake woman,’ with her wagon
load of fragrant sweet-bread and a plentiful supply of hard
cider to appease the hunger and quench the thirst of the
multitude.

“Here also came the bullies of the neighborhood to decide
the bullyship, with gloves off, in a 'free fist and skull fight,’

SURVIVALS OF THE PAST

1221

as it was called. A circle was made, a ring was formed,
and no one was allowed to enter until one of the contestants
cried ‘enough/ The fight never lasted but one round.”

While there were association meetings, there was hardly
a survival of the old “camp” assemblages ; one, however,
continued, that of Rocky Springs, in Lincoln County, near
the Catawba line, five miles from Beattie’s Ford. It was
founded by the Methodists, but was attended by all denom¬
inations from this section and from surrounding counties.
“It was laid off in a square, with a large arbor in the
center, around which rowrs of tents were erected. There
are now about three hundred and twenty-five tents on this
ground and the average yearly attendance is from ten to
fifteen thousand people. It is incorporated after the style
of a town, and is governed in much the same way.

Meetings are still held here regularly, embracing the
second Sunday in August and continuing from Friday until
Wednesday. Services begin every morning about eight
o’clock and continue, with short intermissions, until about
ten at night. At times the religious fervor becomes so in¬
tense and the excitement so great that many people shout
in a loud voice at the same time. A disinterested party,
hearing these shouts and groans from a distance and not
knowing their nature, would think that the people from
whom they issued were in dire distress. Hundreds of men
and women date their conversions from these meetings.

And there was an old custom of memorial Sunday still
observed in some of the mountain counties, where indeed
the family loom is yet to be found.

The custom is of long standing for memorial exercises
to be held in the graveyards. It is 'a unique and very inter¬
esting service. Thousands of mountain people gather, after
the crops are laid by, on some Sunday in the graveyard.
They come from the surrounding section with flowers and
decorate the graves. The preacher of the church usually
preaches a sermon, but frequently others of distinction who
are in that section, or come that day, are asked to make an
address. It is an inspiring and beautiful service. The peo¬
ple usually spend the day and bring their lunch. But far

1 222

WHITE SUPREMACY

above all in popular interest have ever been the Easter
observances of the Moravians in Salem.

Patriotic societies

On the passing away of old-time customs, new ones have
replaced them, and the women especially have formed asso¬
ciations and other organizations and clubs.

The Ladies Aid Societies of 1861, after peace came, were
generally converted into memorial societies, which to some
extent have been continued, along with the Daughters of
the Confederacy, whose organization extends throughout
the Southern States. Similarly there was organized about
1880 a State Veteran Association and that gave place to the
United Veterans Association, likewise embracing all the
Southern States. About 1896 the Society of Cincinnati was
revived and the North Carolina Society of the Cincinnati
now has a larger membership than that of any other state.
Also the Colonial Dames, the Sons of the Revolution and
the Daughters of the Revolution and the Daughters of the
American Revolution are flourishing patriotic societies. In
1900 the Daughters of the Revolution began the publication
of the North Carolina Booklet at Raleigh, confined to articles
on great events in North Carolina history, which has been
of material advantage in fostering literary effort and in
disseminating information about historical events that other¬
wise would have passed from the public memory.

Guilford Battleground — Moore’s Creek Bridge

In May, 1887, Judge David Schenck, animated by the
patriotic purpose of making a park of the historic battlefield
of Guilford Court House, where Cornwallis’s fine army was
so severely handled, associated J. W. Scott, Julius A. Gray,
D. W. C. Benbow and Thomas B. Keogh, all of Greensboro,
with himself in the laudable undertaking. Eventually they
succeeded in buying the numerous tracts of land covered by
the battlefield and from year to year they busied themselves
with restoring the roads and marking the historic spots and
erecting memorials, Judge Schenck being the president and
directing spirit and zealously devoting himself to the work.

DAWN OF A NEW ERA

1223

Every year there was a celebration attended by some ten
or fifteen thousand people whose interest in North Carolina
history was quickened by the association. In 1902, Judge
Schenck dying, Joseph M. Morehead became president, and
the work was continued by him until his death in 1911, when
Paul W. Schenck succeeded him. At length, in 1917, Con¬
gress took over the battlefield and converted it into a na¬
tional park, Mr. Schenck continuing as the Managing Direc¬
tor, -while the two other directors represented respectively
Maryland and Delaware, each having had troops in the battle.
Monuments and statues adorn the grounds, the most notable
being the equestrian statue erected to General Green and the
arches in memory of General Nash and General Davidson;
and this national park, the result of Judge Schenck’s con¬
ception, zeal and persistent endeavors, will ever be a lasting
memorial of North Carolina’s heroism and sacrifice in the
dark days of the Revolution.

Before the war of 1861, there were celebrations at Moore’s
Creek Bridge, and when peace came these were continued,
and later the Moore’s Creek Association was formed to
perpetuate memories of that first regular battle of the Rev¬
olution ; and there is annually a great celebration at Char¬
lotte of the first movement for independence in May, 1775.

It is to be remarked that the great religious revival of
1800 now had its counterpart in the pervading spirit of the
people to establish schools and diffuse education. The
adoption of the constitutional amendment and Aycock’s elec¬
tion as Governor marked an area in the history of the State,
for it emphasized what Mclver and Alderman had made
the subject of their crusade a decade earlier, universal edu¬
cation as the duty of the State.

In general, prosperity prevailed, while as the beneficent
result of the constitutional amendment, the relations between
the races were entering on a new era of natural friendliness
and helpfulness. Indeed, the clouds and storms of earlier
years had passed away — the sun was high and bright in the
heavens. The State, with Aycock at the helm, was to make
still greater progress than ever. Such at the end of the
century was the achievement of the young men who stood
with Hoke at Bentonville.

Moore’s

Creek

Bridge

Mecklenburg

Declaration

Education

The outlook

CHAPTER LXX1II

Democrats Regain Control

The new century. — The Assembly liberal. — Joyner’s report. —
Simmons Senator. — Revaluation. — The Watts Law. — Library Com¬
mission. — Jamestown Exposition. — Supreme Court. — Historical
Commission. — Highway Commission. — Lease of Atlantic and
North Carolina Railroad. — Improved conditions. — The people ap¬
prove. — The election. — State progress. — The Economic Survey. —
Board of Health. — National Guard. — Compulsory attendance at
school. — The great campaign for education. — Jamestown. — Indus¬
trial progress. — Utilization of electricity. — The commerce of Wil¬
mington. — Antagonism. — Railroad rates. — The Legislature acts. —
Conflict of the courts. — Judge Long’s firm action. — The decision
of the Supreme Court. — The compromise. — Prohibition. — Auto¬
mobiles.

Aycock’s administration

The new century opened very auspiciously for the people
of North Carolina. Fusion between the Republicans and
the Populistic elements of society had been tried and repu¬
diated. Matters based on racial differences in the inhab¬
itants, apparent to the whites for a century and brought
within possibility by the action of the North, had come to
a head and been dealt with so as to largely eliminate fric¬
tion, and there was ushered in a period of greater kindli¬
ness and contentment. The ensuing Democratic adminis¬
tration was pledged to the utilization of the powers of
government for the promotion of education, and there was
a spirit to broaden public functions and improve the social
conditions of the people. And fortunately now the indus¬
tries of the State were becoming more remunerative and
additional expenditures could be made without overburden¬
ing the taxpayers. The clouds of the past were gone. The
sky was bright with hope and purpose.

The Legislature having met on the 9th of January, the
Senate was presided over by Lieutenant-Governor W. D.
Turner of Iredell, and the House by Speaker W. D. Moore
of Jackson County. The Assembly was in full accord with

1. Kemp P. Battle
4. James Y. Joyner

3. Charles B. Ay cock

2. George T. Winston
5. Charles D. Mclver

EDUCATIONAL REVIVAL

1225

the spirit of progress that influenced Ay cock, who a week
later was inaugurated. The keynote of the inaugural was
Education, and the Assembly was responsive. Indeed, in
making appropriations the Assembly was so liberal that
$300,000 was granted in excess of the revenues. Still
Aycock was not content ; he continued his campaign to
arouse the people in the cause of general education, and
with such success that Dr. J. Y. Joyner, Superintendent of
Public Instruction, the successor of General Toon, who had
died, was able to report that for every day in the year, ex¬
cept Sundays, a new schoolhouse had been built, the num¬
ber being then 7,264, although unhappily there still remained
850 districts needing better schoolhouses. Fortunate in¬
deed was the selection of Joyner for this particular work
of Superintendent of Public Instruction, for he was as
devoted as Aycock himself. He was eager to eliminate
illiteracy, which was now on the decrease, for since 1890
it had decreased four per cent among the whites and thir¬
teen per cent among the colored people, while the in¬
crease in expenditures for schools since 1874 had quad¬
rupled.

Many were the difficult problems for the Legislature to
solve, but there was no cessation in the campaign to arouse
tire people to their full duty to educate every child in the
State.

Senator Butler’s term in the United States Senate was
to expire in March, 1901, and to succeed him, the Democrats
at the November election in 1900 submitted the nomination
to the Democratic voters of the State. Mr. Simmons had
served one term in Congress some ten years earlier and
had been chairman of the Democratic State Committee in
1892, and then again he had conducted the great campaigns
that resulted in restoring the ascendancy of his party and
the adoption of the Constitutional suffrage amendment.
The eyes of the people now turned to him as their choice
for the highest honors they could confer. However, some
friends of Julian S. Carr of Durham, a popular favorite,
prevailed on him to become an aspirant. The result of this

Joyner

Superin¬

tendent

Joyner’s

efficiency

Simmons

Senator

1226

DEMOCRATS REGAIN CONTROL

Revalua¬

tion

The Watts
Law

Prohibi¬

tion

New

measures

first statewide primary was the overwhelming choice of
Simmons. When the Assembly met, in conformity with the
popular will, Simmons was elected Senator and took his
seat March 4, 1901, entering on a career of unsurpassed
usefulness as a Senator from North Carolina.

To meet the rising tide of expenditures, the Governor
and the Assembly caused a revaluation of property, that of
the railroad companies being increased from $33,619,860
to $70,628,523, and the valuation of private property was
similarly increased ; that of lands to $220,303,333, and of
personal property to $127,327,943. At that period the State
debt was $6,831,270, chiefly accrued before 1861. The ex¬
penditure for schools was $1,651,940.

After the disastrous statewide prohibition campaign of
1881, the temperance advocates again resorted to local
option, and many counties and townships by popular vote
prohibited the sale or manufacture of alcoholic spirits. At
length the use of strong drink became a nuisance, especially
in the vicinity of mills, and another move was made to
apply a corrective.

Senator Simmons, seeking to serve the best interests of
the State, although now in a measure separated from merely
State affairs, conjointly with his clerk, Mr. A. D. Watts, a
member of the Assembly from Iredell County, framed a
bill prohibiting the sale or manufacture of liquor except in
towns having police protection. The Legislature passed it,
and the effect was very beneficial. Such was a step on the
road to prohibition.

At this session the Library Commission was established,
the operations of the State Board of Health were greatly
enlarged, and there were training schools established.

In view of the Jamestown Exposition to be then held,
the Legislature determined to make an exhibit as had been
previously done on similar historical occasions, and $30,000
was appropriated to construct a building and defray the
expenses. Among other expenditures to be noted was for
pensions for the old soldiers, $207,882, and for the Soldiers
Home, $18,000.

PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENTS

1227

At the election of 1902, Henry G. Connor, who had
earlier been a distinguished judge of the Superior Court,
and Platt D. Walker once of Wilmington, but later an
esteemed attorney at Charlotte, were elected to the Su¬
preme Court and Walter Clark became Chief Justice.

At the next Assembly S. M. Gattis of Orange became
Speaker of the House, and the spirit of improvement still
prevailed. Along with the increased valuation of property,
the school taxes had risen to $1,296,824 and the county
taxes to $2,127,456.

At this session the Historical Commission was established
and among the more interesting advances was the establish¬
ment of a Highway Commission, under whose operations
there were good roads conventions held, and State and local
good roads associations were formed. The public men of
nearly every county were alert to promote the object. The
State allowed the use of convicts, and local taxation was
resorted to in substitution of the ancient system of calling
out the inhabitants.

Lee S. Overman, who had been Vance's Private Secretary
when Governor, had acceptably served as Speaker of the
House in 1893, and had long been in close touch with pub¬
lic affairs, was now selected as the western Senator, taking
Vance’s place after Judge Pritchard’s term had expired,
and, like Simmons, entering on a long career of usefulness.

Under Aycock’s admirable administration the peniten¬
tiary was placed on a paying basis, and the fields of useful¬
ness of all the State institutions were enlarged, the sale
of liquor was confined to towns and conditions were
agreeable both to the whites and the colored people,
while the efforts of Aycock’s educational campaigns dis¬
tinguished his administration above all others in its happy
influences. Gentle and sympathetic as he was by nature,
he still could be as firm as a rock in the discharge of a
public duty, and once when called on to defeat a scheme
concerning the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad that
was detrimental to the State's interests, he did so with
power and vigor that added to his fame. It was in con-

Supreme

Court

1903

The High¬
way

Commis¬

sion

Historical

Commis¬

sion

Overman

Senator

Aycock

Purnell
and Daniels

1228

DEMOCRATS REGAIN CONTROL

Leased
A. & N. C.
Railroad

Improved

Conditions

Ay cock’s
plan

The people
approve

Glenn

elected

nection with a proposed lease of the Atlantic and North
Carolina Railroad to the Howland Company that Judge
Purnell of the Federal Court issued an injunction order
under circumstances that led the News and Observer to so
excoriate him for his action that he cited the editor,
Josephus Daniels, for contempt of court, and ordered his
arrest; but Judge Pritchard quickly discharged Mr. Daniels,
much to the chagrin of Judge Purnell, but with the approval
of the law-abiding people of the State.

Governor Aycock now made a ninety-three years lease of
that railroad to the Howland Company, and the rental has
ever since been regularly paid. He had the satisfaction
of seeing his progressive measures under way in all depart¬
ments of the government and the State well advanced on
a course of general improvement when he retired from
office. Indeed, such progress had been made in our indus¬
tries that the amount invested in manufacturing was stated
at $141,000,639; the products being $142,520,776, and the
value added to the cost of the material $63,252,772. Sim¬
ilarly agriculture had flourished. But above all his strenu¬
ous advocacy of the doctrine that it was the duty of the
State to educate every child, black as well as white, im¬
parted to his administration its abiding color. So the open¬
ing of the century brought with it a vision and promise,
not only of larger values of increasing manufactures and
remunerative industries, but of more revenues, better
schools, easier transportation and more thorough control of
alcoholism; and likewise admirable manifestations of pa¬
triotism.

At the election of 1904 Aycock’s administration received
a gratifying approval by the people. Robert B. Glenn, who
had like Aycock entered largely into the campaign of 1898,
and for the amendment in 1900, being nominated for Gov¬
ernor by the Democrats, received 121,761 votes as against
C. J. Harris, the Republican nominee, whose vote was
79,505. In this campaign the educational policy of Aycock
was prominent in the public mind. The accomplished
Francis D. Winston of Bertie, who had been a Superior
Court judge, was then chosen Lieutenant-Governor.

APOSTLE OF BETTER ROADS

1229

During Aycock’s administration on October 1, 1904,
Matt. W. Ransom, distinguished in war and in peace,
passed away. He had been United States Senator for
twenty- four years, and then had served as minister to
Mexico.

Governor Glenn

Glenn came in as Governor at a period when there was
but little partisan antagonism. Indeed, at the. election of
1904 in the presidential canvass the Democratic vote fell
off 33,000, and the Republican vote 42,000 ; while Glenn
received 58,000 less than Aycock ; and C. J. Harris 48,000
less than S. B. Adams. The diminution in the Republican
vote may be attributed in great part to the constitutional
amendment, but still many thousands of men qualified to
vote now did not do so. Apparently they were content for
the purposes emphasized by the Aycock administration to
be carried into execution.

In the House the Democrats had about four to one Re¬
publican, and in the Senate, the preponderance of the
Democrats was even greater.

At all points the State was making progress. When
Governor Glenn delivered his inaugural he enlarged on the
outlook, and spoke with patriotic enthusiasm. Our increase,
declared he, agriculturally, industrially, educationally and
morally, has been phenomenal. Indeed, the influence of the
Normal College, of the A. and M. College, of the University,
and other colleges was manifesting itself in every way in the
elevation of the citizenship. Still there was a drawback, the
insufficient roadways. “Oh/’ exclaimed the Governor, “mud
and illiteracy lay the highest tax on the State,’’ and he de¬
clared that as Aycock should be known as the Educational
Governor, he desired to stand in history as the apostle of
better roads.

Conditions were now favorable. In the last twenty-five
years the population had doubled, while the increase in
wealth and industries had gone forward in accelerating
ratio. The people had made earnings and their savings

1905

Glenn’s

hope

State

program

1230

DEMOCRATS REGAIN CONTROL

1905

Geological

Survey

Expansion
of State
functions

. Board of
Health

National

Guard

Compulsory

attendance

were being compounded annually, while thousands of fam¬
ilies found remunerative employment in the neighborhood
factories.

The Legislature, with Lieutenant-Governor Francis D.
Winston presiding in the Senate and Owen H. Guion of
Craven Speaker of the House, was responsive to the pa¬
triotic call for improvement. The Geological and Eco¬
nomic Survey was started under the direction of the
State Geologist, Joseph Hyde Pratt. The scope of its
work was as extensive as the resources of the State; not
merely the mineral, forest, fisheries and similar subjects
were committed to their examination, but the water-powers
and water supply and road building materials were to be
investigated. Every diverse interest was to be considered
in the light of science. Similarly the work of the Board
of Public Charities was greatly extended and the Board
of Health became an active force in the betterment of
the State, the compensation of the county superintendents
being now fixed locally by the commissioners of the coun¬
ties, and the general requirement of the laws more thor¬
oughly observed. Indeed, the State was now concerning
itself with nearly every matter that touched on the lives
of its citizens. Not a vestige was left of the philosophy of
Nathaniel Macon.

In 1892, the militia in the National Guard had been di¬
vided into two classes, the active and inactive, the former
being designated as the National Guard. In 1907 the or¬
ganization of the National Guard was further perfected, a
coast artillery corps, a naval brigade, two troops of cavalry
and hospital and ambulance corps being organized. The
several branches of the service had their encampments and
vessels were assigned for the use of the Naval Militia.

The Legislature had already .made it compulsory that all
blind children should be taught, and now it provided that
whenever a majority of the voters of any county or school
district shall choose to have it, the school board shall order
the compulsory attendance of all children between the ages
of eight and sixteen for a term of sixteen weeks annually.

LOOMS AND SPINDLES

1231

Such was the beginning of compulsory attendance; and the
Supreme Court now decided that the county commissioners
had to provide schools of four months duration. The sta¬
tistics of illiterates remained relatively unchanged. The
daily attendance was only 308,468, although the whole
school population was 715,716. Surely such figures indi¬
cated a need for a compulsory law.

Education, therefore, continued of the first importance
in the public mind. The campaign for its promotion was
continued by public addresses through the press, by bulletins,
without cessation, under the admirable direction of Joyner,
Aycock, Glenn, and R. D. W. Connor ; by teachers, law¬
yers, editors, preachers, business men and others ; while the
women’s associations for the betterment of schoolhouses
had no small influence on the result. The subject of illit¬
eracy, too, was thoroughly considered by a strong com¬
mittee under Massey and Foust, in aid of the -educational
campaign, and compulsory attendance in schools was recom¬
mended. The school terms were lengthened, better teachers
provided, and a larger attendance of pupils attained; and
along with this, industrial progress continued.

Governor Glenn reported that at the Jamestown Exposi¬
tion, for which the State eventually appropriated $50,000
for the display by the whites and $5,000 for that by the
negroes, the State’s exhibit was a great success, many prizes
being awarded to both races of our people. And when the
Assembly met in January, 1909, the Governor was able to
say, “Cotton mills have been built in every section, and
while we produce over 600,000 hales of cotton we manufac¬
ture more than we raise, and the rattle of 53,446 looms
and 2,878,148 spindles make sweet music to our ears; while
we have the first place in the manufacture of plug and smok¬
ing tobacco, second place in the manufacture of furniture,
first place in the number of chairs produced ; and the largest
pulp factory in the world is in western North Carolina.”

Some of the holders of the repudiated special-tax bonds
sought at different times to collect these bonds. One of
the methods of procedure was to donate the bonds to a
state that might sue in the Supreme Court on them. Such

1907

Joyner’s

Report

P. D. 3,
1907, p. 10

Jamestown

Exposition

P. D. 1
1909, p. 3

Great

industrial

program

1 232

DEMOCRATS REGAIN CONTROL

The repu¬
diated
bonds

an effort was to be made in 1905, using the State of New
York for the purpose. This led Capt. Samuel A. Ashe to
make a publication in regard to the origin of these bonds,
which was regarded as a sufficient reply to any demand for
payment. Governor Glenn had an interview with the Gov¬
ernor of New York, who thereupon refused to go on with
the unfriendly undertaking.

Utilization of electricity

While there had been some smaller enterprises in the way
of transmitting electricity in New England and there were
two or three such plants in South Carolina, that of the Fries
Company, Winston-Salem, in 1898 was by far the most im¬
portant. Eventually the Catawba Power Company, follow¬
ing the example of the Fries Company, constructed a plant
of 10,000 horsepower on the Catawba River twenty miles
below Charlotte, which was completed in 1904, and began
to supply Charlotte, Rock Hill, Chester and other points
with electricity, furnishing thirteen cotton mills with power.

In 1887, Egbert Hambley, an English engineer of great
reputation and experience in gold mining in India, Africa
and other countries, came to Rockwell in Rowan County
and was employed in connection with the mining operations
of eight English gold mining companies in this State, and,
besides, he was instrumental in bringing into North Caro¬
lina six million dollars employed in various enterprises. At
length in 1898, he formed the Whitney Company and pro¬
posed to develop, at the Narrows of the Yadkin, a water¬
power of 27,000 horsepower. His operations were the most
extensive and in results one of the most valuable in the
history of the State.

Eventually, in 1905, Hambley had a vision of transmitting
electricity from the Yadkin Narrows to Albemarle, Salis¬
bury, Lexington and other points and for use at the Gold
Hill Mine and the many mines in which he was interested,
and for cotton mills. Forming the Whitney Reduction Com¬
pany, he built a dam just below where the Southbound
Railroad now crosses the Yadkin. This dam was a dream

POWER TRANSMISSION

1233

of architecture, hewn granite up and down stream, thirty-
five feet high and 1,000 feet long, the water directed into
a canal fifty feet wide and five miles long to his power¬
house at Palmer Mountain. But unfortunately Hambley
did not live to complete his work.

Duke’s Southern Power Company

Simultaneously with Hambley’s beginning his great work,
in 1905, James Buchanan Duke, who had long been at the
head of the great American Tobacco Company and had
amassed millions in tobacco, turned his attention to elec¬
tricity and formed the Southern Power Company. The
Southern Power bought out the Catawba Company and
began the construction of additional plants on the Catawba.
In 1907 the Great Falls plant was in operation, and by
1908 the Southern Power Company produced 71,000,000
kilowatt hours of electricity. In the. meantime the Rock¬
ingham Power Company had its plant at Blewitt’s Falls
on the Pee Dee and supplied power locally ; and soon the
Carolina Power & Light Company, after adequate prepara¬
tion, became one of the first companies to enter the field
of supplying electricity. In August, 1908, it had a plant
* capacity of 5,000 horsepower, had put up sixty-one miles
of transmission lines, furnishing Raleigh, Sanford and Fay¬
etteville, had 1,115 electric customers and furnished power
to eight cotton mills. However, the product of these com¬
panies was in excess of the then demand for electricity.
Still the advantage of electricity because of its relative
cheapness was appealing, and presently new uses for the
power and the erection of new factories were stimulated.
Such was the first considerable advance made in this utili¬
zation of electricity. North Carolinians relatively led the
way in this use of transformed water-power for industrial
purposes : but some years elapsed before it began to' sup¬
plant the old wheels and steam.

Progress of Wilmington

In 1883 steps had been taken to increase the importance

of the ports on the lower Cape Fear and much was hoped
78

Carolina
Power &
Light
Company

I234

DEMOCRATS REGAIN CONTROL

The

Sprunts

from the construction of the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley
Railroad. These expectations not being fully realized, the
Legislature now authorized each, the county of New Han¬
over and the city of Wilmington, to use $1,000 to prepare
statistics showing the advantages Wilmington had as a
gateway port that might aid in securing legislation in Con¬
gress in that connection. Indeed, Wilmington was now
entering on an era of remarkable improvement in her
commerce and hope and confidence in her future animated
her progressive citizens, and the necessity for deepening the
water approach was now pressing. Immediately after the
war Alexander Sprunt and his son, James Sprunt, had
entered on the business of exporting naval stores and later
turned to cotton as their chief article of commerce. Bv
1889 the firm of Alexander Sprunt & Son had established
one hundred agencies through which their compressed cotton
could be marketed in Europe and their great business added
largely to the importance of North Carolina’s seaport. Sail¬
ing vessels had given place to steamships, but in a single
year more than thirty vessels had grounded in entering the
port. River improvement was essential. Senator Ransom
had earlier been active in securing appropriations by Con¬
gress, and later, Senator Simmons, on the Senate Committee
of Commerce, had successfully urged additional appropria¬
tions, and all the while the commerce grew equally with im¬
proved facilities. At length, augmented by the great busi¬
ness of the Sprunts, at this period — 1908 — the vessels had
reached 864,071 tons; and the annual commerce was over
forty-nine millions of dollars. The action now taken led
to still more important additions. The appropriations for
1909 and 1910 were $400,000 and the commerce at once
rose to $52,214,000. The banking capital was about $2,000,-
000 and the jobbing trade reached $50,000,000. The enter¬
prise, skill and business ability of the great exporting firm
were now bringing about remarkable results, and its high
standing was thoroughly appreciated in the foreign marts
of commerce and in financial circles.

In 1881 the first foreign steamship, the Barnesmorc, sailed
from Wilmington. She carried 3.458 bales of cotton and

TRANSPORTATION RATES

drew fourteen feet. Since then with the active cooperation
of our Senators and Congressmen, the river improvements
were constantly increased, so that the Holtie sailed in 1913
carrying 20,300 bales, and drawing twenty feet, with seven
feet underfoot to spare, for the depth from the city to
the sea was then twenty-seven feet.- Since then there have
been many larger vessels with larger cargoes dispatched
abroad by the enterprising Sprunt firm, and perhaps by
others as well. However, it is chiefly due to the exertions
and influence of James Sprunt and Senator Simmons, on
the Committee of Commerce in the Senate, that the grati¬
fying improvements in the commercial facilities of the
State’s chief port have been accomplished.

Freight discrimination

But notwithstanding these material improvements all was
not serene. • To evade the act confining the manufacture
and sale of spirituous liquors to incorporated towns where
it would be under police supervision, many new towns were
incorporated to facilitate the traffic. This had been met by
forbidding the manufacture and sale in towns with less
than 1,000 inhabitants; and then by making the place of
delivery the place of sale. These inhibitions excited great
antagonisms, which likewise renewed the opposition of the
prohibitionists and the anti-saloon men. But the altruistic
sentiments that animated them and the educators was not
so fierce as the indignation and sense of injustice that
aroused the people on the subject of railroad transportation
rates. The companies were charging three and three and
one-half cents a mile for travel, and there was great com¬
plaint over discrimination in freight rates. In 1907 the
Assembly took action and prescribed two and one-fourth
cents per mile for passengers, making any company violat¬
ing the act liable to a penalty, and any sale of a ticket by
an agent a misdemeanor, punishable by fine and imprison¬
ment. At once the Southern Railway appealed to the Fed¬
eral Court, and Judge Pritchard, taking jurisdiction, issued
an order enjoining the Attorney-General and others from

1235

Cape
Fear
Chroni¬
cles, p. 501

1907

Railroad

rates

Acts Assem.
1907,
ch. 216

1236

DEMOCRATS REGAIN CONTROL

Judge

Long’s

firmness

1907

145 N. C.

Reports,

511

A com¬
promise
reached

seeking to enforce the act of the Assembly until its constitu¬
tionality could be determined, the hearing to be at the Octo¬
ber term of court. But at the July term of Wake Superior
Court, Judge B. F. Long presiding, the Southern Railway
having ignored the act, both the company and T. E. Green,
the local agent, were indicted by the grand jury. Green was
arrested. Now conflict of judicial powers came above the
horizon. But Judge Long was firm. The year before he
was holding court at Salisbury. Three negroes who had
committed murder had been arrested and confined in jail.
The case was for trial the next day, when a mob broke
open the jail and lynched the prisoners. Judge Long called
in the grand jury and told them, “God Almighty reigns
and the law is still supreme. This court will not adjourn
until this matter has been investigated.'’ The Solicitor,
W. C. Hammer, stood with Judge Long; and at length one
Hall was ascertained to have been a leader of the mob,
was tried, found guilty and sentenced to the penitentiary
for fifteen years.

In this Green case, there being great excitement through¬
out the State, to meet possibilities Judge Long with equal
firmness ordered the sheriff to turn Green over to the court.
The trial of the case proceeded regularly. On the trial both
defendants were found guilty. A slight fine was imposed
on Green. The company appealed to the Supreme Court.
The serious question in the case was whether or not the
Federal Court could forbid the operation of a criminal law
of the State.

In a voluminous opinion Judge Platt D. Walker discussed
the question with learning and breadth that reflected credit
on the State. The court held that the Federal Court could
not enjoin State officers from obeying the criminal laws of
the State ; that the agent was punishable for his misde¬
meanor, but that the company was not liable to be indicted,
as it was liable for the penalty prescribed. Now, the rail¬
road company asked Judge Pritchard to modify the original
order of the Federal Court, permitting it to obey the State
law pending litigation. The situation led to such conflict-

PROHIBITION ADOPTED

1237

ing positions that a compromise eventually resulted. Gov¬
ernor Glenn called a special session of the Legislature to
meet January 21, 1908. In the meantime Speaker Guion
had been transferred to the judiciary, and when the Assem¬
bly convened the House elected to succeed him E. J. Justice,
a man of fine abilities, and great industry, well versed in
public affairs and animated by a spirit of progress.

By compromise the Legislature now made the rate two
and one-half cents a mile ; and it appropriated $5,000 for
the Governor to employ counsel to present the freight dis¬
criminations to the Interstate Commission. This notable
action resulted in establishing satisfactory rates in all the
Southern States.

The Governor, while submitting the railroad matters to
the Assembly, also recommended an election as to statewide
prohibition. And now State prohibition was submitted to
the people to be voted on in May. At that election, prohi¬
bition received 113,612 votes, with 69,416 against, being
the reverse of the result in 1881, when the vote was 48,370
for and 100,325 against. This act made it unlawful for
any one to make or sell spirituous liquors in the State. It
is to be remarked that the Southern States led the way in
this great social reform.

With the new century automobiles had appeared, and by
1907 they were in such use that the Assembly passed an
act to regulate their management on the public roads ; and
this progressive development was despite the money strin¬
gency that began in 1907 and was so severe that some
banks illegally issued their certificates and notes that passed
as currency, which, being in violation of the law, the Legis¬
lature excused by a special act.

Notwithstanding this obstacle, these new conveniences
were so desirable that every day their number increased
not merely for the use of business men in the towns, but
among the people in the country with the very beneficial
result of broadening country life and bringing about many
social advantages. Time and distance were eliminated.

1908

Acts Spe¬
cial Session
1908, ch. 44
Ibid.., ch. 71

Prohibi¬

tion

Acts Spe¬
cial Session
1908,
ch. 52

Auto¬

mobiles

Acts
Special
Session
1908, ch.

121

DEMOCRATS REGAIN CONTROL

1238

So urgent as the demand had ever been for good roads,
now the introduction of the automobile redoubled the need.
At Washington Senator Simmons, ever devoted to the inter¬
ests of the country inhabitants and farming class, had suc¬
cessfully pressed the desirability of action on the part of
the general government, and the subject was uppermost
in the public mind. Automobiles, better roads, social bet¬
terment became interdependent.

The period of Glenn’s administration is notable not only
for the continued advances in broadening the functions of
the State government, and in going forward on the line
that distinguishes Aycock’s above all others and for re¬
duction in railroad charges, but as witnessing the establish¬
ment of prohibition and social changes and the utilization of
electricity.

CHAPTER LXXIV

Kitchin and Craig Administrations

Kitchin urges education in agriculture. — Freight rates. —
Joyner’s report. — Death of Judge Purnell. — Henry G. Connor
succeeds him. — The Economic Survey. — Electrical development. —
Counties of Lee, Hoke and Avery. — Death of Aycock. — School
statistics. — Manufacturing and automobiles. — The Senators. — Sim¬
mons’s useful service. — Kitchin opposes him unsuccessfully. —
Locke Craig Governor. — George W. Connor, Judge. — Craig for
progress. — Heavier appropriations. — Agriculture. — The colleges. —
Railroad discriminations. — The special session. — Settlement. —
Constitutional amendments. — Emergency judges. — Senators elected
by the people. — Capt. E. A. Anderson. — Norfolk and Southern
Railroad. — Highway Commission. — The great storm. — Mount
Mitchell Park. — The National Guard goes to El Paso. — Manu¬
factures. — Progress. — Wilson President. — North Carolinians at
Washington.

Kitchin Governor

In 1878 W. H. Kitchin of Halifax had been elected to
Congress; in 1896, his son, W. W. Kitchin, began to rep¬
resent the Person County district; and in 1902, another
son, Claude Kitchin, entered on a congressional career of
renown and usefulness, the brothers sitting together until
1909, when W. W. Kitchin, an orator of unusual force and
power, became Governor of the State.

At the election of 1908 W. W. Kitchin and William C.
Newland of Caldwell County were the Democratic nomi¬
nees and received an increased vote of 17,000; J. E. Cox
of High Point, a successful manufacturer and highly es¬
teemed, was the Republican candidate, and received an in¬
creased vote of 28,000.

When the Assembly met Judge A. W. Graham was elected
Speaker of the House.

In his inaugural, Governor Kitchin, realizing the progress
that had been maje despite a period of depression, declared
his purpose to promote the great policies that had been
continued or inaugurated during the preceding eight years,

1909

1240 KITCHIN AND CRAIG ADMINISTRATIONS

Railroad

discrim¬

ination

The in¬
creased
schools

Judge
Henry G.
Connor

and to undertake new policies as well. He urged that pri¬
maries should be legalized, and that publicity be given to
campaign funds. In particular, he stressed the importance
of agricultural education, a comprehensive knowledge of all
agricultural matters ; also studies in hygiene ; and the neces¬
sity of considering the sanitary Condition of the factories,
and as to child labor, enforcing the law that prohibits chil¬
dren under thirteen years of age from working in factories.

The Governor thought “we are but on the threshold of
the good roads movement, and that the next generation
will witness wonderful progress.” He recommended a State
Highway Commission. While aware of the great advantages
and benefits that come with railroads, he mentioned that
the freight on a carload of corn from Cincinnati to Greens¬
boro is much more than if it should go on to Lynchburg;
and a carload of molasses from New Orleans to Lynch¬
burg pays less freight than if it stops at Charlotte; and he
proposed continued action until such discriminations were
corrected.

When Kitchin became Governor progress in education
had been in full blast, and now Dr. Joyner was able to
report that in the last two years more than a million dol¬
lars had been added to the public school property, and
779 new rural schoolhouses had been built and five hundred
new rural school libraries added, bringing up the number
to over two thousand ; and there had been distinctive prog¬
ress made in all directions. Joyner was urgent for con¬
tinued improvement.

In December, 1908, Thomas R. Purnell, Judge of the
United States District Court, died, and three days later
Judge Pritchard of the Circuit Court designated Judge
Boyd of the Western District to hold the courts in the
Eastern District and to discharge all the duties of the judge
of that district; and Judge Boyd continued to do so until
June 1, 1909, when Judge Henry G. Connor qualified.
Judge Connor, then a justice of the State Supreme Court,
had been appointed bv President Taft on May 25, 1909, and
was confirmed by the Senate. Although not of the same

HALIFAX DAY

1241

political party as the President, he was selected for this
office by reason of his* fine reputation as a jurist, and in
conformity with President Taft's view that under the con¬
ditions at the South it was preferable to have on the Federal
bench judges who were in close touch with the business men
of the district. And it proved a most fortunate appoint¬
ment, for Judge Connor, having the good-will, confidence
and admiration of all classes in the district, brought the
administration of justice in the Federal Court more in touch
with the people than it had ever been.

Among the other acts of interest was one providing for
establishing the Mattamuskeet Drainage District, with a
view to draining the lake and surrounding country, adding
to the arable land and benefiting the health of the section.
While the first purpose has not been entirely accomplished,
the system of drainage which has been in use in the eastern
part of the State has proved a remarkable success, establish¬
ing healthful conditions with great benefit and advantage.

By another act of 1909, April 12th was declared a legal
holiday, as Halifax Day, the anniversary of the notable
action of the State Congress in April, 1776, authorizing the
delegates of the State to the Continental Congress to con¬
cur in declaring independence and entering into foreign
alliances, which could only be done by an independent state.
This action of the North Carolina Congress was the first
utterance for independence made by any of the colonies in
rebellion. On May 27th Joseph Hewes presented these reso¬
lutions to the Continental Congress, and then the Virginia
resolutions were presented. North Carolina moved the
waters. And now the Assembly made the anniversary a
legal holiday.

In 1905 Dr. Joseph Hyde Pratt became Director of the
Geological and Economic Survey. “A man with many of
Holmes’s qualities of versatility and energy, he carried
on what had been left him with persistent zeal : forestry
work ; good roads, until his program resulted in the High¬
way Commission, the Fisheries Commission, and the utiliza¬
tion of the State’s water-powers.”*

^Natural Resources, Vol. II, No. 2, p. 3

1909

Drain¬

age

Halifax

Day

The Eco¬
nomic
Survey

1242

KITCHIN AND CRAIG ADMINISTRATIONS

Electricity

Increased

manu¬

facturing

New

counties

1912

Already the transmission of electricity for manufacturing
purposes had become a particular subject of consideration
by the Survey. However, no great advance was made in
the utilization of electricity in this State until about 1912.
Although in South Carolina a notable development had been
begun in 1907, up to 1912 no other of the Southern States
had installed as much as one-third as much as South Caro¬
lina. Then Alabama, Tennessee and North Carolina fol¬
lowed that example. And now much progress was made,
and presently North Carolina outdistanced all of her neigh¬
boring sisters. Such was the beginning of the extraordinary
development of manufacturing in the State.

The county of Lee was established in 1907 and was so .
called in honor of the great Robert E. Lee ; and now on
February li, 1911, another county was laid off and named
for Robert F. Hoke, in manifestation of North Carolina’s
pride in his course during the War Between the States and
of her admiration for her distinguished son, who stood in
her estimation next to General Lee himself. General Hoke
was then living, but he died on July 3, 1912.

Likewise the county of Avery was formed in thq moun¬
tains to perpetuate the fame of the patriot Col. Waightstill
Avery of the Revolutionary period. At this session, like¬
wise, steps were taken to provide a State administration
building, the Governor being authorized to appoint a com¬
mission to have such an edifice constructed. Ashley Horne
became president of the commission, and the building which
the Supreme Court occupies along with the State Library,
the Historical Commission, the Hall of History, and other
commissions, was constructed at a cost of $188,000.

Ay cock’s death

After Aycock’s term of office as Governor expired he con¬
tinued his exertions for general education, and indeed earned
such an enviable reputation that he was called to other
states to press the subject of education. In April, 1912, he
was making an address to the Teachers’ Assembly in Mont¬
gomery, Ala., when suddenly, while speaking, his heart failed

DECREASE OF ILLITERACY

1243

and he passed away. The dedication of his fine powers to
that cause and his efforts to uplift humanity gained for
him the affections of the people and it was his fortune “to
garner in a harvest of hearts.” His monument in Capitol
Square at Raleigh bears, among other inscriptions, the state¬
ment of his creed : “The equal right of every child born
on earth to have the opportunity to burgeon out all there
is within him.”

Few men. have died in the State so universally regretted.
However, his labor had not been in vain. His life left a
deep impress ; and he had witnessed the incoming tide of
a great movement for public education.

The State’s progress

For the year ending June, 1912, the total school fund
wras $4,488,752, of which $2,498,245 was derived from State
and county taxation and State appropriation ; while the
residue, $1,179,766, was from local special taxes. There
was spent on school property $1,517,647. The number of
schoolhouses had now risen to 7,777. During those two
years there had been an increase in school enrollment of
13,113 wThites and a decrease of 8,010 colored pupils, wdiile
the school census showed an increase of 18,212 whites and
9,227 colored. Although the census of 1910 showed 12.3
per cent of white illiterates, and 31 per cent of colored,
that, said Dr. Joyner, was a reduction of 7 per cent for the
whites and 15 for the colored in ten years. There was hope
that eventually illiteracy would disappear.

In manufacturing and other industries there was a sim¬
ilar development. The number of corporations organized
annually had in the decade risen from 306 to 1,058, and
this multiplication indicated a busy hive of workers through¬
out the State. Indeed, manufacturing w7as highly remu¬
nerative. Automobiles had been recently introduced. Prior
to 1910 only 2,018 had taken out licenses, the next year
1,680 did so, and then in 1912, 2,402 registered. The grow¬
ing use of automobiles and needs of transportation led the
Assembly to transfer the supervision of the highways to

1912

The

school

situation

Progress

1244 KITCHIN AND CRAIG ADMINISTRATIONS

1912

Kitchin

opposes

Simmons

the Geological Department. It was the beginning of a
most important development.

On the expiration of the first terms of Senators Simmons
and Overman, they had each been reelected without any
opposition among the Democrats; but in 1912, when Sim¬
mons’s term was expiring and Kitchin’s service as Governor
was to end, the latter looked to senatorial honors and pro¬
posed to contest the seat with Senator Simmons. Both of
the Senators had done well; Overman being on the Judiciary
Committee and Simmons on the Finance Committee and
the Committee on Commerce. By habit, painstaking and
thorough as to details, scrupulously exact in all his deal¬
ings, Mr. Simmons had attained a high position in the re¬
gard of the Senate. During his first term he altered the
attitude of his Democratic colleagues in the Panama Canal
matter and the treaty with Cuba, obtaining favorable action
on both. By his advocacy of measures affecting life on
the farm, he had rendered a distinct service to agriculture
and the country.

As urgent as the demand had ever been for good roads,
now the introduction of the automobile redoubled the need.
At Washington, Senator Simmons successfully pressed the
desirability of action on the part of the general govern¬
ment, and the subject was now uppermost in the public
mind. He urged it in connection with the rural carrier
system; and he advocated enlarging the operations of the
Department of Agriculture ; so also, he had been a persistent
advocate of water transportation and improvement of the
harbors and water-courses of the State, and on the Finance
Committee he had rendered great public service. He had,
however, proposed an import duty on lumber, and he had
advocated a measure fostering a merchant marine. But
now the nomination was to be by a popular vote and both
Governor Kitchin and Judge Clark became candidates.
Governor Kitchin made a bitter and violent campaign
against the Senator, in which William J. Bryan likewise
took part. Mr. Simmons merely declared that he stood on
his record, and at the Democratic primary Mr. Simmons

PRIDE IN STATE'S PROGRESS

1245

received 84,687 votes; Governor Kitchin 47,610, and Judge
Walter Clark, 16,416. The vote was one of confidence in
the Senator and satisfaction with his record.

Locke Craig, while not so strong in oratory perhaps as
either of his three predecessors, was still so gifted as to
be a “silver-tongued” orator. Born in Bertie County and
resident in the mountains, much esteemed for his courteous
bearing and virtues, he was now nominated by the Dem¬
ocrats for Governor. His contestants were Thomas Settle
(Republican), son of Judge Settle, inheriting many of his
father’s fine characteristics, and Iredell Meares, who ran as
a Progressive, a scion of the distinguished Meares family
of the Cape Fear. Craig received a hundred thousand more
than either — 149,970 as against 43,625 for Settle, and 49,920
for Meares. Elijah L. Daughtridge of Edgecombe became
the Lieutenant-Governor. On the meeting of the Assembly,
George Whitfield Connor of Wilson became Speaker of
the House, and, on Connor being transferred to the judi¬
ciary, Walter Murphy of Rowan, succeeded him. The As¬
sembly now reelected Mr. Simmons to the Senate, he being
the last Senator to be elected by the Legislature. In clos¬
ing his administration, Governor Kitchin with pride spoke
of the unexampled prosperity that had blessed the State,
and he urged the need of increased revenue and improved
administration. Among the measures he recommended was
that all water-power plants serving the public should be
under the control of the Corporation Commission.

Governor Craig was inaugurated January 15. He began
his inaugural address with : “Democracy gives to the peo¬
ple the pledge of progress’’ — and throughout his address
he advocated particular measures that would redound to
the advantage of the people and State. “A new era has
dawned . . . there must be legislation responsive to

the impulse of the age. . . . The discrimination of the

railroads must cease. The development of the water-powers
is now beginning to assume splendid proportions. It is
potential with magnificent upbuilding. . . . The high¬

est duty of society is to educate the children. The State

Craig

nomi¬

nated

The

election

Kitchin’s

1913

Craig’s

message

His meas¬
ures

1 246 KITCHIN AND CRAIG ADMINISTRATIONS

Special

local

taxes

The

Agricul¬
tural De¬
partment

The

schools

must exercise her sovereign authority and compel the at¬
tendance of her children upon the schools. . . . We

must especially stimulate the growth of agriculture/’ Par¬
ticularly he urged good roads. "We cannot have the ben¬
efits of modern civilization otherwise.” He urged the im¬
mediate reassessment of property, the adoption of a primary
law, and other practical changes. And it was now that
conditions were favorable for progress.

As there had been aroused a real interest in the public
schools, manifested in a practical way by increased local
taxation, not only did the Legislature make heavier appro¬
priations for the maintenance and improvement of the
University, the A. and M. College and every other State
institution of public instruction, but the spirit of the peo¬
ple at home responded by levying special taxes for their
local schools. Fortunately they were now able to do so.
Not only had their property increased in value, but their
industries were yielding better returns and wealth was ac¬
cumulating, while many benefits had resulted from the
activities of the Department of Agriculture. Commissioner
Graham, in his report, says: “In 1910 there were held in
84 counties 369 institutes attended by 53,627 persons, and
North Carolina was the first Southern State to inaugurate
women’s institutes.” The effect of these meetings was in¬
calculable. With respect to soil improvement and better
agriculture through farm demonstrations and institutes, the
Commissioner adds: that the census of 1900 gives the
proportion of citizens engaged in agriculture as 81 per
cent — four out of five of our people — and by 1910 the pro¬
duction of the farms had increased twenty-five per cent over
the average of the previous five years. As to the corn
crop alone the increase had been sixteen million bushels ; so
likewise had the result been equally manifested in other
crops.

The denominational colleges and other seminaries of
learning had greatly prospered, while the State institutions
were flourishing. The Normal School which, on the death
of Mclver in 1906 had passed under the management of
Dr. Julius I. Foust, now had about one thousand students

EDUCATIONAL UPLIFT

1247

and was admirably performing its mission of elevating
the social interests of the State. The A. and M. College,
after eight years under the progressive management of
Dr. George T. Winston, had been successfully conducted
by Dr. D. H. Hill and had about seven hundred students,
while the University, of which Dr. Francis P. Venable had
been the President for fourteen years, now had about one
thousand students.

In 1914 it fell to Governor Craig’s lot to install Edward
Kidder Graham as President of the University; and in
sympathy with the general movement for higher education,
under the fostering care of President Graham, who achieved
a remarkable reputation for efficiency, the University en¬
tered on a still greater career of usefulness. It is to be
noted that all of these presidents, except alone Dr. Venable,
who had long been a valued professor at the University,
were natives and were educated within the State, and that
Dr. Alderman left the State only to ascend higher and
higher on the ladder of fame, taking rank with the first
educators of America.

The Normal School at Greensboro was now supplying
many competent teachers, and the chief obstacle to good
schools that had for a century been a drawback no longer
existed, while the attendance at the University and the
seventeen colleges had risen to 5,366. However, attendance
in the public schools was not satisfactory. In 1910, out of
the white school population of 416,251, the average at¬
tendance was only 277,109, and of the 238,091 colored
children the average attendance was 95,463 ; and there had
been no considerable improvement.

Such was the general condition when Governor Craig,
following in the footsteps of his predecessors, again sup¬
plemented the efforts of Dr. Joyner, who urged consolida¬
tion of the school districts, longer terms and compulsory
attendance. The Legislature now responded. It reaffirmed
that the counties should provide by taxation for the four
months required by the Constitution, and itself made pro¬
vision for an additional two months term ; and it likewise

President

Graham

Progress

1248 KITCHIN AND CRAIG ADMINISRTATIONS

Acts of
1913, chs.
22, 173

The con¬
ference

The spe¬
cial session

The agree¬
ment

provided for additional rural school libraries. The founda¬
tions of better education having been laid, every child be¬
tween eight and twelve years of age was required to at¬
tend school at least four months in the year.

Railroad discriminations

Discriminations made by the railroads to the disadvan¬
tage of the State, however, continued, and Governor Craig
urged the Assembly to exercise every constitutional power
to compel justice. The Legislature at once responded and
appropriated $5,000 a year for the Governor to take appro¬
priate action and authorized him to appoint a commission
to carry out the purpose of the Assembly. The Governor
with great sagacity appointed on this commission E. J.
Justice of Greensboro, doubtless the most fit in the State
for this service, W. B. Council of Catawba and N. B.
Broughton of Wake. The presidents of nine railroad com¬
panies were invited to a conference with this commission and
the Corporation Commission, that had already instituted pro¬
ceedings before the Interstate Commerce Commission con¬
cerning these unjustifiable rates. On August 5, the Commerce
Commission submitted to the Governor a report of the pro¬
posed revision of rates, and again on September 19. In
the latter they said that such substantial reduction in rates
from the west now offered by the railroads amounted to a
compliance in good faith with the original agreement.
“They will save to the shippers about $2,000,000 a year.”
The Governor now called a special session of the Legisla¬
ture, which met in September, 1913, and that body passed
an act on the subject, fixing rates, but providing for a
commission to hear objections if any should be deemed
confiscatory, with power to the Governor to suspend the
operation of the act. Thereupon the Governor appointed
M. H. Justice, A. A. Thompson and W. L. Poteat as this
commission. From time to time this act was suspended
until finally, on October 4, 1914, the railroads accepted the
rates, but under protest that they were not remunerative.
Then came on the war in Europe, and in January, 1916, the

CHANGES IN CONSTITUTION

1249

Interstate Commerce Commission ordered the roads to re¬
vise their rates and increase them.

Constitutional amendments

In 1913 the Legislature raised a commission to consider
proposed amendments to the Constitution, and to report
its recommendations to a special session. On September 24,
1913, the Legislature met in special session to consider the
recommendation. Ten proposed amendments were then
submitted to the popular vote. One was to prevent delays
in trials by providing emergency judges; another was to
reform the Constitution in the matter of revenue and tax¬
ation ; another to require a school term of six months.
These were the most important. The total vote cast was
less than 119,000, the vote being taken on each amendment
separately. The highest vote cast in favor of any amend¬
ment was 57,816 and the lowest in the negative was 60,220.
The amendment requiring a six-month term received 59,519,
the negative vote being 61,317. The current of opinion
was against meddling with the Constitution, and all the
proposed amendments were defeated.

When the Legislature met following the defeat of the
proposed ten amendments to the Constitution, it again sub¬
mitted that one providing for emergency judges and the
three that restricted the power of the Assembly as to
special legislation, and these now received about the same
vote as before. Between 55,763 and 57,465 ; while the op¬
position to them had virtually disappeared, the highest
negative vote being only 22,681. And the Constitution
was thus amended in these respects.

Senators elected by the people

In 1913 the Federal Constitution was amended by requir¬
ing United States Senators to be chosen by the popular
vote of the State. Mr. Overman’s career in the Senate had
been notable for the great breadth of his service and for
his industry and efficiency. Although attentive to every
79

1913

Emergen¬
cy judges
and
special
legislation

1250

KITCHIN AND CRAIG ADMINISTRATIONS

Overman

elected

1914

duty in regard to legislation, he had likewise been particu¬
larly attentive to the wishes and desires of his constituents;
so that when a choice was to be made of a senator in 1914
naturally he was selected as the Democratic nominee to
succeed himself. His opponent was A. A. Whitener of
Catawba County. At the election, Overman received 121,342
votes and Whitener 87,101. Overman was the first United
States Senator chosen by the popular vote of the State.

Capt. E. A. Anderson

The Wilmington Naval officer, Edwin A. Anderson, who
had won honors in 1898, and also had displayed signal
courage in 1907 when Kingston, Jamaica, was destroyed
by a great earthquake, and in 1911 for courageous action
in rescuing the survivors of a wreck had been presented
a silver service by the citizens and government of Panama,
was in 1914 awarded the congressional medal of honor for
“extraordinary heroism in battle” during the engagement
at Vera Cruz, where he commanded a seaman’s regiment
at the capture of that city. On that occasion Lieut. George
B. Ashe was likewise on duty at Vera Cruz and was warm
in extolling Anderson’s fine action.

The Norfolk Southern Railroad

The proposed railroad system of the State had originally
been east and west lines, but that had become virtually
obsolete when the Seaboard Air Line and the Richmond
and Danville opened up travel and traffic to Norfolk and
Richmond.

In 1881 a line was opened from Edenton to Berkeley,
Virginia, that became the Norfolk Southern which later
acquired several other connecting roads ; and in 1906 con¬
solidated with all the local roads through the northeastern
quarter of the State. It then pushed on and secured all
the minor roads toward the South until in 1913 its line
with many lateral branches extended from Norfolk to Wash¬
ington, Morehead City, New Bern, Goldsboro, Raleigh,
Durham, Fayetteville, Troy and so on to Charlotte. This

DEVASTATION BY FLOODS

1251

development connecting all the eastern part of the State
outside of the Cape Fear Region with Norfolk, was the
reverse of the Caldwell idea.

At the second session of the Assembly Governor Craig
had the satisfaction of seeing the Legislature take a step
forward in the important matter of highways. In March,
1915, the act was passed to create a Highway Commission.
As finally arranged this commission consisted of the Gov¬
ernor, the State Geologist, a professor of the University,
one A. and M. College professor, and three others. Such
was the beginning of the Highway Commission whose
services have since been so' valuable to the State.

On June 17, 1915, Governor Jarvis died. He had for fifty
years been an active factor in the life of the State, and he
was ever as true in his public service as the needle to the
pole. Among his last notable works was promoting the
establishment of the Eastern Training School at Greenville.

In July, 1916, there occurred the greatest storm and flood
known to the western section of the State. The valleys
of the Yadkin, Catawba, French Broad, Swannanoa and
other streams were inundated. From Wilkes to Ruther¬
ford the floods swept away not only the homes of the peo¬
ple and the young crops, but the very soil of hundreds of
farms. It was the most disastrous event in the history of
that region. The losses were beyond computation. Gov¬
ernor Craig had relief committees to organize in every
county and Congress appropriated $540,000 for the relief
of the sufferers. The people in every part of the State
responded with alacrity, but it was months before most of
the distress was relieved and the damage reasonably re¬
paired, so great and extensive was the devastation. In this
work of relief the whole State was interested.

Then another subject of a different character appealed
to the public, the preservation of the wild grandeur of
Mount Mitchell for posterity. The State purchased twelve
hundred acres of the mountain top for a park.

1915

Highway

Commis¬

sion

Death of
Jarvis

The great
storm

Mount

Mitchell

1252

KITCHIN AND CRAIG ADMINISTRATIONS

1916

The
growth
of in¬
dustries

Improved

conditions

Craig’s
Letters and
Papers

The National Guard

In the meantime trouble having arisen on the Mexican
border, on June 19, 1916, in pursuance of instructions, the
First Brigade of the North Carolina National Guard was
assembled at Camp Glenn where Gen. Laurence B. Young
was in command. The brigade consisted of the First Regi¬
ment of Infantry, commanded by Col. James T. Gardner;
the Second, commanded by Col. Wiley C. Rodman, who,
however, after six months resigned and was succeeded by
Col. John V. B. Metts ; the Third, under Col. Sidney W.
Minor. Two companies of cavalry — A, under Capt. Warren
A. Fair, and B, under Capt. Frederick Rutledge — and two
companies of engineers — A, under Capt. George W. Gillette,
and B, Capt. Charles E. Boesch. After being trained, in
September, 1916, the brigade was ordered to El Paso, Texas,
where they made “a splendid record” for efficiency, remain¬
ing there for more than a year.

Fortunate, indeed, was the period of Craig’s incumbency.
While the great war in Europe began in August, 1914, and
brought with it many changes, some being of direct con¬
sequence, and others incidental, yet the substantial progress
of the State was quite independent of such causes and
mostly developed in natural course. Agriculture had be¬
come so prosperous that, while still Governor,' Craig could
say: “The State produces 65,000,000 bushels of corn,
10,000,000 bushels of wheat, 12,000,000 bushels of pota¬
toes, 197,000,000 pounds of tobacco, 650,000 tons of hay
and 650,000 bales of cotton, worth more than a hundred
dollars a bale, while all the crops have a value of $200,-
000,000. And in manufacturing the development has made
equal progress. In 1900 our cotton mills were capital¬
ized at $22,0000,000 ; now our three hundred and eighteen
mills have a capital of $58,000,000 and their yearly output
is $90,000,000. They give employment to 57,000 people,
whose wages are $17,000,000.” Power from electricity was
now common. “From one end of the State to the other
are stretched electric cables through which streams of the
harnessed powers of the French Broad, the Catawba, the
Yadkin, the Pee Dee, the Cape Fear and the Roanoke de-

MATERIAL PROGRESS

1253

liver exhaustless energy to the centers of industry. . .

During the last five years we have built ten thousand miles
of improved highways, costing more than fifteen million
dollars.” He pictured a grand review of North Carolina
workers, “3,000 corn club boys in the van, 250,000 cornfield
men, 60,000 textile workers, 50,000 men in overalls whose
levers turn the driving wheels of mills and locomotives.” In
1899 there were ninety-five banks, State and National, with
$14,836,000 on deposit; in 1916 there were 426 State banks-
and 81 National banks with $107,424,000 on deposit. And
now annually the number of new corporations formed ran
over a thousand, while automobiles were increasing still
more rapidly, and the State revenues for the fiscal year end¬
ing November 30, 1916, were $4,970,878, the disbursements
being $4,879,965. Such great increments betokened gratify¬
ing conditions that could not have been expected. “And
North Carolina’s moral and intellectual growth,” the Gov¬
ernor proudly declared, “has kept pace with her material
growth, while with compulsory attendance, and better
schoolhouses and teachers, education was now to be within
reach of every child of the State.”

Wilson President

Contemporaneously with the election of Craig the coun¬
try went Democratic and Woodrow Wilson, for some years
a Wilmington youth and student at Davidson, became
President. Already had Senators Simmons and Overman
in the Senate and Claude Ivitchin, John H. Small, Edward
W. Pou and Edwin T. Webb in the House won distinction,
while Robert N. Page, Charles M. Stedman, Robert L.
Doughton, were also representatives of influence, as were
likewise John M. Faison and James M. Gudger. The State
never had better representation. Her influence was felt in
each branch of the national administration as never before.
When Wilson was inaugurated he selected Josephus Daniels
to be the Secretary of the Navy, David F. Houston, born
at Monroe, Secretary of Agriculture, and P. P. Claxton,
long connected with North Carolina, Commissioner of Edu-

Progress

North Caro¬
linians at
Washington

1254 KITCHIN AND CRAIG ADMINISTRATIONS

cation. Samuel L. Rogers was made Superintendent of the
Census. Then Walter H. Page, a native of Wake, with an
interesting connection in the State but himself a resident
of New York, became Ambassador to England, and indeed
many other North Carolinians, first and last, were assigned
to positions of importance. In the House Claude Kitchin
became the leader of the Democrats and in the Senate Sim¬
mons and Overman became of national consequence; Sen¬
ator Simmons being especially useful in carrying into effect
the policies of the administration and as chairman of the
Finance Committee, and likewise largely directing the Com¬
mittee of Commerce.

Industrial progress

Among those who particularly contributed to the pros¬
perity of the State at this period were D. A. Tompkins of
Charlotte, whose activities in expanding the cotton manu¬
facturing, and Hugh MacRae of Wilmington, whose intro¬
duction of immigrants and extended activities have had
marked influence and benefit in their respective spheres of
operations.

CHAPTER LXXV

Governor Bickett

Bickett Governor. — His proposed program for betterment. — New
conditions. — The school term lengthened. — Permanent improve¬
ment. — New measures. — Equalization of values. — War abroad. —
The people in sympathy with France and England. — The dele¬
gation in Congress. — Germany gives notice. — Congress declares
war. — Sprunt’s City of Wilmington. — The draft. — Action in the
State. — The great efforts of the Union. — The activities. — The
mine field. — The State troops. — The 119th Regiment, 120th Regi¬
ment. — The Tar Heel Brigade. — They sail. — Their operations. —
The field officers. — The engineers. — The 113th Artillery. — The 81st
Division. — The Wild Cat Division. — The Engineers. — The Naval
Service. — Admiral Anderson, Captain Cotton, Captain Foote, and
others. — The Naval Reserve. — The Delegation. — Joyner succeeded
by Brooks. — Conditions in 1919. — Child Labor Law. — The State
Budget Commission. — Negroes go north. — The Ku Klux. — The
industries. — Morrison nominated for Governor. — Woman’s suf¬
frage. — The Democratic convention endorses it. — At the extra
session rejected. — ^Becomes the law. — Harding President. — 'In¬
creased valuation. — Court procedure. — The vote. — Revaluation. —
The new system of taxation. — Morrison elected.

Bickett’s progressive administration

At the Democratic Convention in 1907, Thomas W. 1917
Bickett of Franklin County, then not well known, made an
address presenting Ashley Horne for Governor. It was a
revelation, and it so captivated every one that it broke the
slate proposed by those in control of the convention. Bickett
was unexpectedly selected as the candidate for Attorney-
General and he served in that office so acceptably that at
the first state-wide primary in 1916, he was nominated for
Governor, his vote being 63,000 while Lieutenant-Governor
Daughtridge’s was 37,000; and at the election Bickett re¬
ceived 167,761 and Frank A. Linney, Republican, 120,157.

When the Assembly met in January, 1917, O. Max Gard¬
ner, the Lieutenant-Governor, presided over the Senate and
Walter Murphy became Speaker of the House. Intimately
acquainted with State afifairs and blessed with a warm heart, Bickett-S
Governor Bickett’s inaugural was masterful. “I want labor dream

GOVERNOR BICKETT

1256

1917

New

conditions

and capital, learning and art and the life and the letter of
the ‘ law to be devoted to making every acre and every
stream, every human and every mechanical unit in the Com¬
monwealth be and do its level best ; such are my hopes and
high resolves.’’ He then outlined the measures to be taken
and added: “I have endeavored to visualize my dream of
a fairer and finer State.” The Assemblymen in full sym-
pathies responded with alacrity. Out of forty-eight meas¬
ures Bickett recommended, forty were enacted. The Legis¬
lature largely increased the State’s activities and broadened
its work. Every year there had been a new need and new
requirement and the functions of government had been ex¬
tended. No longer was the purpose merely to suppress law¬
lessness and secure the individual rights of the citizen.
The State’s control began to include every subject that prom¬
ised a benefit or advantage to society. Advanced thought
was much on the line of the movement for ‘'prohibition" —
to benefit humanity by improving the individual ; and now
there were many boards to supervise and regulate affairs
that had previously been of mere family concern. The
European War had been in progress two years and our in¬
dustries had been remunerative ; population had thickened
and material and social progress had made their impress.
The movement for higher education had brought results.
There were 1,100 students at the University; 800 at the
A. & M. College; the total number enrolled at the Normal
College was 1,700 of whom 600 attended the summer ses¬
sion; the East Carolina Teachers College excelled all expec¬
tations, and at the Appalachian Training School were 691 ;
and the high schools were flourishing. The mass of the
people were being educated.

New functions of government

The assessed value of real estate was $423,968,073 and
of personal property $211,881,103. The general State taxes
were $2,088,103 and the license taxes $2,952,795, a total
of five millions. The school taxes were $3,555,888, to which
the State added $802,000. Such were the conditions that all
now realized that the facilities of the past were not equal

2. Julian S. Carr

1. Governor and Mrs. Thomas W. Bickett

3. Hugh MacRae

FORWARD MOVEMENTS

1257

to the requirements of the day. Governor Bickett said to
the Assembly: “We have reached a crucial hour in the
civic life of our people ; my counsel is that we go forward.”
The State institutions had to be enlarged. He urged the
acceptance of the plan of the joint committees of appropria¬
tion for a program of issuing to the institutions $500,000
in bonds for each year for six years, but he annexed a
proviso: “To teach good farming in every country school;
to provide for the physical examination of children ; to make
the schoolhouse the social center; to encourage the installa¬
tion of running water, lights and telephones in every home;
to increase the traveling libraries and to have better schools.”
The Legislature responded favorably. Old things gave
place to the new requirements. The preparation had been
natural and gradual and now the step was taken. The Leg¬
islature proposed an amendment to the Constitution requir¬
ing a six-months term of school, which the people ratified ;
and as illiteracy persisted, it increased the age of compulsory
attendance to fourteen years, and while appropriating $25,-
000 annually for schools of adult illiterates, duplicated the
amount any county should use in teaching younger illiter¬
ates. Also, it provided for teaching in the public schools
agriculture, manual training and home economics. It in¬
creased the appropriations for high schools and created an
Educational Commission to study and report on the entire
system of education. With wise recognition of conditions
the Assembly made reasonable provision for the expansion
of the several State institutions, appropriating three mil¬
lions of dollars for their permanent improvement and equip¬
ment. Five hundred thousand dollars was to be expended
each year for six years, the amount for each institution
being designated, and the Treasurer being authorized to sell
bonds for the purpose ; and a State Building Commission
was created.

And for the social advantage of the people, the State
Board of Charities and Public Welfare was created to act
along with the county boards. For the betterment of home
life, the Highway Commission was directed to assist in the
utilization of water-powers for rural communities and

1917

New

purposes

Expansion

GOVERNOR BICKETT

1258

1917

Equalization
of values

Statement
R. B. House

private homes, and comity road commissions were provided
for, with power to issue bonds.

The irregularity of the assessed valuation of property in
the counties throughout the State had ever been notable.
The Legislature now required the county commissioners to
equalize values of assessed property and make their report
to the State Tax Commission ; it directed the publication
in the Blue Book of the name of every employee of the State
and his compensation ; it provided for a revision of the
statutes and authorized the Governor and a tax commission
to be appointed by him to make an exhaustive study of the
whole tax subject and report recommendations.

After a laborious session during which about 300 acts
were passed, many containing novel features of importance,
the Assembly adjourned on March 7. But a month had
not passed after the Assembly adjourned when Congress in
special session declared war against Germany and State
affairs were overshadowed by the greater interests of deter¬
mined warfare. Into that struggle Governor Bickett put
his whole heart and North Carolina zealously performed
every duty.

The World War

Unexpectedly in August, 1914, war had broken out in
Europe between Germany and Austria on one side and
France, England, Russia and Italy on the other side.

The sympathies of our people were with the French and
English. Quickly two North Carolina boys, Paul and Kiffin
Rockwell of Asheville entered as privates in the Foreign
Legion of France. Kiffin Rockwell won honors and leader¬
ship in aviation, but in his iq2d air battle, fell in Alsace.
Later three other North Carolinians, James McConnell of
Carthage, Arthur Blumenthal of Wilmington and Tames
Baughan of Washington also won honors and gave their
lives in the same service. Others also early hastened to
the battle, Kenan, Hancock, Bridgers among them. The
general spirit in this State was indicated by these first volun¬
teers. All Europe was involved. The war was at sea as
well as on land. Commerce, was of especial interest to

PROVOCATION TO WAR

1259

England and as our great commerce was in danger of be¬
ing interfered with steps were taken to prepare for even¬
tualities. In the work of this preparation Senator Simmons,
Chairman of the Finance Committee, and Representative
Kitchin, the Democratic leader in the House, were especially
prominent and useful in Congress, and Secretary Daniels
in the Cabinet; but all North Carolinians with few excep¬
tions heartily supported the administration. At length
the President’s apprehensions were suddenly realized. On
May 7, 1915, Germany sunk the Lusitania on the high seas, Lusitania
sending 114 American citizens and more than a thousand
others, men, women and children to watery graves. How¬
ever, we were reluctant to go to war, and on Germany’s
promise not to disregard our rights, the United States did
not declare war. For a time our rights as neutrals were
respected. Our commerce was very profitable, all Europe
paying well for our products, so when the Presidential
election came ofif in November, 1916, the the entire country
being very prosperous, President Wilson was reelected, and
the Democrats again held Congress-.

Germany precipitates war

For more than two years the terrible warfare was waged
without result, and then Germany prepared to carry out a
program secretly determined on. It was intended by means
of U-boats to sweep all commerce from the seas, cutting
off all supplies from England and reducing the people to
starvation. While such an interference with our commerce,
as neutrals, would necessarily involve the United States in
the war, Germany was of the opinion that we could make
no material resistance before the allies would be forced to
surrender. In the problem the United States was regarded
as a negligible quantity.

Preparations

Every preparation was made by Germany for the LT-boat
warfare to begin on February 1, 1917, the expectation be¬
ing that England would be starved out in five months, and

1260

GOVERNOR BICKETT

April

1917

Selective

draft

the Allies be forced to surrender by August. All being
in readiness, information of Germany’s purpose to break
her pledge was conveyed to the President late on the after¬
noon of January 31, and the PT-boat warfare was begun
the next morning. Necessarily it meant war. The Presi¬
dent at once convened Congress in special session. Already
reasonable preparation had been made by both the War and
Navy Departments, and the activities of Mr. Daniels now
became of the first consequence not only to this country,
but to all the world not associated with Germany. The
first step was to arm our merchantmen to resist attack. On
March 12, the President directed Mr. Daniels to furnish
guns and naval gunmen to American ships. In two days the
Manchuria and two other steamers were so equipped, the
Manchuria sailing on March 15, and every day thereafter
a constant succession of merchantmen so equipped sailed
from our ports.

Later, Alexander Sprunt & Sons applied for the equip¬
ment with cannon and gunners of their steamship, the City
of Wilmington, about to sail for an allied pprt abroad, and
that vessel was at once so furnished by the orders of Mr.
Daniels, the Secretary of the Navy. The City of Wilming¬
ton sailed in due course ready to fight for her life.

War declared

Some days necessarily elapsed before the final step, and
then on April 2, 1917, the President called Congress together
in special session and four days later war was declared. In
May Congress passed a draft act to provide an army by
means of a selective service. It was to be a war of the
American people, involving every community and family of
the entire LTnion. Every man liable to duty was to be
enrolled and every household was to have its share in the
opportunity to render glorious service for our country.
There was to be no discrimination between the sons of
those who defended under Lee and Jackson and of those
who made war under Sherman and Sheridan and Grant.
Governor Bickett being charged with the general super¬
vision of the draft in the State, on May 26, 1917, in words

PATRIOTISM IN ACTION

of burning patriotism proclaimed to the people that on
June 5 all men between 21 and 31 must register; but only
about one out of twelve of them was expected to be selected
by lot for the service. Registration boards were appointed
for every county and for the three towns numbering over
30,000 inhabitants. Four thousand men served as regis¬
trars of whom only seven asked for compensation. The
entire cost of registration was only fifty dollars, and it
turned out North Carolina registered more men than the
Government estimated it would according to population.
In addition to those drawn by lot for army service, the
National Guard was recruited to its full strength ; three
regiments and other battalions, all together 5,000 men; and
then all others between 21 and 45 in the counties were to
constitute the Home Guard. The total registrations in the
State were first and last, 480,901, of whom 142,505 were
colored ; and North Carolina furnished to the army 76,705
men and 272 officers.

The necessities now were men, money, food, fuel and
individual cooperative work. At Washington wisdom pre¬
vailed, and in North Carolina as in nearly every other state,
there was entire patriotic cooperation. There were boards
to draft men, committees to raise money to provide food
and fuel, and local councils of defense, and the Red Cross,
the Y. M. C. A., and other numerous welfare organizations
that worked in every hamlet. The entire people of the
whole State enlisted in the works of patriotism.

State activities

Joseph G. Brown and F. H. Fries directed the cam¬
paign for money. Henry A. Page headed the food ad¬
ministration; A. W. McAllister and R. C. Norfleet the
fuel supply, and D. H. Hill the council of defense. Each
of these organizations employed several thousand men and
women while in every county those who administered
the draft and others in every walk in life rendered in¬
valuable service without compensation. The entire popula¬
tion was a unit in service and no call was made in vain on
North Carolina. We contributed $160,000,000, gave $3,-

1261

1917

Registra¬

tion

Statement
R. B. House

1262

GOVERNOR BICKETT

000,000 to charity, enrolled 250,000 members in the Red
Cross, and manufactured 2,500,000 articles for the soldiers.
Large camps were established at Charlotte, Raleigh and
Fayetteville and others at Wilmington, Southport and More-
head, and at Wilmington the government operated the Caro¬
lina ship yards as a definite war industry. Thousands of
troop trains passed through the State and at every town
where the trains stopped the troops were served : while at
Asheville, Waynesville and Hendersonville and other points
in the mountains, hospitals were established, served by the
people in the vicinity.

The Kaiser had been informed that before the United
States could give any trouble the Allies would be conquered.
We had neither army nor adequate transportation. Now
not only was an army to be equipped and materials pro¬
vided, but vessels were to be obtained to transport the men
and munitions abroad. Had the measure to create a mer¬
chant marine advocated by Senator Simmons in 1908 been
then adopted, conditions would have been different : but as
it was the Government lacked transports, and the U-boats
infested the seas. But the people were equal to the emer¬
gency.

Our prodigious efforts resulted in having a trained army
ready very quickly. But in the meantime the destructive
U-boats were a great menace to transportation. Mr. Daniels
and the President met the situation with promptness, and
the Navy proved most efficient. At first, the German officers
and men gloried in their U-boat service, but soon our own
U-boats made their operations so hazardous that they had
no great desire for it. When in May, 1917, some troops
were ready to be transported, the convoy system was
adopted, the transports being accompanied by cruisers and
destroyers.

The convoy system

But to supply our deficiencies in transportation Great
Britain largely contributed. Convoy after convoy sailed,
and no American soldier lost his life when under naval
supervision.

TAR HEEL BRIGADE

1263

In August, 1917, a mine was invented which Mr. Daniels 1918
and the President urged should be used by the hundred
thousand in closing up the North Sea, and hemming in
the German destroyers. Eventually, with reluctance, the
British Admiralty agreed to cooperate: and on June 7,

1918, the American squadron planted a mine field 47 miles
long, with 3,400 mines in three hours and a half. That was
the beginning of this unparalleled enterprise. At length the
purpose was accomplished. The U-boats were measurably
closed in. These achievements are the world’s greatest
military acomplishments, and Mr. Daniels stands apart from
all other Secretaries of the Navy in being in a measure the
originator of the plans, and the administrator of the de¬
tails in their execution.

The North Carolina troops

On the return of the North Carolina brigade from El
Paso in August, 1917, the regiments proceeded to Camp
Sevier, Greenville, S. C. There companies of the First
Regiment were assigned to other organizations. The Sec¬
ond Regiment became- the 120th U. S. Infantry and the Third
Regiment became the 119th U. S. Infantry. Other men were
assigned to these regiments to fill them up, among them
companies of the First Regiment, and some from Tennessee
and other states; so that the 119th Regiment had about
1,800 North Carolinians, 900 from Tennessee and 700 from
Kentucky and the Northwestern States.

Our regiments

Likewise the 120th had accessions from the First North
Carolina National Guards and from Tennessee, Kentucky
and Indiana. These regiments, with the 105th Engineers
and 115th Machine Gun Battalion, formed the 60th Brigade,
commanded by Brig. Gen. Samson L. Faison, a North Caro¬
linian, and was known as “The Tar Heel Brigade,” which

' Histories

was assigned to the 30th Division, known as “The Old of the
Hickory.” The brigade was so efficiently trained that in 120th and
May it was ready for the field; and on May 8, the 119th

1264

GOVERNOR BICKETT

1918

Conway’s

119th

Regiment

Walker’s

120th

Regiment

reached Camp Merritt in New Jersey. There it was sep¬
arated into three parts, one going to Hoboken, one to Boston
and one to Philadelphia for embarkation. On the nth,
each embarked on a transport, and the transports sailed
for Halifax where a convoy was formed, sailing on May
16 for England. On the 27th the convoy safely reached
Liverpool, and the next day the 119th Regiment reached
Dover by rail, and on May 29 arrived at Calais.

Quickly following the 119th, the 120th Regiment pro¬
ceeded to Boston, and one division safely reaching Liver¬
pool and the other London, arrived at Calais on June 5, 1918.

On Tune 1 the 105th Engineers sailed from Halifax, and
later reached Calais safely.

While the 60th Brigade was a part of the 30th Division,
it was attached to the 33d British Division and presently
was assigned to the British Corps, and was hurried on to
the Ypres salient in Belgium, being the first American troops
to enter the Little Kingdom — the 119th being the first Amer¬
ican regiment to do so.

Our Division in France

When sufficiently trained the Division took over the
Canal sector of the Ypres salient. “The entire sector is a
ghastly monument to the tenacity and courage of the British
soldiers.” Lor four long years they held it against bitter
attacks by a determined enemy.

On the night of the 17th of August the 60th Brigade
relieved the 33d British Division, the 120th taking over
the left of the sector, the 119th taking over the right of it.
Not only had North Carolina its share in holding the
bloody salient, but in days of bitter fighting our regiments
proved their prowess, and on September 1 the 119th in a
successful advance took Voornezelle.

On September 5 the Division, including both the 119th
and 1 20th, was transferred to the 3d British Army, and
arrived at St. Pol on September 7, being the first time in
two months these troops were beyond the range of the
enemy’s artillery. Ten days later the troops were rftoved
to the Puncheville Area, but on September 22 the Division

HINDENBURG LINE BROKEN

1265

was transferred to the 4th British Army at Tincourt Area,
where it arrived two days later. Here the troops were
again under shell fire. They were distributed in sunken
roads, chalk cliffs, etc., throughout the vicinity of Rousel ;
and now began the final instruction for the coming opera¬
tion of a determined effort to break the Hindenburg Line
to be made September 29.

The HiII(lellbllrg• Line

The Hindenburg Line had been constructed by the Ger¬
mans as an impassable obstacle to the advance of the Allies
along their northwestern front. At this sector it consisted
first of three rows of heavy barbed wire very thickly woven,
each row from 30 to 40 feet in depth ; then three rows of
trenches ; then the St. Quentin Canal tunnel, 6,000 yards
under ground, and at some places near 200 feet below the
surface, and so wide and high as with its connecting tun¬
nels to form a great subterranean defense, with barges on
the canal capable of bearing a division of troops ; lighted
by electricity, and with every accessory that German skill
and foresight could devise. And there were concrete tun¬
nels running from this secure reservation to Bellicourt
above, and to the trenches. In preparation of defense
human ingenuity had been exhausted.

To break the Hindenburg Line at that point would sep¬
arate the German forces and destroy their system of defense.
Many fruitless attacks had been repulsed. Now another
was to be made by the British Army ; and the 30th Division
was to attack the center. The two North Carolina regiments
were to make the assault, with the 46th British on their
right and the 27th American on the left; while the 117th
Infantry was to follow the advancing column.

Preliminary to the attack, for forty-eight hours, a con¬
tinuous bombardment of the enemy’s lines, and then at 5 150
on the morning of the 29th of September the barrage was
suddenly started ; the troops following. All was going well
when a dense fog enveloped the scene, and shut out the
vision. So well trained, however, were the North Caro-
80

1918

1266

GOVERNOR BICKETT

1918

The

Armistice
Nov. 11

linians that they continued to move forward doing their
work with precision and in an hour and a half the Hinden-
burg Line was carried. Four hours later Bellicourt, the
crowning fortress, was occupied. The North Carolina
Brigade was the first unit to penetrate the German line of
defense. Of the 120th Regiment it is said that it succeeded
in taking all of its objectives on time as planned. Captured
German officers, realizing the situation, now declared, “All
is lost.”

The brigade now was relieved, and the two North Caro¬
lina regiments on October i marched to Belleau west of
Teroune and eventually on the night of the 8th the brigade
was engaged in the attack on the Premont-Brancourt Line,
and the town of Bohain was taken, and on the morning of
the 9th they again pressed forward, and the men being
exhausted from their continuous fighting on the afternoon
of the 10th they were relieved. But a week later they were
in the movement at Rebeanville, reaching Ecaillen on the
19th and the Meringheim on the Somme Canal, having
driven the enemy five miles. On the morning of Novem¬
ber 11 when the 120th was engaged in preparing for an
assault the Armistice was announced. On November 17th
the 30th Division was transferred to the American Army
and moved farther south. On March 14, 1919, the 119th
arrived at St. Nazaire for embarkation and landed at
Charleston April 2. The 120th quickly followed; both go¬
ing to Camp Jackson. On March 31 the first embarkation
of the 105th Regiment was made at St. Nazaire, and early
in April the second followed and the regiment arrived at
Charleston.. On April 17 every man had received his dis¬
charge. The casualties were, 119th: 44 officers, 1,692 men;
1 20th: 57 officers, 1,757 men.

To keep the ranks filled, men from the draft districts of
North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee were from
time to time assigned to these regiments.

The officers

The field officers of the regiments were: The 119th: Col.
I. Van B. Metts, Lieut. Col. B. B. McCrosky, Maj. Graham

EFFICIENCY OF ENGINEERS

1267

K. Hobbs, Maj. John H. Manning, Maj. H. C. Bays. The
1 20th: Col. Sidney W. Minor, Lieut. Col. Don E. Scott,
Maj. James A. Leonard, Maj. Hilliard Comstock, Maj.
James W. Jenkins, Maj. Wentworth W. Pierce, Machine
Gun Battalion. The 105th: Col. Joseph Hyde Pratt, Lieut.
Col. Perrin C. Cothran, Maj. George W. Gillette, Maj.
George L. Lyerly.

As distinguished as were the conduct and service of the
119th and 120th regiments, and as remarkable were their
achievements these admirable soldiers had as worthy com¬
panions on the field of glory in the personnel of the 105th
Engineers. Of this last fine body of North Carolinians it
has been written : “The spirit with which both officers and
men entered into the work assigned them, no matter how
trying, or difficult, or dangerous ; and the very efficient man¬
ner in which you performed it, has caused the 105th Engi¬
neers to be recognized as one of the more, if not the most
efficient regiment of the American Expeditionary Forces.
Your work has led to such expressions as, ‘No officers or
men have shown as much interest in their work or done
more efficient work than the 105th Engineers.’ ”

The engineers

“The engineer train made a brilliant record in the engage¬
ments at Luneville and Baccarat sector, Chateau-Thierry,
St. Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne. They have won for
the State and themselves on the battle fields of France and
Belgium imperishable glory. Indeed, the troops from North
Carolina in every branch of the service have made a glorious
record in the World War for themselves and the State as
well. At Belleau Wood, Chateau-Thierry, Kemmel Hill,
Cambrai and St. Quentin on the Hindenburg Line, in the
St. Mihiel sector, in the Argonne Forest and wherever the
fighting was hardest, their patriotic devotion to duty and
their sacrifice for the liberty of mankind, marked them as
worthy sons of a noble ancestry. They fought and sacri¬
ficed and died as only heroes can fight and sacrifice and die.
Another chapter in the State’s record book of immortal deeds
has been written.”

Pratt’s

Engineers

Adjutant

General’s

report

1268

GOVERNOR BICKETT

Leonard B.
McLendon

Fletcher’s

Artillery

The artillery

In June, 1917, the War Department announced it would
accept a regiment of field artillery from this State. The
people responded, and 89 counties were represented when
the regiment was organized. The batteries were com¬
manded by Captains John H. Weddell, Wiley C. Rodman,
Leonard B. McLendon; by the end of June these companies
formed the First Battalion. Then came Captain Kenneth
M. Hardison, Baford F. Williams, Reed R. Merrimon, Col.
Albert L. Cox, Lieut. Col. S. C. Chambers, Major Thaddeus
G. Stem, Major Alfred M. Bulwinkle were appointed field
officers. Captains Matt H. Allen, A. L. Fletcher, E. E. B.
Boyce and W. T. Joyner and Dr. Claude L. Pridgen were
of the Stafif, with Chaplain B. R. Lacy, Jr.

On July 25, 1917, the regiment was called into active
service, and it went into training at Camp Sevier. It was
now the 113th Regiment, attached to the 55th Field Artillery
Brigade of the 30th Division, commanded by Gen. Gatley.
In April, 18 officers and 30 enlisted men were detailed to
go to France as “an advance school detachment.” On
May 19, the regiment broke camp for embarkation, at Camp
Mills, Long Island ; and on the 26th embarked on the
transport Armagh. The transports reached Liverpool safely
and on June 12 arrived at Havre, and training in the French
camp now began. General Shipton now succeeded General
Gatley.

On August 23, 1918, the brigade entrained for the front,
Colonel Cox being temporarily in command until it arrived
at Toul. Their first work was to launch the big all-Amer¬
ican drive on the St. Mihiel salient. It began at one o’clock
at night. More than two thousand American guns took
part in this mighty bombardment, the greatest in the history
of the world. In four hours they fired a million rounds
of ammunition, and at five o’clock the infantry entered the
trenches of the enemy. So swift was the action, that by
noon the soldiers had accomplished what was expected to
take ten days. Pershing, in general orders, said : “Not only
did you straighten a dangerous salient, capture 16,000 pris-

ARGONNE FOREST

1269

oners and 443 guns, but in 24 hours you were threatening
Metz.”

Then came Argonne. The 113th Field Artillery and Sept. 1918
other units of the 55th Brigade were ready, at the opening
of the great battle that was to smash the Hun’s strongest
defense and put a speedy end to the war. On September 23,
the regiment went into position on the north edge of the
Boside Esnes, but en route four men were wounded, and
three horses killed and others wounded. Difficult as had
been the work of supplying the batteries at St. Mihiel it
was doubly difficult at Argonne. At 2 a.m. on September 26,
the battle began. The regiment was supporting the 73d
Infantry Brigade of Ohio, the Ohioans showing the finest
pluck and daring. The progress of the first day was sur¬
prising; the Germans had been caught napping and the
Americans pressed their advantage. The new position of
the regiment was near Montfaucon, and there the resistance
stiffened. Six German divisions had arrived from the
British front, and the tide of battle ebbed and flowed; but
by the afternoon of the 27th the 113th was in Montfaucon.

Chaplain Lacy’s efficiency

Here Chaplain Lacy won glory. He was familiar with
German and well trained in artillery. They had captured
a complete German battery, with large quantities of am¬
munition ready for action, with German tables, maps, in¬
structions, etc. The battery was ready for action, except
the men. Lacy asked to be allowed to select gunners and
put the German guns into action. In a short time he had
the captured battery at work on the Germans. Montfaucon
was taken and retaken several times before the final victory.

The 113th fired 14,253 rounds in support of the Ohioans.

The 113th was now in the 63d Infantry Brigade, 32d Di- Argonne
vision, which spent six days in the Argonne. The fighting
was constant day and night. The daily expenditure was
about 5,719 rounds.

The horses of the regiment were now gone; out of 1,050
that went in at St. Mihiel on October 7, only 247 were

1270

GOVERNOR BICKETT

The Wild
Cat

Division

serviceable. The guns and other equipment were carried
to a new sector in trucks. The men likewise had suffered.
“It is impossible, ” says the historian of the regiment, “to
chronicle the many deeds of bravery of the officers and men
of the 113th. From the highest to the lowest every man
saw his duty clearly and did it/’

The importance of the battle of Argonne is difficult to
estimate. The objective was the Sedan-Mezceres railroad,
supplying the main German line. After 47 days of terrific
fighting the Americans reached Sedan. One hundred and
twenty thousand American troops, 2,417 guns, won the
long battle and put an end to the war. In it, the 113th
fired 23,557 rounds of ammunition. North Carolina’s record
was one of glory.

After other experiences, on January 5, the command was
ordered back from Luxemburg to the Toul area, and 011
March 6, they embarked on a transport at St. Nazaire and
reached Newport News March 18. The 113th served longer
at the front than any other North Carolina organization.
After August 23, it was without cessation within the range
of German artillery. Its record is remarkable.

It is with satisfaction that one records that General Tyson,
General Faison, H. L. Ferguson, Joseph Hyde Pratt, Col.
J. Van B. Metts, Col. Sidney W. Minor and Col. Albert L.
Cox were all decorated, winning honors for themselves and
the State: as well as did General Mclver of the 81st
Division.

The Eighty-first Division

In compliance with War Department instructions the 81st
Division was organized at Camp Jackson, S. C., in Sep¬
tember, 1917. This division was made up of National Army
drafts from North and South Carolina and Tennessee. The
Division remained in training at Camp Jackson until July,
1918. The first units embarked for overseas on July 30,
1918, and the last units arrived in France, via England,
on August 26, 1918. Upon arrival in France the Division
was ordered to the Tonnerre (Yonne) training area where
it remained in training until the middle of August. The

WILDCAT DIVISION

1271

Division then proceeded to the St. Die sector (Vosges)
where it held the line as a part of the 33d French Corps.
On October 19 the Division was relieved and ordered to
join the 1st Army for the Meuse- Argonne offensive. The
Division arrived in the Sommedieue sector early in Novem¬
ber and was attached to the 2d Colonial Corps (French)
as corps reserve. On November 6 it relieved the 35th
Division in this sector and on November 9 the Division at¬
tacked the German positions on the Woevre Plain, and was
in the line when the Armistice was signed.

On November 18 the Division moved to the vicinity of
Chatillon-Sur-Seine (Cote, D’or) and the Artillery Brigade
which had theretofore formed a part of the 8th Corps, re¬
joined the Division. On May 2d, the Division was placed
under the control of the C. G., S. O. S., for return to the
United States.

The commanding generals of this division were : Brig.
Gen. Charles H. Barth, August 25, 1917, to October 8, 1917;
Maj. Gen. Charles J. Bailey, October 8, 1917, to Novem¬
ber 11, 1918.

The insignia of this division is a silhouette of a wildcat
on a khaki circle. The color of the wildcat varies accord¬
ing to the different arms of the service.

During active operations the Division suffered the follow¬
ing losses: Killed, 250; wounded, . 801 ; 51 men taken
prisoner.

This Division captured the following from the enemy :
Five officers, 96 men, 44 machine guns. The Division ad¬
vanced five and one-half kilometers against resistance.

Nineteen Distinguished Service Crosses were awarded to
individuals of this Division up to March 8, 1919.

Indeed, the ‘‘Wildcat” Division became famous for its
exploits and achievements. It was composed of two bri¬
gades, one, the 161st under the heroic Brig. Gen. George
W. Mclver, a North Carolinian, was composed chiefly of
North Carolinians: the other was the i62d Brigade. .The
321st and 322d Infantry Regiments, 317th Machine Gun,
316th, 317th Artillery Regiments, 306th Sanitary Train
and 321st Ambulance Corps, were primarily North Carolina

1918

Official
Data War
Sept., 1919

1272

GOVERNOR BICKETT

units ; while large numbers of North Carolina men were
in the other units of the Division.

Daniels’s

services

Iii the JVavy

The first order issued for participation of American forces
in the World War was dated April 14, 1917, signed by
Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy. Four days after
war was declared, a conference in Washington between
Secretary Daniels and his aides with accredited naval rep¬
resentatives from Britain and France agreed upon the plans
of cooperation which were carried out successfully to the
end of the war.

Long before the declaration of war, in 1915, Secretary
Daniels had presented to Congress a program for the con¬
struction of new naval craft. Congress approved and such
progress had been made that when, in May, 1917, the com¬
mander of American destroyers at Queenstown was asked
when he would be ready to begin active campaign against
U-boats, responded, “We are ready now.” Work progressed
so rapidly that the Navy built hundreds of fighting ships ;
and over 200 other vessels were in the naval service before
hostilities ended. Nearly half a million men were trained.
The training and the organization of Naval Reserves, whose
enrollment proved invaluable when war came, was begun
under the direction of Captain, later Admiral, Victor Blue,
who was born in Richmond County, North Carolina.

Besides, this is to be observed, Secretary Daniels had
organized the Navy as an educational and industrial as well
as a fighting, institution. Legislation was also provided
whereby one hundred enlisted men annually could obtain
admission to the Naval Academy exactly as the appointees
of members of Congress. Hundreds of men from the
ranks were able to qualify as officers when the Navy was
sorely in need of a large increase in officers during the war.

The order prohibiting intoxicating liquors on any ship
or at* naval shore stations, which Mr. Daniels had issued
on June 1, 1914, opened the way for war prohibition which
was established when the United States entered the war.

DISTINGUISHED NAVAL SERVICE

1273

Daniels’s fine efficiency

The outstanding things done by the Navy, after its pre¬
paredness, were the transportation and safeguarding of
2,070,880 American troops to France, one-half in ships com¬
manded by naval officers. Not a single soldier in a ship
commanded by an American naval officer lost his life on
the way to France. The American Navy’s second great
contribution was building the barrage across the North
Sea where the hornets were shut up in their nests. It built
a pipe line across Scotland. It built and sent to France
guns with a range of 23 miles. It erected air stations
along all the coast of France, in Ireland and England; en¬
gaged in attacking the German U-boats and the U-boat
bases at Bruges, Zeebrugge and Ostend, and cooperated
with French and British air service.

Our North Carolina Navy officers

Five American dreadnaughts served in the North Sea
with the British fleet under the command of Admiral Rod-
man. Of these five, three were commanded by North Caro¬
linians, the Texas by Capt. Victor Blue of Richmond
County; the Florida by Capt. Thomas Washington of
Wayne County ; and the Delazvare by Capt. Archibald FI.
Scales of Guilford County. Later, when three additional
dreadnaughts were sent to Bantry Bay, one of them, the
Nevada, was commanded by Capt. Andrew T. Long of
Catawba County. All these officers were given Distin¬
guished Service Medals by the President, and decorated by
Britain and France, and were later promoted to the rank
of Rear Admiral. Three of them, Blue, Washington and
Long, served as Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, the
second most important position in the Navy Department.

From the beginning of the war chief dependence on the
part of the Allies as well as the American forces, was upon
oil sent over mainly from the ports of Tampico, Mexico,
and from Port Arthur, Texas. Success depended on this
supply which was threatened by German U-boats. Secre¬
tary Daniels organized a strong patrol force to guard the

The

Captains

1274

GOVERNOR BICKETT

Anderson

Cotten

waters from Key West to the Canal Zone, chiefly to protect
the oil supplies. The patrol was first placed under the
command of Admiral Henry B. Wilson. Afterwards Ad¬
miral Edwin A. Anderson of Wilmington, was given that
important command. All through his career And'erson
had been particularly distinguished for efficiency in service,
for training his command by strenuous practice to the
highest efficiency ; and to meet the novel conditions incident
to U-boats. He now perfected training for anti-submarine
warfare, and listening devices for locating and pursuing
submerged craft, and determining from air craft the vis¬
ibility of submarines, and was so successful as to have
excited the admiration of the famous electrician, Edison,
who was himself at Key West experimenting with listening
devices. Anderson’s contributions in this and other neces¬
sities of the situation were of great service during the war.
The Cuban Navy was put under his command, and he
was given the Distinguished Service Medal for “exception¬
ally meritorious service” and for “successful cooperation
with the Cuban Government.”

In 1919, he rendered such an exceptionally fine service at
the Charleston Navy Yard that he was called to Washing¬
ton as the president of a board for reorganization of the
Navy Department and its activities.

Early in the war Commander Lyman A. Cotten of Edge¬
combe County was placed in command of the barracks at
New London, Conn., for duty in connection with the fitting
out of submarine chasers. In May, 1918, he was in com¬
mand with headquarters at Liverpool, and also of 48 sub¬
marine chasers scouting for submarines with headquarters
at Plymouth. It was one of the three largest sub-chaser
detachments that served in foreign waters during the World
War. He was given the Distinguished Service Medal. He
was highly commended by Admiral W. S. Sims, his su¬
perior, who wrote of him in The Victory at Sea.

“Those boys can’t bring a ship across the ocean,” some¬
one remarked to Captain Cotten, who commanded the first
squadron of sub-chasers to arrive at Plymouth, after he
had related the story of one of these voyages.

CAPTAINS WHO WON PRAISE

1275

“Perhaps they can’t,” replied Captain Cotten, “but they
have.”

“It is impossible to overpraise the work of such men as
Lyman A. Cotten in ‘licking’ the splendid raw material into
shape. . . .”

“By June 30, 1918, two squadrons of American chasers,
comprising 36 boats, had assembled at Plymouth, under
the command of Captain Cotten. In company with a num¬
ber of British hunting units, Captain Cotten’s detachment
kept steadily at work from June 30th until the middle of
August, when it became necessary to send it elsewhere.

The historical fact is that not a single merchant ship was
sunk between Lizard Head and Start Point as long as these
sub-chasers were assisting in the operations.”

Captain Foote won distinction

Though not a single American ship carrying soldiers to
France was torpedoed on the way over, the President
Lincoln was torpedoed and sunk returning. Captain Percy
W. Foote of Wilkes County, was commander of the Presi¬
dent Lincoln. He was highly commended for his coolness
in saving a large number of the crew. On May 31, return¬
ing to America, while Captain Foote’s ship of war was Fo«te
steaming along five hundred miles from shore, at nine
o'clock terrific explosions from three torpedoes caused great
destruction. The ship was doomed from the first. Within
25 minutes, with her colors flying, the Lincoln went down.
Three officers and 23 men out of the 715 on board were
lost. “Your action and judgment under such trying con¬
ditions were in accord with the best tradition of the service,”
wrote Admiral Gleaves to the brave and efficient North
Carolina captain of the ship. Captain Foote had remained
aboard his ship until all the crew, except those killed in
the explosion had been given places on rafts. His spirit
inspired the crew and passengers. Awaiting aid until far
into the night the men kept up their spirit, singing, “Keep
the Home Fires Burning,” “Hail, Hail, the Gang’s All
Here,” and “Where Do We Go From Here, Boys?”

1276

GOVERNOR BICKETT

Scales

Bagley

Capt. Archibald H. Scales was the son of Junius Irving
Scales of Greensboro. While on duty in Asiatic waters in
1869, he landed with a company of sailors and protected
the life of the Emperor of Korea who had sought refuge
in the Russian legation. He served in the Spanish War
and was in the battle of Nipe Bay off Cuba. He was in
the operations of the grand fleet under Admiral Beatty in
the North Sea. Admiral Scales served after the war as Su¬
perintendent of the Naval Academy, one of the most impor¬
tant shore employments in the Navy, and then Admiral
Washington was made full Admiral in command of the Pa¬
cific Fleet.

Lieut. 0. F. Parrott

The only North Carolina officer afloat who lost his life
was George Fountain Parrott of Lenoir County, when the
captain of the Shazv sacrificed his own ship to save the big
troop ship Aquitania on October 9, 1918. The Aquitania
struck the destroyer and sliced her almost in two, passing
through her without even slowing speed, cutting off 90
feet of its bow, raked the whole length of her side. Sparks
ignited the oil, setting fire to the vessel. Fieutenant Parrott
was killed in the collision, a sacrifice, greatly lamented.

Commander D. W. Bagley was in command of the de¬
stroyer Jacob Jones when it was torpedoed and sunk, De¬
cember 16, 1917.

“Bagley’s handling of the situation after his ship was
torpedoed was everything I expected in the way of efficiency,
good judgment, courage and chivalrous action,” wrote Ad¬
miral Sims. For two days it was believed that Commander
Bagley had lost his life. He was the last man to leave his
ship. As he touched the water the depth bombs went off ;
he was stunned and picked up more dead than alive the
next day. His ship had formerly won commendation for
saving life off the New England Coast and off the Irish
Coast. The Distinguished Service Medal was awarded to
Captain Bagley. During the two days that Captain Bagley
was virtually given up as lost; it looked as if he had met
the fate of his older brother, Worth Bagley.

NAVAL VOLUNTEERS

1 277

In addition to those mentioned, there were from North
Carolina Surgeon General Edward R. Stitt, Captain Rufus
Z. Johnston and thirty-five commanders and lieutenant com¬
manders ; and Homer L. Ferguson, formerly of Waynes-
ville, a graduate of Annapolis, who had achieved a great
reputation as a naval constructor, should likewise be men¬
tioned for great service.

The naval reserve

Besides the men who went into the Army, there were
those who preferred life in the naval service. Before the
war there was the “Naval Militia,” but on August 29, 1916,
Congress created the National Naval Volunteers, providing
a naval reserve force. Both at the University and the
A. & E. College at Raleigh instruction was given in selected
naval subjects and young men were prepared to be officers
in the naval service. The State was divided into ten
districts and there were enlistments in every county. Bun¬
combe led the list with 347 and Wake and New Hanover
closely followed. Altogether there were 7,124, of whom
2,750 joined the regular Navy and 4,176 men and 190 fe¬
males went into the Naval Reserve. While there were 187
officers appointed from the State in the regular Navy, there
were 517 North Carolina officers in the Reserve.

Every county furnished a contingent of officers as well
as men. As an illustration — from New Hanover there
served as lieutenants Robert Caldwell, Ashley Curtis, W. M.
Atkinson and J. Lawrence Sprunt ; and as ensigns C. D.
Burris, John Murchison, Frank Andrews, Bernard O’Neal,
J. L. D. Sprunt, Alexander Sprunt, Harry Shaw, William
Shaw, Fleet Williams, Hugh Calder and W. Woolard. The
State throbbed with patriotic ardor and every community
furnished its quota of volunteers for perilous service and
sacrifice.

The Coast Guard during the war was under Navy orders,
and was then a part of the service. Among the many acts
of heroism performed by the Coast Guard that at Chica-
maeomico on August 18, 1918, deserves particular notice.

The Coast
Guard

1278

GOVERNOR BICKETT

1918

The Mirlo

“A very gallant action was that of the keeper and crew
of Coast Guard Station No. 179 at Chicamacomico, in res¬
cuing life under extraordinary circumstances following the
destruction of the steamship Mirlo, on August 16, 1918.
At 4 :30 p.m. the lookout reported seeing a great mass of
water shoot into the air. It seemed to cover the after por¬
tion of a steamer that was about seven miles away. At the
same time a quantity of smoke rose from the steamer. Fire
was seen, and heavy explosions were heard. The Coast
Guard boat went to the rescue. Five miles off shore they
met one of the ship’s boats with the captain and six men
in it, who informed them that the ship was a British tank
steamer and that she had been torpedoed. The Coast Guard
boat was headed for the burning mass of wreckage and oil.

“On arrival the sea was found to be covered with burn¬
ing oil and blazing gas for a hundred yards, with two masses
of flames about a hundred yards apart. In between these,
when the smoke cleared away a little, a lifeboat could be
seen, bottom up, with six men clinging to it. Heavy seas
washed over the boat.

“The Coast Guardsmen made their way through that in¬
ferno of smoke, thrashing wreckage and blazing oil. They
evaded the perils of floating debris, fire and wave. Lifting
the six men on board, all that survived of the sixteen who
had been in that lifeboat, the Coast Guard rescuers sought
the safety of clear water. Thirty-six men of the Mirlo
were rescued.”

The delegation

While North Carolinians were admirably performing their
duties at home and abroad, the delegation in Congress was
winning golden opinions for their patriotic and zealous work
and important services. In the House Claude Kitchin be¬
came the administration leader, and in the Senate Simmons

SERVICE OF SIMMONS

1279

and Overman were of great consequence.* Earlier, Mr.
Simmons had by his masterful handling of business become
a recognized leader. In 1912 being Chairman of the Finance
Committee, Simmons inserted in the House Tariff Bill
526 amendments, and although the bill then carried lower
duties than any other tariff bill ever passed except that of
1846, he so managed as to win even from the Republican
opponents on the floor of the Senate expressions of admira¬
tion ; in the matter of the Panama tolls, he secured action
that relieved President Wilson from great embarrassment ;
and similarly both Senator Overman and himself were con¬
stantly of particular service. During the war period, their
whole heart was in their work. Mr. Simmons devised the
great measures of finance necessary under the conditions.

In conference with Secretary McAdoo, the preliminary
measure was determined on to issue five billions of bonds,
lending three billions to the Allies, and Mr. Simmons an¬
nounced the purpose to utilize every resource to sustain the
Allies at home and in the field. On him devolved the high
duty of perfecting financial legislature to win the war and
he devoted every energy to the task and achieved a great
success.

He laid the burden of sustaining our government and
country in its hour of dire need 011 those who were the
most interested in the result — the men of property who were
making great profits incident to the war. The excess profit
tax, the tax on profits incident to the war in excess of what
had been usually earned annually before the war came on,
was virtually his creation.

The war was still on in the summer of 1918 when the
election of United States Senator was being considered by
the people, and at the election Simmons received . 143,524
votes to 93,697 given to his competitor, John M. Morehead.

*0n December 6, 1917, Senator Simmons presented to the University of
North Carolina the flag that floated over the Senate Chamber during that
session. “This flag was presented to Senator Simmons because of his patriotic
activities and particular connection with the great measures that passed during
the period it was in use, such as the War Risk Insurance Bill, the Liberty
Bond Bill, the two War Revenue Bills, and the very important and essential
Shipping Bill,” he having moulded these bills and secured their passage. He
presented this flag to the University as the head of the educational system of
the State.

I28o

GOVERNOR BICKETT

Brooks

Superin¬

tendent

Joyner retires

Dr. Joyner after seventeen years of service as Superin¬
tendent of Public Instruction during which the educational
system had been greatly advanced, now retired, and Gov¬
ernor Bickett appointed Dr. E. C. Brooks to succeed him.
When Joyner came in the average daily attendance was
about 300,000, and now it was near 500,000 ; the school
population, however, had naturally increased. Particular
efforts had been made and with great success to increase the
capacity and efficiency of the high schools, and the pupils
in the counties were receiving more thorough education than
ever before.

Dr. Brooks had had long service on educational lines and
in addition to unusual administrative abilities he was gifted
with the spirit of authorship, having contributed eight or ten
excellent productions to our meager supply of native litera¬
ture, the last being especially noteworthy, an account of how
the several states of South America established their inde¬
pendence.

Conditions in 1019

During the war millions of men were withdrawn from
their ordinary vocations, while the demand for supplies of
all kinds, ships, munitions, airplanes, implements, as well
as food and clothing, was almost beyond reasonable ex¬
pression. As the number of laborers had been diminished
the need of workmen had suddenly increased many fold.
There was a phenomenal increase in wages. There were
many opportunities for extravagant prices and unheard of
profits ; and values being the result of labor, as wages rose
and the cost of production increased, values went beyond
bounds. The dollar lost its former purchasing power.

In the State the effect was notable. While in 1916 the
value of the crops was double that of 1915, being $417,000,-
000 and in 1919 had risen to $683,000,000, yet the profits
of manufacturing had exceeded those of agriculture. There
was marvelous prosperity. But the appropriations for the

1. Josephus Daniels
4. Claude Kitchin

3. Furnifold M. Simmons

2. Lee S. Overman
5. Charles M. Stedman

FINANCE AND EDUCATION

1281

institutions were $2,750,000 short of the expenditures. The
problem of adjusting taxation and resources to expenditures
was pressing.

When the Assembly met in January, 1919, D. G. Brum-
mitt was chosen Speaker. Governor Bickett sent an ex¬
tended message dealing* with all matters involved. With
great pride he adverted to the "noble part North Carolina
had played in the inspiring drama of ideals in arms.”

Words did not fail him in his tribute to our soldiers: nor

in his portrayal of the duty of the State to the children :
nor on the subject of taxation. Already such material prog¬
ress had been made that Governor Bickett' in a message
said, “Every citizen is entitled to take pride in the wonder¬
ful growth of our State. The State now is a big family,
and the high cost of commodities makes it imperative to
increase salaries. . . . Lengthening the public school

terms and the increase of salaries call for an additional

revenue of two and a half millions.” He recommended a
scheme of increased taxation. He united with the Special
Tax Commission in recommending a budget of proposed
appropriations combined into one bill. He urged that the
Tax Commission should be directed to have all property
assessed at true value, and later he urged the “Income Tax
Amendment” which had been recommended by the Special
Tax Commissioners. The Assembly responded favorably
to his recommendations.

The Legislature, acting promptly, provided for the State
to cooperate with the Federal Government in regard to
hi ghways. It established a six-months term of school, and
raised the pay of the teachers from $45 to $65, and re¬
quired that all children under fourteen should attend the
entire term. It provided for schools for adult illiterates,
schools to promote agriculture, farm life, home economics,
and the vocational school, and required the examination of
the children and sanitary equipment. It provided also for
the textbooks to be used. In a word it regulated the entire
school system. It declared that children under sixteen

should not be held to be criminals, and established luvenile
81

1919

Bickett’s

message

Progressive

measures

1 282

GOVERNOR BICKETT

1919

Courts with jurisdiction over them. It ratified the prohibi¬
tion amendment and authorized the erection of a new agri¬
cultural building.

The Child Labor Law was modified so that “no child
under fourteen is to be employed in any manufacturing
establishment nor in any employment during school hours."
And “no child under sixteen shall be employed before 6
a.m. or after 9 p.m.,” and many other regulations pertain¬
ing to the employment of children were prescribed. In that
year also the Child Welfare Commission was created. The
State Board of Health had been created in 1877; and now
North Carolina, first of all the states, established the County
Health Department, cooperating with the State Board.

Revaluation

The Legislature provided for the revaluation and assess¬
ment of property on the basis of actual value ; and appointed
a State Revaluation Commission, and made an interesting
change in administration. The enlarged and varied inter¬
ests of the many instrumentalities of the State and the neces¬
sity of more intimate and exact information as to their
requirements and the sources of revenue led to the adop¬
tion of a State Budget Commission. It is composed of the
Governor, the chairman of the two finance committees and
the two appropriation committees and a member of the
minority party to be appointed by the Governor. This
Commission is to be furnished before every other Septem¬
ber from each State agency, except the Legislative, Exec¬
utive and Judicial Departments, their estimates of proposed
expenditures for the succeeding two years and from the State
Auditor all financial infonuation they should have for the
purpose of ascertaining the facts involved in the subject;
and they are to present to the Legislature a complete plan
of itemized expenditures and of the estimated revenues for
two years. By another act the Governor and Council were
authorized to fix salaries of clerks and employees in the sev¬
eral departments.

INDUSTRIAL GAINS

1283

The effect on labor

The extraordinary demand for labor at the North had led
thousands of negroes to remove from the South. While
a considerable number left North Carolina, their loss was
not as greatly felt as in some of the other states where the
crops suffered. Indeed, the negroes in North Carolina from
the beginning had but little cause for dissatisfaction and
generally appreciated that their treatment was better, per¬
haps, than elsewhere, and their progress and improvement
industrially and otherwise were marked. And so some of
the leading negroes in the State called their attention to
these considerations and the exodus from North Carolina
was not so noteworthy. After the war and the soldiers at
the North had returned, many negroes came back to the
South.

It is likewise to be mentioned that shortly after peace
there sprang up at the North and at the West, as well as
at the South, a secret organization attracting many hun¬
dred thousands, alleged to be based on “one hundred per Ku Klux
cent American,” commonly known as the “Ku Klux.” Their
influence was supposed to be against classes antagonistic
to American institutions and against lawlessness. While
there are many in the State they have not been in evidence
because of their activities.

New industries

As time passed the industries of the State had continued
to increase in numbers and importance and the use of
electricity had found such favor that in 1920 the daily
output” was 2,001,943 kilowatt hours; that by water-powers
was 1,943,900 of which 93 per cent was from electricity.

North Carolina had increased her spindles from four mil¬
lions in 1915 to five millions in 1920 and was the second
state in cotton manufacturing.

The population of Winston-Salem had increased since
1900 from 10,008 to 48,395; Charlotte from 18,091 to
46,238; Wilmington from 20,976 to 3 3,372; Raleigh from
1 3^43 t0 27T>76; Asheville from 14,691 to 28,504; Durham

1284

GOVERNOR BICKETT

from 6,679 to 21,719; while High Point, Gastonia and other
manufacturing towns had increased in still greater propor¬
tion. The urban population in which the State had been
so long deficient was now beginning to exert its influence
and impart a new phase to State life.

But the most substantial indication of the wonderful prog¬
ress that marked this period of marvelous prosperity was
the financial condition. In 1905 there were 209 State banks
with nine branches, their aggregate resources being $41,-
000,000. Ten years passed and in 1915 there were 420
mi „ . State banks, including 22 branch banks, and their resources
had risen to $92,348,000. Now in 1919, the resources of the
State banks aggregated $298,540,000, an increase of more
than $200,000,000 and in addition the National banks had
resource of $191,000,000.

The political campaign

In view of the election of Governor in 1920, Heriot Clark¬
son pressed the nomination of Cameron Morrison of Char¬
lotte, the two great points in his canvass being the enforce¬
ment of prohibition and the extension of good roads through¬
out the State.

At the Democratic primary, Morrison received 49,070,
and the Lieutenant Governor, O. Max Gardner, came within
a hundred of being the first choice, and Robert N. Page
was third, with 30,180 votes. There being a failure to
nominate, there was a second primary, Morrison receiving
70,353 and Gardner 61,073.

The commissions charged with revaluation having asses¬
sors in every county, eventually prepared a report, and the
committees of the two houses on constitutional amendments
and finance met and considered the same. Recommenda¬
tions being finally agreed on, the Governor convened the
Legislature in extra session in August, 1920.

Woman’s rights

At the North there had for many years been some agita¬
tion for “Woman’s Rights,” and in time women were given

WOMAN SUFFRAGE

1285

suffrage in some of the Northwestern States where their
influence had doubtless brought about beneficial legislation.
At length in 1913 an “Equal Suffrage Association” having
been formed in the State, a bill was introduced in the Legis¬
lature in conformity with their wishes ; but it met with no
favor. From time to time other efforts made were similarly
unsuccessful.

The Republicans were more favorable than the Democrats,
the effect in the Northern States being to largely increase
the relative Republican strength.

At length in 1918 the Republican State Convention de¬
clared for it, but the Democrats declined, although the
women had every organization they controlled urging ac¬
tion, and many Democrats favored the measure.

While the Assembly previously elected was in session,
the Woman's State League met in Raleigh, addresses being
made by William Jennings Bryan and others ; Miss Ger-
.trude Weil of Goldsboro was elected president, and Mrs.
Josephus Daniels, honorary president, but again their meas¬
ure was defeated.

The women fail

Among the many very active women were Mrs. T. Pal¬
mer Jerman, Miss Julia Alexander and Miss L. Exum
Clement, Miss Martha Haywood and Miss Nell Battle
Lewis. In the meantime in the Northern States the move¬
ment had grown to great proportions : many states had de¬
clared for “Equal Suffrage.” At length on June 5, 1919,
Congress finally passed a joint resolution submitting to the
states an amendment to the Constitution, that the right to
vote shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex.
There was, however, an “Anti-suffragist” party among the
women, while the newspapers in the State now were gen¬
erally favorable. When the Democratic State Convention
met in April, 1920, the two antagonistic woman’s associa¬
tions also attended.

The proposed amendment had now been ratified by so
many states that its adoption seemed certain, and the Repub-

Ang. 1919

April, 1920

1286

GOVERNOR BICKETT

1920

Aug. 1920

Ch. 16,
Extra
Session,-
1920

lican State Convention had, in anticipation of its becoming
operative, nominated Mrs. Mary Settle Sharpe as its can¬
didate for Superintendent of Public Instruction. There
was a hot contest in the Democratic Convention, one of the
champions of the women being Lieutenant-Governor O.
Max Gardner, and although Cameron Morrison was in the
opposition, the women won. The Convention inserted the
desired plank in its platform. That was in April, but in
August Governor Bickett convened in extra session the
members who had been elected in 1918 when the plank had
been rejected by the party. Governor Bickett at this ses¬
sion transmitted the proposed Nineteenth Amendment, that
“the right of citizens to vote shall not be denied or abridged
on account of sex.”

The Democratic party in its State platform had just en¬
dorsed it; the National Convention had asked it; President
Wilson and Governor Cox, the Democratic nominee, stood
for it, but on August 17, the Senate by a vote of 25 to 23
postponed the consideration of the measure to the regular
session, and then in the House of Representatives it was
“killed outright.”

Tlie amendment adopted

The Assembly would not ratify the amendment; but the
ratification of only one more state would give it validity and
the Tennessee Legislature was then in session considering
it. Efforts at Raleigh were made to influence adverse ac¬
tion at Nashville, but without avail. Tennessee ratified.

The North Carolina Assembly thereupon at once provided
for the registration and voting of females qualified for
suffrage. And under the State Constitution a voter could
hold any office in the State.

While according to women the coveted right of suffrage,
not theretofore enjoyed by them, was a change in social
and political life founded on broad views of “the rights of
man” and tending to the greater independence of females,
its political effect, it is expected, will be to greatly extend
the functions of government, bringing within its domain

1. Mrs. Mary C. Woody 2. Mrs. Mary Mendenhall Hobbs

3. Mrs. Lucy H. Robertson

4. Mrs. M. O. Van Landingham 5. Mrs. J. Eugene Reilley

REVALUATION

1287

many subjects not heretofore within the cognizance of the
public.

In this extension work the women of the State have been
quick to engage and they have sought to promote many
measures that would tend to improve the individual in every
sphere of life, but such work was not entirely new.

Among the foremost of those who devoted themselves
to the elevation and benefit of women were Mrs. Mary C.
Woody of the New Garden School, now Guilford College,
who for many years as President of the Women’s Christian
Temperance Union traveled throughout the State, organ¬
izing chapters and influencing legislation ; and Mrs. Mary
Mendenhall Hobbs, who, in addition, was the originator
of the movement to open opportunities to poorer girls of the
State, inspiring Dr. Mclver to undertake that work.

And mention is made of the lifetime service rendered by
Mrs. Lucy H. Robertson to Christian education, leading to
her election as President of the Greensboro College, being
the first woman college president in the South. Likewise,
Mrs. John Van Landingham rendered great pioneer service
in organizing patriotic movements and literary clubs, ever
stimulating the cultural development of women. Similarly,
Mrs. Eugene Reilley of Charlotte is a notable example of
effective service for the benefit of women and social eleva¬
tion, her unremitting activities having the full sympathies
of her associates.

The extra session

By the report on revaluation the value of all property
listed in 1920 was $3,139,000,000, while that listed the year
before was only $1,099,000,000. The Governor mentioned
to the Assembly when it met in August that “the dollar
we receive and the dollar we pay is relatively worth about
forty cents.” The result of the consideration of the entire
situation was the adoption of the measures recommended by
the Governor, and an entire change in the plan of ordinary
administration. In substitution for the proposed amend¬
ments to the Constitution at the former session amendments

Revalua¬

tion

1288

GOVERNOR BICKETT

now were submitted to the popular vote by which the limit
of State and county taxes on property for general expenses
was reduced to fifteen cents : that on net incomes increased
to six per cent : payment of the poll tax as a requisite for
voting was abolished, and necessary residence in the State
reduced to one year, and in the precinct to four months.
These proposed amendments were adopted by the people
at the November election : and the policy was inaugurated
of no tax on property for State purposes.

The Legislature authorized the Treasurer to renew the
$2,750,000 bonds issued to make up the existing deficit : and
further, when so directed by the Governor and Council, he
was to issue bonds and borrow money to pay any expenses
of the State institutions not covered by the appropriations,
and the Budget System was still further perfected.

Women vote

When the session closed a very warm canvass ensued.
Morrison particularly made a great and earnest campaign.
The voters in the State had been doubled, with a corre¬
sponding increase in the Democratic majority. At the elec¬
tion the vote for Morrison was 397,151 and for John J.
Parker, the Republican candidate, 230,175. This was the
beginning of woman suffrage in the State.

President Wilson, having maintained peace had in 1916,
received 9,116,298 votes; and the Republican vote was 8,-
547,474; but at the election of 1920 Governor Cox of Ohio,
the Democratic nominee, received 8,894,880, and Governor
Harding, the Republican candidate, received 15,999,780.

Thus the period of Bickett’s administration is memorable
for the changes in the system of taxation ; the introduction
of the budget system ; for the extension of the functions of
government, the great impulse given to higher education ;
for its prosperity and increase in manufacturing; for the
World War and for the admission of women to suffrage.
This last it was expected would bring with it very interest¬
ing changes in the life of the people, imparting a new tone
to public affairs, and perhaps leading to some new conditions
in domestic life.

CHAPTER LXXVI

Morrison Governor

Morrison Governor. — The new Assembly. — The inauguration. —
Morrison strong on highways. — The great program. — The new
conditions. — Permanent improvements. — The large appropri¬
ations. — The departments enlarged. — The Special Session. — The
busy year. — The highways. — The women. — Constitutional changes.
— The fire at New Bern. — The deficit. — Inland waterways. — Port
terminals. — The Cape Fear and Yadkin Railroad. — Proposed
amendments to Constitution. — Death of Bickett. — Bryan Grimes.
— The Washington Statue. — Admiral Anderson. — Washington. —
Cotton. — Favorable conditions.

The new Assembly

When the members of the Assembly met January 5, 1921,
H. P. Grier of Iredell was elected Speaker, there being only
25 votes given for H. I. Williams, the nominee of the Re¬
publicans : and the Senate was called to order by Lieutenant-
Governor O. Max Gardner who retired on the 12th, being
succeeded as President by Lieutenant-Governor W. B.
Cooper.

On the day succeeding the organization Governor Bickett
delivered his final message in joint session. The Governor
said, ‘‘I certify to all the generations that the one stupen¬
dous, immortal thing connected with this administration is
the magnificent part North Carolina played in the last war.
Everything done in the field of taxation; of education, of
agriculture, of mercy to the fallen, of the physical and
social regeneration of our people, all is but a snow flake
in the presence of the majestic and glorified presence of the
80,000 men who plunged into the bloody tide of war.”

The Governor urgently brought to the attention of the
Assembly the report of the commission appointed to con¬
sider what could be done to better the condition of the
colored portion of the citizens. They had recommended
the establishment of a sanatorium and of a reformatory,
and urged a more liberal system of teacher training, and

1921

The War

1290

MORRISON GOVERNOR

Morrison

Governor

that equal accommodations should be provided them on the
trains. The Budget Commission had concurred in those
recommendations, and had made provisions for them in its
report.

Highways

The election returns having been canvassed, on the nth,
the members of the two houses met in the rotunda and
proceeded to the City Auditorium to attend the inaugural
ceremonies. There the Lieutenant-Governor and the State
officers were sworn in by Justice Walker, and Mr. Morrison
was sworn in by Chief Justice Clark. Governor Morrison's
inaugural was pronounced. He declared his views of con¬
tinued progress with emphasis. Education and every other
material interest of the people were to be advanced, but he
particularly laid stress on the highways. He urged with great
force his plan, involving an outlay at first of $50,000,000
and otherwise gave evidence that the past was behind and
the future was for the State to grasp.

The Assembly was much in accord with the progressive
spirit of the Governor. Already there was a State Highway
Commission, Frank Page being the Commissioner. To
carry out the Governor’s purposes R. O. Everett intro¬
duced the first bill, and it was followed by one presented
by R. A. Doughton and H. G. Connor, Jr., and then one
by S. O. Maguire and a fourth by Peyton McSwain. Mr.
Bowie for the Committee reported a substitute for all which
passed the House. Then the Senate likewise passed a sub¬
stitute. The final measure was much in line with the
views of Governor Morrison.

Frank Page was continued in as the Commissioner, and
each of the road districts was to have a representative on
the Board. The plan called for 5,500 miles of hard-surface
roads, connecting county seats and important towns, and
bonds to the amount of $50,000,000 were authorized, $10,-
000,000 a year, and provision was made to pay the interest
and principal. A tax was laid on license to use a motor,
and a tax was to be paid on each gallon of gasoline sold. The

RISING TIDE OF EDUCATION

1291

plan was well devised. Those who used the roads were to
pay for them. In June, 1918, the total number of auto¬
mobiles licensed was 62,077; the following year 17,500 new
licenses were issued, and in 1920 43,500 additional licenses,
and the taxes for registration had risen to $1,776,497.

New conditions

Another indication of prosperity was the great number
of new corporations formed in the two years ending Novem¬
ber, 1920, 2,877, being a great increase over any former
year; and in the same period there were 194 new banks
chartered, averaging two for each county.

As if in sympathy with this changed condition, there had
been an increase of 1,785 teachers in the State, the number
being 16,854, an average of 168 to a county. In the white
schools there were 502 male and 705 female teachers. The
cost of the schools for the year 1919 was $5,112,871, and
the next year it was $8,445,699 ; while for new schoolhouses,
the additional cost in 1920 was $2,645,515. Indeed, the
total expenditure for education in 1920 ran up to $12,214,258,
being an increase of 80 per cent over that of 1919.

On the same line the enrollment in the schools had risen
to 691,249 showing an increase of 99,762 over the previous
year, the addition in the rural districts being 75,098. The
average length of term for the white schools was nearly
seven months ; among the colored there were similarly large
increases.

Great efforts had been made in the high schools, the effect
being apparent, for the enrollment at the University under
the progressive administration of the lamented Dr. Graham
had risen to 1,156; and now in one year it rose to 1,425,
excluding the summer schools.

Notwithstanding the exodus of the negroes, the census
showed an increase in population of seventeen per cent, and
particularly had the urban residents increased, as the natural
result of establishing industries and building factories. The
population of 450 places were stated separately in the census
returns, Winston-Salem leading with 48,395 and Charlotte

1921

Expansion

1292

MORRISON GOVERNOR

Bonds

issued

following close with 46,258. The population of a dozen
towns aggregating in 1910, 159,496 had in the decade risen
to 292,208, while the proportionate increase in many of the
smaller towns was still more.

Permanent improvements

Under the stimulus of these new conditions, realizing the’
great prosperity that had at length rewarded the industry
of the people, and finding the boys knocking at the doors of
the University and colleges, and that the girls were flocking
to the other seminaries and that the charitable institutions
were crowded, the Assembly now entered on a scheme of
permanent improvement of remarkable scope. It planned
to issue bonds to the amount of $20,000,000 for that purpose.
Such a debt for such a purpose had never before been con¬
templated. The issue was to extend through three biennial
periods, the sole use of the funds being for buildings and
construction. The Assembly began by authorizing the sale
of $6,745,000 of bonds, one-half to be for the year 1921,
and the other for 1922. Of this appropriation, the Univer¬
sity, the State College and the Woman’s College were to
have $2,965,000; the hospitals $1,366,000 and the other
schools the residue. The State Building Commission was
to have charge of the construction.

But if the State institutions needed enlargement so did
the high schools and other county schools, and the Treasurer
was authorized to issue $5,000,000 of bonds to lend to the
counties to build school houses. And to provide for cur¬
rent expenditures the Assembly was equally liberal. For
the fiscal year 1921, and substantially the same for 1922, the
Assembly made appropriations for 35 different objects con¬
nected with the State institutions, amounting to $4,437,000,
of which $1,000,000 was for the soldiers’ pensions; $445,-
000 for the maintenance of the University; $275,000 for the
State College; $270,000 for the Woman’s Normal College.
In case the revenue should not suffice, in order to guard
against any deficit, the Governor and Council were author¬
ized to abate pro rata all appropriations over $50,000.

EMERGENCY MEASURES

1293

The activities of the departments were now much ex¬
tended. There were 18 different divisions of work in the
Agricultural Department, four under the Corporation Com¬
mission, one being the Tax Department and another the
Supervision of Banks, and eight divisions under the State
Board of Health. The Automobile License Department was
under the Secretary of State, and all the other departments
were functioning.

Special session of December

It happened that the 13 cent tax imposed for the public
schools did not meet the requirements by $710,000, and so
an occasion arose that called for a special session. Under
the circumstances an extra session was convened Decem¬
ber 6, 1921, at which the State Treasurer was authorized
with the advice of the Council of State to borrow $710,000
to meet the deficit. ' The Assembly also ratified the sale of
$4,200,000 road bonds issued under an act of the previous
session, and of $3,372,000 of improvement bonds for the
institutions, and it validated the tax rate levied for the six
months term of schools. It likewise provided for a com¬
mission of five members to consider and report on the re¬
quirements in relation to raising an equalization fund for
educational purposes.

The name of the East Carolina Training School was
changed to East Carolina Teachers College. The practice
in proceedings in civil cases was still further perfected, and
provision was made for the retirement of judges at the
age of seventy years, at two-thirds of their compensation,
such retired judges being liable to be appointed emergency
judges to hold special courts.

So closed the notable year of 1921, remarkable for the
authorization of debt for good roads and new buildings to
the amount of $75,000,000 and marking a turning point in
the history of the State.

1921

Judges to
retire

1294

MORRISON GOVERNOR

1922 •

Mrs.

Vanderbilt

Amendments

adopted

The busy year

The year 1922 was a busy one in North Carolina. In
addition to the several avocations, highways were now be¬
ing rushed to completion, and at all the institutions build¬
ings were being constructed, factories were being built, and
the towns were increasing in population and thousands of
new homes were being erected in the outlying suburbs.
The whole State was a hive of industry.

The new methods of administration instituted by the
Legislature were in operation and the people were adapt¬
ing themselves to the new regulations ; no State land tax,
but an income tax : and the schools continuing to grow.

The most spectacular operations were on the highways
that rejoiced the multitude who used automobiles. By Sep¬
tember, 684 miles had been completed, costing ten million
dollars, and 660 miles were in progress, the total cost be¬
ing over twenty million dollars. One of the most marked
undertakings was the construction of the Williamston cause¬
way, almost four miles in length and costing over half a
million dollars.

With the Budget System, the Department of Revenue,
the Board of Equalization, the extension of the State func¬
tions in many directions and the overflow of the banks with
deposits and resources, the change was notable, and then
in addition the women were now in evidence.

Mrs. Edith Vanderbilt, the mistress of Biltmore, of fine
capacity and administrative ability, and much interested in
matters pertaining to agriculture and farm life and indus¬
tries, was now the President of the State Fair ; and women
were in some high public offices supervising public affairs
and concerned with government. Some were offering for
county offices, and others were concerned in broader inter¬
ests. One was in the Senate of 1921.

At the election in November, the proposed amendments
to the Constitution were adopted — allowing an increase in
the rate of taxation on incomes, and limiting the poll tax,
and also limiting the property tax by the State to five cents,
and the total of the State and county tax to thirteen cents,

NEW BERN FIRE SWEPT

1295

abolishing the requirement of payment of poll tax as a
prerequisite for voting, and changing the requirement of
residence to one year in the State and four months in the
precinct.

Tlie fire at New Bern

On December 1, 1922 a disastrous fire occurred at New
Bern. Forty blocks of the city were erased, a thousand
buildings were destroyed, thirty-five hundred persons, the
majority being colored people, out of a total population of
twelve thousand were left homeless, and fifteen hundred
were thrown out of their regular employment, while the
property loss was estimated at $2,250,000. Seldom has such
a deplorable calamity befallen a community of the State,
and it aroused the sympathy of the people. Governor Mor¬
rison issued an appeal for relief which was answered by
donations from the State to the amount of $60,000, from
other states, $12,000 contributed by Virginia and New York,
Georgia, New Jersey and the New England States. The
American Red Cross on request took charge of the relief.
Tents were supplied from Camp Bragg, and special trains
brought supplies. No one went hungry or was without
shelter. A tent city was quickly erected on ten acres,
covered by 325 tents, with wooden floors and wooden walls
lined with roofing paper.

At first 6,000 free meals were furnished daily. An em¬
ployment bureau was at once opened and presently every
one was at work; 1,847 persons were placed in employment,
and soon most of the suffering was only a memory.

Tlie deficit

At the session, January, 1923, John G. Dawson of Lenoir
was chosen Speaker and the members were in sympathy
with the enthusiastic spirit of Governor Morrison at the
tremendous strides the State was making in every line of
progress. Public spirit ran high and “forward” was on
every lip. But presently Mr. Maxwell of the Corporation

1296

MORRISON GOVERNOR

1923

Insufficient

receipts

Commission pointed out that again there was a deficit in
the Treasury.

Incident to the financial arrangements the time for pay¬
ing certain taxes had been changed, so that while the As¬
sembly was in session it appeared to some that the expendi¬
tures had considerably exceeded the receipts, while others
contended that when the taxes should come in there would
be no deficit. A great controversy arose over the condition
of the State Treasury, 'with the effect of dampening the
ardor of members who were willing even to increase ap¬
propriations. The Finance and Appropriation Committees
were directed to investigate the condition of the Treasury,
with authority to appoint subcommittees clothed with power
to swear witnesses and punish for contempt and to employ
experts without limit of cost. Auditors were brought from
New York, but at the end of a long and costly examination
they made a report that left the matter much in doubt. Ap¬
parently they were as much at sea as the State Treasurer
himself. The general feeling was that the need for en-
largement of State functions and to supply proper facilities
in every branch of State activity was the object of first
consequence and that there should be no failure to meet
the conditions. Indeed, the requirement of continuing the
appropriations was so obvious that the Assembly could
not willingly make reductions. However, the Governor and
Council were authorized to reduce pro rata the appropria¬
tions should the necessity arise. Later it turned out that
the expenditures, outside the highway construction and per¬
manent improvement, were considerably beyond the revenue.

Inland waterways

The prospect of an inland waterway along the entire
coast was developed years ago, among its particular ad¬
vocates being John H. Small who for several terms repre¬
sented the Pamlico District in Congress. The link from
Norfolk, Ya., to Beaufort was opened for commerce, and
the purpose is to reach to the Cape Fear River.

The Cape Fear River below Wilmington has been so im¬
proved that 26 feet is the depth of the water, and above

WATER PROJECT FAIRS

1297

Wilmington some dams have been erected with the pros¬
pect of obtaining eight feet of water to Fayetteville, but the
entire project has not been completed.

In all the work of river and harbor improvement, Mr.
Simmons, who has long been an active member of the
Senate Committee of Commerce, has been most influential.

Fort terminals

The State had long suffered from discriminating railroad
rates. As a remedy Governor Morrison proposed water
transportation, and urged that the State should erect port
terminals and establish lines of steamships. The proposition
was much discussed and at the Governor’s instance a meas¬
ure to create a Port Commission to provide a system of
terminals and water transportation upon the rivers and
sounds in aid of lower rates, was submitted to the pop¬
ular vote, the proposed outlay being some six millions of
dollars. It was considered by some that the measure would
be ineffective for the object in view, and it failed by a vote
of 183,913 against it, only 126,820 being favorable.

The Yadkin Talley railroad

The Cape Fear and Yadkin Railroad under an act passed
in 1883 had extended its line to Wilmington and to Mount
Airy. Under a decree of the United States District Court
the road was sold in January, 1899, and bought by some of
the officers of the Atlantic Coast Line and at their request
the deed was executed to the Atlantic and Yadkin Railroad
Company, incorporated a month after the sale. Then in
May the Atlantic and Yadkin sold from Sanford east to
the Atlantic Coast Line, and the Southern all the residue.

Eventually in 1923, the Legislature directed the Attorney
General to institute actions to dissolve the illegal dismem¬
berment. When the action on appeal reached the Supreme
Court in 1924, the Court held there was no cause of action.

With regard to interior commerce it has been observed
that the eight great states from Ohio westward supply
82

1298

MORRISON GOVERNOR

1923

North Carolina very largely with manufactured articles,
while our return to these states is very limited, our produc¬
tions finding a market elsewhere.

Among the acts of the session of 1923 was one conform¬
ing the State Law to the Volstead Act of Congress, pro¬
hibiting the possession of and transportation of spirituous
liquors except as authorized.

Under an act of this session the State College is to have
60 directors, three to be from each congressional district;
and the Superintendent of Education at the head, a course
of Americanism is to be taught in the public schools ; and
municipalities are authorized to establish play grounds.

Constitutional amendments

Amendments to the Constitution were proposed, provid¬
ing for the inviolability of the sinking fund, and in regard
to exempting from taxation the homes, homesteads and
notes and mortgage liens on the same.

And likewise there was to be submitted to the popular
vote a proposition to provide a fund of two million dollars
to be lent to veterans of the World War for the purpose
of building homes.

Among other acts was one to establish a highway to
the grave of Anne Carter Lee, General Lee having on his
visit in 1870 expressed a wish that her body remain “in the
tender care of North Carolina’s Patriotic Citizens.”

Death of Governor Blekett

Governor Bickett unhappily passed away on the 28th of
December, 1922, greatly lamented. On the 28th of Feb¬
ruary, 1923, being the anniversary of his birthday, by a joint
resolution, the General Assembly at high noon suspended
business and stood silent for one minute ; and then later
passed a resolution that Governor Bickett -had “served the
State with such unusual fidelity, efficiency and ability and
won and merited the love, esteem and gratitude of all whom
he served” ; that the Assembly, to give recognition to the

WASHINGTON IN MARBLE

1299

passing away of one of the State’s most loyal sons and 1923
distinguished governors, does now adjourn.

Death of Grimes

Col. John Bryan Grimes, a son of Gen. Bryan Grimes, •
elected Secretary of State in 1900, and constantly reelected,
died January 11, 1923, and five days later, Governor Mor¬
rison appointed to the vacant office William Nash Everett
of Richmond County, then in the Senate, who has since
been reelected as Secretary of State.

In January, 1923, A. D. Watts, appointed in May, 1921,
resigned as Commissioner of Revenue, and Rufus A.
Doughton, who had long been one of the most esteemed
public men, and had been Lieutenant-Governor of the State,
was appointed to the vacancy.

Statue of Washington

During the session of 1923, the author suggested that
the State should seek to have the destroyed statue of Wash¬
ington duplicated, and R. O. Everett, the distinguished mem¬
ber from Durham, at once introduced a resolution for the ap¬
pointment of a commission to examine and report on the
proposition. The commission appointed was composed of
R. O. Everett, R. D. W. Connor and R. W. Simpson of
Gates. This commission having made a favorable report,
the Assembly of 1925 passed a resolution authorizing the
undertaking, and appointed Governor A. W. McLean,

R. D. W. Connor, W. N. Everett, R. O. Everett and Walter
Woodson to raise the funds for the restoration.

North Carolina Navy officers

In 1923 Rear Admiral Anderson of Wilmington was as¬
signed to command the European Squadron, but in the
same year was transferred to the command of the Asiatic
Squadron with the title of Commander-in-Chief, and the full
rank of Admiral of the Navy. He found the vessels of
that squadron only ordinarily efficient. Towards the end
of his term of command that fleet stood the highest in all

1300

MORRISON GOVERNOR

Captain

Cotten

forms of gunnery and other exercises and its morale and
spirit were most excellent. In September, 1923, the most
terrible earthquake in the history of the world destroyed
Yokohama and the towns within thirty-five miles of that
city. Anderson was in China, but without waiting for
orders he immediately bought up all the food, clothing and
supplies available in China and the Philippines, and dis¬
patched a division of destroyers to carry relief, and he put
the whole squadron at the service of Japan.

His services in that time of famine and suffering and
human woe were perhaps the greatest ever rendered by a
mortal man in the cause of humanity. For three weeks
Anderson and the Navy rendered continuous service. “I
am so proud of the Navy and the spirit of service, of
officers and sailors which never flagged for three weeks,”
General McCoy, who was -in charge of the Army relief ac¬
tivities, wrote to the Secretary of War. And the Navy De¬
partment and all praised Anderson as he deserved.

And Anderson’s unparalleled service was fully appreciated
by the Japanese and their government and indeed through¬
out the world.

On October 11, 1924, his term having expired he relin¬
quished the command to Admiral Thomas Washington, a
son of James A. Washington of Goldsboro, who had like¬
wise had a distinguished career in the service, and had
served in the West India Campaign, Philippine Campaign,
and Nicaraguan Campaign, and now is Commander-in-Chief
and full Admiral in the naval service. And in June, 1925,
Admiral Washington rendered distinguished service on the
occasion of riots against foreigners in China.

So likewise Capt. Lyman Cotten of Edgecombe County,
even aside from his services during the World War,
had had a distinguished career. For service in the Spanish-
American War he was awarded the Spanish Campaign
Medal, and the next year the Philippine Campaign Medal.
He served at the Boxer Rebellion and was awarded the
China Campaign Medal. In 1910 he was award Honor¬
able Mention by the Naval Institute for a study on the
naval strategy in the Russo-Japanese War; and then for

FACTORY OUTPUT

1301

three years he was the naval attache at the American
Embassy at Tokio. A year later he was awarded the Mex¬
ican Service Medal, and again the Naval Institute recognized
his fine merit and awarded him a gold medal for a study on
“Commerce Destroying in War.” Then came his great
service in the World War, when in addition to the Dis¬
tinguished Service Medal he received the Victory Medal.
Later he rendered fine service of particular importance as
Chief of Staff .to Admiral Bristol, the American High Com¬
missioner in Turkey, and in 1922 he was again assigned to
serve at Tokio. His last interesting service was accompany¬
ing the “Round the World” flyers from the Orkneys, Ice¬
land, Greenland and Labrador to Boston. During the flight
from Iceland to Greenland the Italian plane came down in
a fog, but after a search of more than three days Captain
Cotten found and rescued the Italians and the Italian Gov¬
ernment offered him a particular decoration. Captain Cot-
ten has written many naval songs and many magazine
articles.

Prosperous conditions

Conditions within the State continued favorable. Indus¬
tries were very remunerative. The biennial census of man¬
ufacturing for the year 1923 showed that the value of the
products of the 2,670 manufacturing establishments in the
State aggregated $951,000,000, being an increase of 43 per
cent over the products of 1921, while the wage-earners in
these establishments had risen in two years from 135,000 to
173,000, and their wages from $94,000,000 to $127,000,000.
There had been a gratifying increase in all the various kinds
of plants, especially in furniture, lumber, and cotton goods.
Agriculture likewise had so improved that the farmers of
North Carolina spent $2,800,000 for fertilizers, and there
were 62 manufactories of fertilizers in the State. The
value of North Carolina crops increased from $131,072,000
in 1919 to $431,500,000 in 1925.

CHAPTER LXXVII

1924

The State’s Industries

The cotton mills. — Electricity. — Duke’s industries. — The cotton
mill villages. — The Erwin mills. — Modern advantages. — Badin. —
Roanoke Rapids. — Mount Airy. — Cooperative Associations. — Activ¬
ities of the Department of Agriculture. — The farm clubs. — Soil
improvement. — The high schools. — The highways. — New State
works. — The system. — The great bridges. — The rapid progress. —
New inlet opened. — But again closed. — Hatteras. — The women
active. — They enter the professions. — Become legislators. — Office
holders. — Mrs. Jerman. — Miss Fries. — The State in Congress. —
Notable changes. — The railroads. — Camp Bragg. — Southern Pines.
— Death of Chief Justice Clark. — Dr. D. H. Hill. — James Sprunt. —
Winston-Salem. — Charlotte. — Greensboro. — Wilmington. — The Ne¬
gro population. — Political movements. — The Extra iSession. — Ref-
erendums. — McLean elected Governor. — The Democratic Waterloo
in the presidential election. — Court changes. — Judge Connor. —
Morrison’s administration.

When the year 1924 opened North Carolina had already
made such progress as to attract wide attention. An Amer¬
ican traveling in Holland was asked where he was from ;
the American being from Alabama, the comment was,
‘‘How far from North Carolina? I know about North Caro¬
lina, the land of cotton mills and good roads.”

The cotton mills, indeed, have multiplied and now num¬
ber 390, and while many are small, yet there are some
making the largest productions in several lines. And so in
some other lines of manufacturing, for in furniture and
tobacco especially, North Carolina holds an enviable record.
And in addition she is now taking a high stand in the
matter of education.

Of the 390 cotton mills, one produces goods of the value
of $10,000,000, others of the value of eight, six and five
millions : five more than four millions, seven more than three
millions, and so on. Gaston County has 81 factories, with
a capital of $33,000,000; while Alamance and Cleveland each
have twenty.

HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER

1303

There are besides 13 1 knitting mills, the product of one
being valued at $3,000,000, that of another $2,000,000 and
so on. In the cotton, woolen and silk mills there are em¬
ployed 48,609 men, 30,347 women and 4,772 children, all
over fourteen years of age.

Then in other lines, there are 99 furniture factories, 27
being at High Point. Three of these have an output of
more than $3,000,000 and eight of more than $1,000,000.

While there are but 17 tobacco factories, one of these at
Winston-Salem has a capital of $100,000,000 and gives em¬
ployment to 11,176 wage-earners.

There are besides 1,735 miscellaneous factories.

Development of electricity

Doubtless much is due to the introduction of electricity
as power. While Fries led the way, Duke’s Southern Power
Company continued to multiply its dams not only in this
State, but in South Carolina : and a system has been inaugu¬
rated by which there is interchange of electrical energy, that
of Alabama supplying any need in Georgia, and Georgia
supplying the Southern Power Company’s system in North
Carolina — this additional supply extending throughout North
Carolina to Goldsboro.

While Duke’s company has eleven plants on the Catawba
River, aggregating 182,000 horsepower and is still adding
to them, the Carolina Power & Light Company has 32,150
at Pdewitt’s Falls and at Phoenix, on the Cape Fear near
Haywood, at the junction of the Haw and the Deep, it has
established its chief works ; with property now valued at
$27,402,000, it generates 140,900 horsepower and serves a
population of 250,000. The Blue Ridge Company has 16,000
at Tuxedo in Henderson County, and at Turner; the North
Carolina Electric Company, 7,880 in Madison County. And
there are the Roanoke Rapids and the Fries plant near
Winston, and other such developments.

Much of the electricity is used for lighting purposes, and
municipal requirements ; and because of dry seasons steam
has sometimes to be used to maintain the needed supply.
But now factories can spring up anywhere on a railroad

1304

THE STATE’S INDUSTRIES

The mill
villages

Duke

West

Durham

line, the operatives being supplied by the surrounding coun¬
try — and the change is notable.

The growth of cotton manufacturing and its influence on
the State are well illustrated by the record of the Erwin
Mill Company. The first mill was put in operation at West
Durham in 1*893, ten years later, a second mill at Duke in
Harnett County ; these being followed by the Cooleemee in
Davie County; a new mill in West Durham, and a fifth at
Duke. Starting with 5>°°0 spindles and 200 looms, this
interest now has in operation 200,000 spindles and 5T5°
looms. Each mill has its village, with excellent living con¬
ditions to encourage religion and moral life among its em¬
ployees. Not only are church buildings erected and assist¬
ance given to every denomination having ministers, but
education is made a special subject, even grown people hav¬
ing: been taught to read and write. The school buildings
and management in each of the three villages are thoroughly
modern.

Duke is an illustration: graded school, department and
other stores, a bank, ice plant, water, sewerage, electric
lights, lyceum buildings, social rooms, library, park and play
grounds, and every improved condition, and houses of su¬
perior construction, lectures, concerts, atmosphere of reli¬
gion and moral life.

At West Durham the auditorium seats 1,000 people, and
has swimming pool, bowling alleys, moving pictures, gym¬
nasium, library, game rooms, etc. Under the supervision
of W. A. Erwin every appliance adding to the happiness
and elevation of the people of these villages is utilized and
the mill communities exert a fine influence in their vicinities.
Measurably the same can be said of the many other cotton
factories throughout the State, especially the Cone Mills
at Greensboro, the Cannon Mills, and those in Gaston and
Catawba counties.

Badin

The unique town of Badin in Stanly County is similarly
notable. The Aluminum Company established reduction

YADKIN AND ROANOKE

1305

works virtually in the forest near where Hambley had built lg94
his dam, the operating company being the Tallassee Power
Company, which had also 72,000 horsepower at Cheoah in
Graham County. Besides the Hambley improvement, in
1919 another dam 50 feet high was constructed at Yadkin
Falls, about three miles below the Narrows, developing
31,000 horsepower, the total power there being 141,000 now.

The plant covers 58 acres ; and the town of Badin was
created. The proprietors have supplied every necessity and
convenience for the welfare of the inhabitants, desirable
homes, church buildings, completely equipped buildings for
schools, hospitals and theater. In fact Badin is an ideal
creation, special attention being given to the housing, health, homes
education, leligion and social welfare of the operatives.

Such ai e but examples of the ideal condition of many mill
communities that dot the State.

At Badin plans are now in progress by which the great
power developed will be utilized not merely in the produc¬
tion of aluminum, but to supply cotton and other factories,
making Badin still more important in the history of the
State, and recalling the prediction of Winterbotham’s His¬
tory written in 1797 that the Narrows would become one
of the great manufacturing centers of the country.

Roanoke Rapids

So also there has been on a smaller scale an important
development at Roanoke Rapids. In 1890 Major Thomas
L. Emery of Weldon formed a company and organized as
The Gi eat Falls Water Power Company” and broke ground
for manufacturing there. He was cutting his canal about
a mile long foi that purpose, when in 1893 John Armstrong
Chaloner having formed “The United Industrial Company,”
bought a half interest from Emery’s company, the name
being then changed to the Roanoke Rapids Power Company.

The Chaloner Company now erected a knit underwear fac¬
tory ; but early in 1894 Emery and W. S. Parker of Hender¬
son, with some other friends, formed the Roanoke Mills
Company, W. S. Parker becoming president and Dr. D. B.

i3°6

THE STATE'S INDUSTRIES

Zollicofifer of Henderson, treasurer ; but the next year Sam¬
uel F. Patterson became the general manager. At first the
water-power company supplied only water, but in 1909 it
began to deliver electric power. While the Roanoke Mills
started in 1897 with 320 looms and 12,096 spindles, it now
has 1,642 automatic looms and 55,008 spindles with com¬
plete dyeing and bleaching plants. The supply of electricity
was 8,000 horsepower, and in 1924 there was an addition
of 3,250 horsepower to the plants, many small factories be¬
ing supplied.

Such was the beginning of industries at Roanoke Rapids
destined to attain greater importance under the Virginia
Railway and Power Company, which has control of the
entire ten miles of canal.

As an illustration of present conditions, it may be stated
that the Virginia Railway and Power Company, proposing
to supply Norfolk with electricity, made the survey and
location of the line by photography from an airplane.

Mount Airy

Among other notable industries should be mentioned the
great granite field of Mount Airy. Operations began
there in 1890, and. now the annual output is a volume of
3,480 cars. The granite is shipped north and south and
west ; granite for bridges — as the suspension bridge span¬
ning the Delaware between Philadelphia and Camden ; fin¬
ished monuments ; mausoleums ; lyceums — everything de¬
sired, using all manner of stone-working machinery known
to the industry, the operators sometimes being 700, working
in 78 acres of open area.

Likewise, the hardwood factories at High Point have at¬
tained great proportions.

Agriculture

And now a new turn has been taken that promises much
for the betterment of the agriculturists — community co¬
operation in handling farm products, before marketing.
The system provides for warehousing cotton and tobacco,

PROFITABLE AGRICULTURE

1307

an advance on the value being made by the Cooperative
Association — somewhat similar to the project three decades
ago, then known as the subtreasury, except that for the
Government the Cooperative Association is substituted, the
banks supplying the money.

The Agricultural Department has year by year extended
its activities until now it has exceeded the most sanguine
expectations. Whatever concerns agriculture and farm life
is within its domain. Starting with experimental stations,
it has brought into operation twenty cheese factories and
nine creameries. It has stimulated truck throughout Eastern
Carolina, the shipment of carloads of eggs, poultry, meats,
as well as vegetables and other farm produce. It has intro¬
duced new practices and otherwise has promoted endeavors
in every line that promises an advantage to agriculture.
Boys’ clubs, woman’s clubs, home improvement, home in¬
dustries, have brought new life to every hamlet and small
community, along with the vitalizing influences of general
education. There has been cooperation between the club
girls and club boys in some of the counties. In 1924, camps
were held in 25 counties, and the girls who had done well
in the prescribed courses of canning, sewing, poultry and
cooking, went into camp, and similarly the boys who had
been most successful in raising pigs and poultry. There
were encampments from Buncombe to Brunswick and Beau¬
fort.

The benefit of the Department’s activities to the social
improvement of the communities has been pronounced,
while the notable increase in the value of farm products,
its experimental farms, tests and soil improvement have
been satisfactory and beneficial. Among the counties
thought to be most improved are those from the South
Carolina line to Alleghany ; while at the east the truck inter¬
ests have made gardens of formerly poor land, and the fruit
of the Cape Fear region is now a great industry.

Schools

The school system of the State has been much improved.
While the term was lengthened the schools were consolidated

1924

On the
farms

1308

THE STATE’S INDUSTRIES

and a higher standard required. There are now 124 high
schools in the cities and 552 rural high schools, with a total
enrollment of 59,160: and the graduates in 1924 numbered
6,900. In addition there were 54 private high schools with
an enrollment of 5,557, employing 431 teachers and report¬
ing 1,107 graduates in 1924.

The expenditures for the public schools were in 1924,
$19,078,656, of which $16,174,721 was paid in salaries to
the teachers, and $2,384,579 for maintenance, and $519,-
365 was for administration. The permanent improvement
of buildings was in addition to the above. With such a
showing the demand for additional facilities at the univer¬
sities and colleges is apparent.

The course of instruction has each year been enlarged,
and at the schools all the new methods of developing chil¬
dren are in vogue.

I11 1919 the Legislature provided for a commission of
five members to be appointed by the Superintendent of
Public Instruction to report to the Superintendent a list of
approved text books for the high schools, the county au¬
thorities to select from such as are approved by the Super¬
intendent.

Then in 1921, the Legislature provided for a commission
to prepare an outline course of study for the elementary
schools.

The summer schools, started years ago by the teachers
as a means of improvement, have grown so greatly as to
attest a remarkable purpose to attain excellence. At the
University more than 2,200 were registered for 1925 : and
at the respective colleges the registrations approached a thou¬
sand ; the other schools are in line.

Good roads

As important as the many factories, products of agricul¬
ture and advanced education have been without doubt the
greatest change in the life of the people has been in the
achievement of good roads. In 1915, a State Highway
Commission was appointed, but with no other function than

HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION

1309

advisory. Two years later the funds collected from auto¬
mobile licenses were appropriated for the Commission, then
after two years, these license fees were increased, and now
the State could avail itself of the Federal Road Act: one-
half of the cost paid by Federal aid, a fourth by the State,
a fourth by the particular county. Under this plan there
were completed 200 miles of improved highways and 650
miles were placed in contract, but these roads belonged to
the counties, and the State Commission had no duty in re¬
gard to them when completed.

Then on the incoming of Morrison’s administration the
great change was made; a State system was inaugurated,
and the counties were relieved of the maintenance of the
roads. The plan called for 5,500 miles of highways running
to every county seat and principal town. The Legislature
authorized an issue of $50,000,000 in bonds for the purpose.
The State was divided into nine districts with a commis¬
sioner for each district and Frank Page as the Chairman.

Now it was State work from first to last, the entire system
being permanently under the State management. For¬
tunately the organization was most admirable, and Charles
M. Upham who had just finished the highways in Delaware,
of known efficiency, was secured as the engineer and brought
many of his trained force along with him. With the utmost
care, diligence and intelligence, the work begun slowly at
first, eventually attained full proportions. As it proceeded
it gave employment to many, and started the great business
of supplying the needs of construction. A large stream
of money flowed, which had a very beneficial effect on the
financial condition in the State. There were approximately
fifty thousand miles of roadways in the State, of which
about one-tenth was to come under the authority of the
State Commission. By September, 1922, the total work
completed, 684 miles, cost $9,975,027, and there were under
construction twice that mileage to cost $21,317,534; and
contracts up to $21,000,000 were still to be let.

The Commission turned out about 100 miles of com¬
pleted paving in a month, and a longer mileage of other
types of roads. The average cost per mile of all types of

State

roads

1310

THE STATE’S INDUSTRIES

1924

paving in 1921 was $40,000, but that was later reduced to
$28,000.

The north and south highways carry a tremendous bur¬
den of traffic throughout the year, while the two trunk lines
from east to west almost completely paved some 500 miles,
in the summer swarm with automobiles, and their lateral
branches are alive. The State has been unified and all the
parts brought close together. The construction of bridges
has been a notable feature of the work. That over the
Roanoke at Edwards Ferry was a great undertaking.
Williamston and Windsor, the county seats of adjoining
counties, were effectually separated ; to travel between them
a motor car had to go to Weldon, 120 miles; now only
ten miles, for the bridge at Winton eliminated the distance.
To construct a bridge near Edenton the Legislature of 1925
appropriated $600,000, and that to be erected at Wilming¬
ton will be one of the great bridges of the world, costing
$1,250,000.

The effect of these improvements is most happy, especi¬
ally in the Albemarle and in the mountain districts. By
June, 1924, 240 projects were completed and were being
maintained by the Commission, and over 200 more in prog¬
ress. For the maintenance of those completed there were
300 gangs of hands employed, and 1,200 men to keep them
in order; and by May, 1925, 2,777 miles of hard-surface
roads were completed, at a cost of $52,000,000 and 992 were
under construction that will cost $16,000,000.

The fisheries

At the instance of Governor Morrison the Legislature pro¬
vided for a Fisheries Commission, appropriating $500,000 for
its purposes. The Commission established five fresh water
hatcheries for trout and bass; one at Fayetteville and the
others at Marion, Waynesville, Boone and Roaring Gap.

Nor have the endeavors for betterment been confined to
the land.

The inlets to Albemarle Sound have ever been subject to
change. Commerce at the time of the Revolution and since

INLET OPENED AND CLOSED

has been through Ocracoke Inlet. Attention was called to
the desirability of a new inlet early after the Revolution,
and in 1788 a company was formed at Edenton to cut “the
Raleigh Inlet.” In 1795, it is said, Roanoke Inlet, then at
Nags Head, closed, but in 1825 there was a new inlet some
fifteen miles further south. In 1846 the Oregon Inlet was
opened in a storm nearer Nags Head. The inlets had a
notable effect on the fisheries. In 1855, the United States
undertook to reopen an inlet for commercial purposes, but
after some work had been begun, Lieutenant Whiting of
the United States Engineers advised against it, saying that
the canals to Norfolk afforded avenues for commerce. In
1876 New Inlet having been long closed, broke out again,
but at length in 1922 it was definitely closed, and the Fish¬
eries Commission being authorized to have an inlet opened
with the hope of benefiting the fisheries, Brent S. Drane,
who was at the head of the Department of Geological and
Economic Survey, undertook the task of reopening New
Inlet.

All obtainable records of the modification of New Inlet
and the three other inlets nearest it were compiled, some
of them 80 years old. Every element of the problem was
duly investigated with the most careful intelligence. Three
months were devoted to preparing the approach ; a hydraulic
dredge 160 feet long sucked up the sand, and every pre¬
caution was taken ; and at length a canal was cut through
the banks half a mile long, 225 feet wide and six feet deep,
until the last 200 feet, which was nine feet deep.

On October 7, 1924, the work was substantially accom¬
plished. It was apparently a perfect success. Nothing had
been left undone to secure a permanent inlet. Concrete
dredges were sunk as jetties to deflect the sand drift of the
strong current to the southward. Now there was great
acclaim and rejoicing. The achievement was hailed with
great public satisfaction as promising a substantial benefit
to the fisheries ; but six months later a tremendous storm
raged along the coast and the inlet disappeared.

1311

New

Inlet

1312

THE STATE'S INDUSTRIES

The banks at Hatteras

At Hatteras there are four postoffices — four little com¬
munities. At the point is the lighthouse and a radio com¬
pass station, covering the waste of waters beyond Diamond
Shoals, and also of benefit to any vessel in the sounds.

As the Wright brothers had first essayed aerial perils at
Kill Devil Hill in 1903, so Marconi early tried out his radio
at Hatteras.

Near the lighthouse which towers nearly two hundred
feet above sea level, and is seen at night some 20 miles
away, is the Marconi Station, manned by boys trained by
the Navy, whose messages direct vessels how to avoid dan¬
ger, and its signals can be heard in the Philippines ; and
they average 500 calls a month from vessels equipped with
a radio. Then fifteen miles at sea is anchored a light ship,
while the coast guard are always on duty.

Then at Cape Lookout the Government has by engineer¬
ing skill largely added to the security of that harbor of
refuge which was utilized even by the Spaniards in their
invasions of 1748.

The women enter in activities

In former generations women’s activities were measur¬
ably limited to teaching ; but incident perhaps to the gen¬
eral effects of the War Between the States, women grad¬
ually sought employment as clerks and typists and in similar
occupations.

In many localities Woman’s Clubs had been formed
which exerted an admirable influence in social life, promoted
an acquaintance with literature and otherwise advanced cul¬
ture and interest in community affairs. And these clubs
confederated ; and also there are conferences of the profes¬
sional women, doctors, lawyers, nurses and the like.

The first woman to be mayor of a town was Mrs. James
Cowan who, in 1924, on the death of her husband, the
Mayor of Wilmington, succeeded him in office.

WOMEN AS STATE OFFICERS

i3J3

Miss Carrie L. Broughton had for years been the Assist¬
ant Librarian of the State and on ine death of the Librarian,
Capt. Miles O. Sherrill, became Librarian.

In 1909 the Library Commission was established and Miss
Minnie Leatherman became the secretary and active man¬
ager ; and later Mary B. Palmer became director of the
enlarged work.

In 1917 the Assembly supplanted the old Board of Pub¬
lic Charities, of which Miss Daisy Denson was the secre¬
tary, and created the State Board of Charities and Public
Welfare, and Mrs. Kate Burr Johnson was chosen Com¬
missioner, and other ladies were likewise employed in that
interesting service. Naturally when women were enfran¬
chised some entered professional and public life.

Indeed, already women had entered the legal fraternity,
the first being Miss Julia Alexander of Charlotte in 1914;
then the next year Mrs. Margaret K. Berry of Orange,
followed by Miss Lillian Exum Clement of Asheville in
1916, then in 1920 Mrs. Louis Brevard Alexander of Greens¬
boro, followed by others.

Miss Clement was the first woman to be elected a mem¬
ber of the General Assembly and become a maker of laws.
She attended the session of 1921, and then married, so
that at the special session of that year she appeared under
the name of Mrs. Stafford. Her husband was the circula¬
tion manager of the Asheville Citizen, and she declined a re-
election. LTnhappily she died in February, 1925.

The second female legislator was Miss Julia Alexander,
the first woman licensed to practice law. Miss Alexander
is a daughter of Sydenham B. Alexander, who was a rep¬
resentative in Congress in 1891-95, and stood high in the
confidence and esteem of the people of the entire State. He
was the originator of the fine macadam roads of Mecklen¬
burg that proved an example for other counties to follow.

Miss Alexander is of the family of the former Governor
Alexander, and has enjoyed unusual advantages in culture
and education, and is imbued with the spirit of patriotism
83

1925

I3I4

THE STATE’S INDUSTRIES

1924

The

Charities

that characterized her forefathers. She was elected to the
House in 1924 and served admirably at the session of 1925.

Mrs. Johnson

While North Carolina has made such notable advances
in other lines, we have not been neglectful of duties to the
unfortunates. The Constitution of 1868 enjoined the crea¬
tion of a Board of Charities ; nearly fifty years later that
gave place to the Board of Charities and Public Welfare
with enlarged duties and powers, the object being to amel¬
iorate the condition of the insane, the feeble-minded, the
poor, the crippled, the orphans, the criminal and the delin¬
quent.

Any county can have a County Superintendent of Public
Welfare, and in those having 32,000 population, it is man¬
datory. The whole system is under the State Board. Fifty-
five counties now have local superintendents, although 26
of these are of voluntary adoption. Among the many duties
enjoined is to care for orphan children in their homes, called
Mothers’ Aid. This particular feature is of very recent
creation but it is so in accord with the prevailing sentiment
that now only five states have not fallen into line. In these
cases, the counties give half the aid. Fifty-six counties
contribute, and so far about 1,000 children are cared for
along with 250 mothers.

Mrs. Kate Burr Johnson, the first woman in the United
States to be the commissioner of public welfare for a state,
was appointed July 1, 1921. This is the highest adminis-
tiative office in the State government that a woman has
ever held.

The North Carolina system is considered one of the most
effective plans of its kind. During her efficient administra¬
tion, Mrs. Johnson has expanded the work of the Board
until it has attracted attention in other states, and she has
established for herself a wide reputation for efficiency.

Mrs. Johnson’s personal characteristics and methods have
won for her the highest respect and confidence. For some
time she had been prominent in the activities of women in
the State, especially those of the North Carolina Federa-

Clarence Poe

Mrs. Kate Burr Johnson

Miss Harriet M. Berry

Mrs. Charles McKimmon
Miss Adelaide L. Fries
Mrs. Palmer Jerman

WOMEN IN PUBLIC SERVICE

1315

tion of Woman’s Clubs of which she was at one time presi¬
dent : and the women of the State are in entire and hearty
sympathy with her.

Mrs. McKimmon

Home demonstration work which has enriched the lives
of many thousand families has from its inception been in
charge of Mrs. Charles McKimmon. Dr. Knapp of the
Department of Agriculture first gave the idea in 1903, and
in 1910 clubs of girls were formed in South Carolina to
plant and can tomatoes. The next year Mississippi, Vir¬
ginia, Tennessee and North Carolina followed the example.
Mrs. McKimmon had for some years been working with
Farmers’ Institutes, and was the director of the Women’s
Institutes, and lectured on home economic subjects. In 1911
she was asked to organize canning clubs for girls, there
being already boys’ clubs. Such was the beginning of this
work which has been of so much advantage to the people
of the State. Later other states followed the lead of North
Carolina.

Today Airs. McKimmon’s work in that field antedates
that of any other living person. At first she was alone
and could organize in only fourteen counties, but now she
has fifty-two counties, each with whole-time county agents,
four district agents and an assistant State agent. There
are five negro agents among the colored people. From can¬
ning, poultry and dairy work instruction has advanced to
every detail of home life, elevating life in all particulars,
and making homes comfortable -and beautiful. There are
now 13,999 women in woman’s clubs, and 15,248 girls in
their clubs, and 155 community clubs with 7,279 members,
a grand total of 38,418 members in Mrs. McKimmon’s
organizations. She has been one of the greatest benefac¬
tors of the State.

Mrs. Bickett

As Governor Bickett left an indelible impress on the life
of the people, so has Mrs. Bickett rendered a lasting service

Farm

life

1 3 1 6

THE STATE'S INDUSTRIES

in similar lines. A daughter of Col. William H. Yarborough,
she naturally grew up in a patriotic atmosphere, becoming a
Colonial Dame, a Daughter of the Revolution, a Daughter
of the Confederacy, and an “American Legion Auxiliary.”
At the time of the World War she was active in all war
work, not merely in the State, but going to France for war
work council. Indeed, by counsel and example she aided
much in the great endeavors that so gloriously illustrated
the devoted patriotism of our people. Her services have
been constant, and particularly useful since women entered
into the broader life. Besides much other public service
she has been a member of the Advisory Board of the
League of Women Voters, one of the steering committee
of ioo on prison investigation, a member of the board of
Stonewall Jackson Training School, Chairman of Trustees
of the Industrial School for Negro Girls, Chief of the
Bureau of Maternity and Infancy, State Board of Health,
and Superintendent of Public Welfare for Wake County.
The influence of her example has had a marked effect
throughout the State.

Mrs. Jerman

Even before 1897, when the first movement was made in
this State for Woman’s Suffrage, Mrs. Palmer Jerman was
enlisted in the cause of Woman’s Rights, and as time passed
she became an outstanding figure for ecpial suffrage. She
felt that as the homes, happiness and well-being of every
class are bound up with politics, women should have their
share in the privileges and duties of citizenship, and for
two decades she was an acknowledged leader of the forlorn
hope. Aside from that, she was ever active in the work of
woman’s clubs for social betterment.

As president of the State Federation of Woman’s Clubs,
she was in touch with the club women in rural communities
as well as in the towns, and through this contact, with her
native abilities and engaging characteristics, she became the
dominant influence in woman’s activities. As president of
the Legislative Council she urged woman’s views as to

WOMAN'S LITERARY WORK

I317

those measures that directly influence their homes and are
of interest to their children and society.

When the Democratic Convention of 1924 met the status
of the women was fully recognized and Mrs. Jerman and
three other women were elected delegates at large to the
National Convention in accord with the desires of the women
of the State, she being by far the most important, influen¬
tial and interesting of her associates in the State.

Miss Fries

I11 a different role from the women who have become 1924
prominent for their public activities, Miss Adelaide Fries
has achieved a famous success in literary performance.

Born to an inheritance of unusual endeavor, and bred in
an atmosphere of peculiar excellence and exaltation, the
stream of her life has flowed in channels of uncommon
interest. While she was early concerned in the work of
the woman’s clubs, duties have drawn her more particularly
into other fields. She has long been president of the Alumnae
Association of Salem College, and chairman of the scholar¬
ship committee, and likewise president of the Woman’s
Missionary Society, being in correspondence with the corps
of missionaries in South Africa; and these and similar
duties engage her as appealing to her devoted attachment
to the Moravian Church. Her great work, however, has
been in the literary field. For years she has been translat¬
ing the manuscript daily records of the Moravian Church
at Salem, beginning with the location at Bethabara of seven
of the Brethren, thus making available as sources of in¬
formation these very valuable contemporaneous records,
overflowing with human interest and illuminating in part
the story of life in the State. One volume has been pub¬
lished, another is in the press, and a third is ready. In this
valuable literary work Miss Fries, while standing almost
alone, by far excels the few who have made contributions
to our State literature.

In appreciation of the meritorious work Miss Fries has
accomplished with so much ability, the North Carolina His¬
torical Society of which she is a member elected her the

i3J8

THE STATE’S INDUSTRIES

president of the Society; and on that occasion she delivered
a notable address which in itself is an interesting and
valuable contribution.

Claude

Kitchin

Senator

Overman

Iii Congress

In recent years North Carolina has been fortunate in
retaining for long terms both the Senators and most of her
Representatives, John H. Small, E. W. Pou, Claude Kitchin,
E. T. Webb, Robert N. Page, Charles M. Stedman. Robert
L. Doughton and others not so long. The members by their
continued service and ability became very useful and ex¬
erted a strong influence in the House.

Mr. Small was particularly distinguished for his long and
persistent efforts to secure internal waterways. Mr. Pou
has rendered admirable service on the Committee on Rules,
controlling measurably the consideration of measures by the
House. Mr. Kitchin became the floor leader of the House
when the Democrats were in control and as such had great
power, and was indeed of invaluable service to the country
and to President Wilson, especially in connection with his
war measures. Mr. Webb took such rank that he was ap¬
pointed United States Judge for the Western District. Mr.
Page was in charge of the matters concerning the City of
Washington and his admirable service was highly appre¬
ciated by the people of the city. Major Stedman, the sole
Representative in Congress who had followed Lee and
Jackson, has been particularly venerated and esteemed in
Congress even by his political adversaries. Mr. Doughton
from the mountains has exerted a most salutary influence
especially in matters relating to agriculture. In the Senate,
Lee S. Overman, originally elected in 1902 by the Assem¬
bly, was, on the change in the Constitution, the first Senator
elected by the popular vote of the State in 1914. One of
his first successful efforts was to secure an appropriation
for commercial agents. He was largely instrumental in
securing the enormous appropriations for carrying on the
war which amounted in all to more than a score of billions
of dollars. As a member of the Committee on the Revision

DISTINGUISHED SENATORS

1319

of Laws he succeeded in having repealed some twenty-three
acts known as the Reconstruction Acts of Civil War Days,
which were so annoying to the South.

Senator Overman as chairman of the Committee on Rules,
acting chairman of the Judiciary Committee, ranking mem¬
ber of the Appropriations Committee, was active and instru¬
mental in the passage of all of the constructive legislation
during the Wilson administrations.

During Senator Simmons’s service of 24 years in the
Senate he has constantly grown in influence and importance
until no other Senator from this State has ever approached
him in gratifying achievement.

In particular his eflforts have been for a just distribution
of the burdens of government, customs duties and internal
revenue taxation ; for inland waterways transportation ; to
place agricultural industries on a parity with other indus¬
tries ; to benefit life on the farm; for the expansion of our
commerce and mercantile interest and the extension of our
foreign markets for the advantage of all the industries of
our country. In each of these purposes he has won victory
after victory in the Senate Chamber. When war broke out
in Europe no Senator surpassed him in usefulness to the
administration, and in pressing the great measures necessary
for the honor and glory of our country.

The Simmons Revenue Act of 1918 was cast to produce
eight billions. In 1919 the Republicans gained control of
the Senate but his influence was still manifest. Later the
Rational Budget was largely his handiwork.

In 1921 his efforts to amend the proposed tariff bills were
successful as to many items and led to a notable revival of
the strength of his party at the succeeding election, while
in 1924 he achieved one of the most remarkable victories
in the history of legislation by the substitution of his plan
of tax reduction for that proposed by the administration,
both houses of Congress being largely Republican. The
Simmons substitute was preferred as being the more equit¬
able and beneficial in its operations.

1924

Simmons

Senator

1320

THE STATE'S INDUSTRIES

In other fields

And at this period the State had every reason to feel proud
of the usefulness of her sons. Alderman, Moore and Smith,
the presidents of great educational institutions in Virginia ;
Dodd at the University of Chicago, and Alphonso Smith at
the Naval Academy were but examples of North Carolinians
employed abroad.

Notable changes

The introduction of the motor vehicle along with hard-
surface roads has resulted in establishing bus lines for
passengers and in a measure for freight throughout the
State — so that the railroad patronage has been consider¬
ably lessened. Busses run every few hours between the
towns from Morehead to Asheville.

The civic clubs and associations have entered on broader
activities, among them the Masons, their branch, the
Shriners ; Odd Fellows, the Rotarians, Kiwanis, Civitans,
Lions, the Junior Order, Red Men, Woodmen of the
World, etc., who take part in the social and business life
of their communities, much to the advantage of their local¬
ities and of the State.

And now, the life and other insurance in the State ag¬
gregated nearly a billion dollars, a speaking evidence of the
advance in social conditions.

The railroads

By the sale of the State’s interest in the Wilmington
and Weldon and the Manchester railroads, and by* the lease
of the North Carolina Railroad Company for ninety-nine
years, the State divested itself of the control of its most
important means of transportation. Then the Seaboard
Air Line was established, obtaining possession of the Wil¬
mington and Charlotte and Rutherfordton Road, and later
the Southern and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad opened
a line from Tarboro to Norfolk; and Governor Aycock
leased the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad to the

RAILROAD SYSTEMS

1321

Howland Company for ninety-nine years, and it soon be¬
came a part of the Norfolk and Southern Railroad system.
This company then threw out feeders all through the coastal
region to New Bern and Kinston, and later passing beyond
Raleigh, continued through the central counties to Charlotte.
All these systems led from the State to Norfolk, cutting
Wilmington completely out from North Carolina territory,
and bringing interior North Carolina into close communi¬
cation with Norfolk. Later the Clinchfield Road was built
and the Southbound, and while the latter is controlled by
the Coast Line and Southern, the Clinchfield has been leased
by the Coast Line and Louisville and Nashville. North
Carolina has lost her opportunities to build up her seaports.

Two other incidents are to be noted. On April 13, the
East Carolina Exposition was opened at Smithfield, in John¬
ston County, under the direction of the East Carolina
Chamber of Commerce. About twenty thousand persons at¬
tended the ceremonies. The exhibits were admirable ; the
addresses and festivities were remarkable, among the latter
being “School Day,” a pageant representing Eastern Caro¬
lina yesterday and today, in which there were some five
hundred participants.

On June 7, there was held at Wilson the greatest Con¬
federate Reunion that had for many years been held in the
State. It was attended by almost 700 Confederate veterans
and others; and the interest manifested well attests the at¬
titude of the people toward those who fought in that war.

Camp Bragg

The United States Government having determined to
establish a military post of considerable extent near Fayette¬
ville, took steps to acquire for an army reservation about
120,000 acres of land between Little River and Rockfish
Creek. East and west the long tract runs about 25 miles,
while it is over seven miles wide. Work was bemm there

in 1918, and on the return of the army from France, several
of the Regular Army regiments and batteries — some that
had continuous organization since their formation more than
a century earlier — were stationed there.

East

Carolina

1925

The

Confederates

i322

THE STATE’S INDUSTRIES

Southern

Pines

Pinehurst

One of the objects in view is to train recruits in military
service, and so at Camp Bragg are schools in every branch
of the service — air service, signal, ordnance, engineering,
etc., and besides there are other schools that fit the recruits
for life work after leaving the Army. Annually some five
thousand members of the National Guard and of the Re¬
serve Corps attend at Camp Bragg for instruction.

There being no particular use for Fort Macon, the Gov¬
ernment, in I924, turned over that site to the State.

About 1890 John T. Patrick of Anson County started a
movement that has led to a very interesting development
of the sandhill region that borders the coastal plain in Moore
and the adjacent counties. The town of Southern Pines
was laid out and the salubrity of that section attracted set¬
tlers, who engaged in the cultivation of fruits and vegetables.
In this work Henry F. Page and Leonard Tuft, a Boston
capitalist, became coadjutors; and in time Pinehurst like¬
wise was established as a health resort, with a reputation
that is unequaled for health and pleasure.

Death of Judge Clark

Chief Justice Walter Clark died on the 19th of May, 1924.
He had had a remarkable career. On the breaking out of
the war in 1861, at the age of fifteen years, he was drill
master in Camp Mangum, and went to the field of battle
in Virginia. In 1864 at the age of 18 he became Lieutenant
Colonel of the Junior Reserves. At 39 he entered on a
judicial career. At 43 he became a Justice of the Supreme
Court, and then, after fourteen years service, Chief Justice,
and he was Chief Justice 21 years — a longer service than
any other chief justice. He had literary talent; was an
author, and a prolific writer, rendered the State a great serv¬
ice bv compiling fourteen volumes of the State Records, and
preparing five volumes of the Regimental Histories. In his
judicial career, in a measure, he treated the law as Coke
thought of the Common Law — that it was like the bark of
a tree, and should fit new conditions as the bark fits the
trunk. In some cases he did not agree with the more con-

LITERARY CELEBRITIES

1323

servative members of the Court, but he and his associates
ever upheld its fine traditions. North Carolinians can
proudly say, as their fathers said, that no scandal had ever
reached the judiciary of the State. Our judiciary has ever
maintained its character of singular purity and unalloyed
integrity.

Death of Hill

On July 21, 1924, Dr. Daniel Harvey Hill died. He was
a scholar and had been president of the State College and
was at the head of the State Historical Commission. He
had some years before his death devoted himself to the
preparation of a history of the North Carolina troops dur¬
ing the War Between the States, which was not entirely
finished when he died. He had earlier published a volume
about the troops in the war. He was gifted as a writer and
was admirable in every way, and his death was greatly
lamented.

Death of James Sprunt

On July 9, 1924, James Sprunt died at Wilmington, be¬
loved as the first citizen of the town. While still a youth
he became the purser of a blockade runner under the famous
naval officer Capt. John N. Maffitt, and underwent many
perilous experiences. After peace, with his father he en¬
gaged in foreign commerce, establishing connections in sev¬
eral of the countries in Europe, and his firm becoming the
greatest ever in this State and attaining a worldwide rank.

Unusually gifted, combining intelligence and culture with
rare business capacity and the qualities that are most es¬
teemed in daily life, he became one of the first citizens of
the State, and was remarkable not merely for his liberal
donations to religious and charitable objects, but as a pro¬
moter of literary endeavors, and for his accomplishments
in the field of literature, his Chronicles of the Cape Fear
being one of the most interesting local publications of the
United States, and his Derelicts of particular merit.

I324

THE STATE'S INDUSTRIES

While his passing away was a great sorrow to his com¬
munity, it was likewise deeply deplored throughout the State.

Winston-Salem

The Moravians who under Bishop Fries had started
Salem in 1766 had ever prospered. They established every
necessary industry, and the community was not only self-
sufficient but could spare to others their surplus wares, so
that they were very useful in various branches of manufac¬
ture to the other inhabitants of that section. In 1797 they
even had a paper mill. At the west linen and woolen goods
were at first made rather than cotton. The first cotton mill
at Salem was erected in 1837 by Francis Fries for the Salem
Cotton Manufacturing Company, and he likewise erected
a wool mill in 1840. Later other mills were erected. A
little village called Winston sprang up outside of the
Moravian town, and the manufacture of tobacco then began
there.

In 1872 the Hanes brothers built a factory there 40x60
feet ; there being no railroad the trade was by wagons ; and
presently R. J. Reynolds likewise began a little tobacco fac¬
tory. In 1873 the two villages were united under the name
of Winston-Salem. The growth of the community has been
phenomenal for a settled country.

The business vision and enterprise of the Moravians led
a Fries to bring about the State Exposition in 1884, and
then another Fries in 1898 transformed a distant water¬
power into electricity to supply the great factories of the
city. The population of Winston-Salem is now. 60,000. It
is the world’s largest manufacturer of tobacco products,
leads in the manufacture of knit goods, ranks third as a
furniture center, and is important in other commodities.
In 1919, its 93 establishments with a capital of $93,000,000
employed 12,366 wage-earners and their products were
valued at $200,000,000. Its industries have drawn their
operatives from the farms of the country, there not being
as many as 300 foreign-born people in the entire county.

URBAN DEVELOPMENT

1325

Similarly Charlotte and Greensboro have each become
great centers, with wide business ramifications, and enjoy¬
ing prosperity, and Asheville's growth has been remarkable,
its situation giving it a most desirable reputation, and at¬
tracting residents of culture and affluence, while Durham
and other manufacturing towns continue their gratifying
progress.

Wilmington, whose location offered a hope of its becom¬
ing a very important seaport, has lost some of its advantages
by the diversion of trade through discriminating freight
rates. Still it maintains a foreign commerce in cotton, naval
stores and other exports, and in the importation of nitrates,
molasses and salt; and also it has a good coastwise trade.
Its local industries, among other manufactories, include six
fertilizer factories, with a product of over two million dol¬
lars. It has a large jobbing trade; and its banks with a
capital of $1,515,000 have deposits of $20,023,000 and re¬
sources of $26,506,000.

Much is expected from its advantageous location in re¬
gard to future commerce to the southward, and as an entre¬
pot and shipping point of the northwest.

The negro population

The negro population has shared in the general advance¬
ment of the inhabitants of the State. Facilities for training
in every vocation in life have been opened to them, and there
are negro preachers, teachers, lawyers, doctors, nurses, busi¬
ness men and farmers. Many are prosperous landowners.
Notwithstanding the inducement attracting them to other
states, they have increased in North Carolina.

Mr. Lincoln thought it doubtful whether they could re¬
main as freemen in this country, and he strongly urged
their colonization, even suggesting that Congress should
allow him to buy land elsewhere to locate them, and when in
consequence of his proclamation of September, 1862, declar¬
ing his purpose to emancipate those in the seceded states
Northern labor objected that the freed negroes might come

Other

centers

Wilmington

Richardson
Messages
Yol. 6, p.
128, 140,
141

1326

THE STATE’S INDUSTRIES

1924

North, he asked “Cannot the North decide for itself whether
it will receive them ?”

But notwithstanding all doubts the two races have ad¬
justed themselves to the situation and in North Carolina
each is living happily and contentedly together. Yet it is
to be remarked that the negroes of North Carolina have for
generations generally been in advance of their race else¬
where, a result of their closer contact with the whites and
of the general attitude of the two races to each other. It is
recognized that their presence has had a deterrent effect on
immigration from abroad, such as was fostered by the great
transportation lines that have filled the Northern and North¬
western States with a foreign element, and similarly North¬
ern labor avoids the South, so that North Carolina is largely
the home of North Carolinians.

The political campaign

President Harding, dying during his term, was succeeded
by Vice-President Calvin Coolidge, whose course in life
had established him high in the respect of the people, so
that when the election of 1924 was approaching there was
but little antagonism to him except that based on strict
partyism.

At the Democratic State Primary Angus Wilton McLean
of Robeson County was nominated for Governor over J. W.
Bailey. His opponent was I. M. Meekins who likewise had
an enviable record as a public man and citizen, and was at
that time the adviser of the Custodian of Enemy’s Property
under the act of Congress, an employment of very high con¬
sideration. In addition to his attainments Mr. Meekins was
admired for his fine oratory in which he excelled. The
campaign in the State developed much interest, but passed
off without any remarkable incidents.

When the Democratic Convention met in New York Mr.
McAdoo’s friends were strongly opposed by those of Gov¬
ernor Smith of New York; while Senator Underwood was
likewise voted for. Two of the divergent lines of thought
were in regard to the Ku Klux who were antagonistic to

ELECTIONS

the Catholics and advocated “one hundred per cent Amer¬
icanism” ; and as to the modification of the Prohibition Act
of Congress. There was much heat evolved. The contest
lasted a week. Finally the Convention nominated John W.
Davis, who had recently located in New York but was orig¬
inally of West Virginia, a man of fine qualities and excellent
character.

The extra session

In August, 1924, an extra session of the Assembly was
held at which amendments to the Constitution were passed
to be submitted at the November election : one, to provide
for the inviolability of the sinking fund — that no part of the
sinking fund shall be used for any other purpose than to
retire the bonds for which the fund was created — and at
the same election another amendment was voted on — that
the State debt should never exceed seven and one-half per
cent of the assessed value of taxable property.

There was likewise a popular vote on referendums to pro¬
vide for a loan of $2,000,000 to the veterans of the World
War, and upon the proposition to establish port terminals ;
and there was an election for United States Senator, A. A.
Whitener opposing Senator Simmons. The Democratic ma¬
jority was substantially a hundred thousand; while the loan
proposition was agreed to, that to establish port terminals
was defeated by over 50,000.

In the National election the friends of Governor Smith
of New York did not zealously support Mr. Davis; nor did
some of Mr. McAdoo’s adherents; while the Ku Klux vote
was perhaps influenced in the Northern States against the
Democratic nominee. The result was a Waterloo defeat,
Coolidge 15,745,030, Lafollette, a Progressive Republican,
4,667,302, and Davis 8,760,557, which includes his large vote
in the Southern States. The divergence between the North
and the Democratic party is observable.

1327

August

1924

The

Presidential

election

1328

THE STATE'S INDUSTRIES

Federal

Courts

Court changes

Justice George Brown having retired from the Supreme
Court, Heriot Clarkson was, on May 26, 1923, appointed
to the vacancy.

Chief Justice Walter Clark dying, Justice W. A. Hoke
was appointed Chief Justice; and to fill the vacancy on the
bench, George Whitfield Connor, who had served so accept¬
ably in the Superior Court, was appointed.

These appointees were all elected at the polls in Novem¬
ber, 1924, but soon after that election Chief Justice Hoke
resigned and Justice W. P. Stacy was appointed Chief
Justice; and Governor McLean appointed Lycurgus R.
Varser to the vacancy on the bench.

The increasing work of the Supreme Court has attained
such notable proportions as to make the duties very onerous.

In the Federal Courts changes have likewise occurred.
In 1919 the business of the Federal Court in the Western
District had largely increased and, Judge Boyd’s health not
being good, under a special provision E. Yates Webb, who
had served in Congress from the Mecklenburg District with
great acceptability, was appointed an additional judge of the
district.

The Volstead Act to enforce the prohibition constitutional
amendment augmented the business of that district as in
the Eastern District and in nearly every other district of
the Union.

Judge Connor, however, was able to meet the conditions
in the Eastern District until toward the fall of 1924, when
he became ill. In September Judge Wood of South Caro¬
lina held a term of court at Raleigh, and Judge Groner of
the Eastern District of Virginia held one at Elizabeth City.
Judge Connor unhappily died on November 24, 1924. In
December Judge Groner again held court at Raleigh, and
in February Judge Rose of Maryland held a special term at
Wilmington.

Isaac M. Meekins was appointed by the President to suc¬
ceed Judge Connor. Judge Meekins was born in 1875 in
Tyrrell County, his forefathers having from very early times

1. Henry Groves Connor

2. James Sprunt

JUDGE CONNOR’S PASSING

1329

been resident in the Albemarle region. The oath was ad¬
ministered to him by his personal friend, Chief Justice Taft,
at Washington City on February 2, 1925, and he opened the
United States District Court at Raleigh on March 2, 1925.

During the year more than 1,000 cases were disposed of
in the district; of these 701 were criminal cases, many being
under the Volstead Act; 137 cases at law, 60 equity, 25
admiralty and 125 bankruptcy. The fines collected amounted
to more than $50,000, and the judgments in cases in which
the United States was a party ran to $314,000. With the
opening of the new year an effort was made because of the
great increase of business to divide the State into three
districts, but it was abandoned.

Death of Judge Connor

The death of no other citizen of this generation has been
so widely and truly lamented as that of Judge Connor.
He had the confidence, esteem and regard of the people
more thoroughly than any other person. One of the effects
of his being the Judge of the Eastern District has been to
bring the Federal Court closer to the people than ever before,
as a part of the judicature established for the enforcement
of their laws and for the protection of their rights.

On January 27, in unison with the prevailing feelings
throughout the State, and profoundly moved by Judge Con¬
nor’s death, the Legislature passed an act to provide for a
suitable memorial to him :

“Whereas, the late Honorable Henry Groves Connor ren¬
dered distinguished service to the State of North Carolina
and the nation as a citizen, author, jurist and statesman, and

“Whereas, the State of North Carolina desires to commem¬
orate his distinguished service in a suitable manner : Now,
therefore, the General Assembly do enact :

“That a committee of the General Assembly be authorized
and directed to secure a suitable location for and place
thereon a proper memorial :

“That the General Assembly do adjourn in honor of and
out of respect to his memory.”

November

1924

1330

THE STATE’S INDUSTRIES

Morrison’s administration

It was Governor Morrison’s happy fortune to be at the
helm of State affairs at a period when the shackles that had
bound the people had been severed ; when poverty had given
place to gratifying prosperity; when the resources of the
banks were $474,000,000; when the value of manufactured
products was $781,000,000; that of the principal agricultural
products had increased to $430,000,000, and incomes were
far beyond the dream of the previous generation. Weak¬
ness had given place to strength. The future now seemed
assured. While formerly the addition of one million dollars
to the bonded debt caused hesitancy, now Governor Morri-

•

son boldly insisted 011 fifty millions for highways ; and the
State was besides committed to twenty millions for perma¬
nent improvement of the institutions. Higher education for
the thousands, the welfare of the unfortunate, the enlarge¬
ment of all activities were in the air. Governor Morrison
brooked no opposition and put the State at work construct¬
ing highways, with results never dreamed of before; aided
by automobiles turning a new leaf in the story of the peo¬
ple’s life.

While the improvement in every direction had been won¬
derful, the highways were the most notable achievements
of all.

In addition there is a particular observation to be made
of Governor Morrison’s administration. He insisted that
the State should do its duty to both races of our population,
and when in 1923, a new town having risen at a railroad
station, occupied mostly by newcomers, in Mitchell County
where there had virtually been no negro population, there
being a resolve to drive out the few negroes that had come,
the Governor sent his Adjutant General there and put a
stop to it; and while at the South, as at the North, human
nature sometimes has led mobs to disregard the law, yet

MORRISON’S DISAPPOINTMENTS

i33i

during Governor Morrison’s term of office there was no
other manifestation of such lawlessness in the State.

He, however, suffered some disappointments : first, in the
failure to obtain approval for the establishment of port
terminals ; and then in regard to the revenues being insuffi¬
cient to meet the appropriations. There appeared to be a
deficit in the treasury, the expenditures exceeding the rev¬
enue. This Governor Morrison urgently insisted was an
erroneous statement.

CHAPTER LXXVIII

1925

McLean Governor

The Assembly meets. — McLean Governor. — The deficit. — Finan¬
cial conditions require economy. — Efforts to retrench. — Budget
system at work. — The appropriations reduced. — McLean vested
with authority. — Evolution. — The Charlotte Centennial. — The coal
field disaster. — East Carolina Exposition. — Conditions. — The
press. — Literary endeavors. — State historical publications. — The
South Atlantic. — The Booklet. — State institutions. — The Univer¬
sity. — State College. — College for Women. — The schools for the
negroes. — Duke University. — Colleges. — The streams of life and
religious denominations. — After sixty years; some expression of
Northern feeling.

When the Assembly met in January, Edgar W. Pharr of
Mecklenburg was elected Speaker, and W. H. S. Burgwyn
of Northampton was chosen President pro tern of the Sen¬
ate until J. Elmer Long of Alamance, now of Durham,
elected Lieutenant-Governor, began to preside. At the very
beginning of the session the vexed question of the deficit
in revenue loomed up in great importance.

Although the Budget Commission had observed careful¬
ness, yet the pressure to maintain the progressive pace which
had given such gratification could not be withstood.

At length on March 20, 1925, a statement was made pub¬
lic that on February 28 the accumulated debit balance to that
date in the general fund was $10,257,660, ten million dol¬
lars then having been borrowed from banks.

The funds of the Highway Commission and for other
special purposes were kept in separate accounts.. Disburse¬
ments from July 1, 1924 to February 28, 1925 were $56,671,-
316; the disbursements for the month of February alone
being $19,289,893. The funded State debt was for high¬
ways, $59,552,600; for school buildings, $5,000,000; and for
the general fund, $29,315,400; the deficit being added,
amounted to $113,868,000.

Such had been the excess cost of government and im¬
provements over the taxes raised by the State.

Cameron Morrison
Frank Page

Angus W. McLean
James Buchanan Duke

PROGRESS WITH ECONOMY

1333

The highway debt it was considered was well guarded
by the specific taxes for the use of the roads, while the other
bonds could be easily cared for. However, at the election
in November, a limit had been put in the Constitution be¬
yond which the Legislature could not increase the State
debt, and prudence was necessary.

Economy became the watchword. The State could not
halt in the work it had undertaken, but it must economize.
It sought reduction of expenses by consolidating some de¬
partments. The collection of all rate taxes was vested in
the Revenue Department ; and as the number of employees
had greatly increased, and their compensation in some cases
was apparently unequal, the Assembly provided for a Sal¬
ary Commission, with power to fix the salary of every per¬
son whose compensation was a charge upon the State.

The Assembly passed some 200 public laws, covering
every variety of subjects. Among them are those authoriz¬
ing the Governor to appoint a Commissioner of Pardons ;
establishing the Executive Budget System ; investing the
Governor and Commission with power to fix the compensa¬
tion of all in the employment of the State.

Twenty million dollars were provided for the highways,
and liberal appropriations made for the institutions and de¬
partments ; the tax on gasoline was increased to four cents
a gallon, and the operation of bus lines was vested in the
Corporation Commission. A State Sinking Fund Commis¬
sion was established ; the Economic Survey was now suc¬
ceeded by a Department of Conservation and Development ;
and the Federal Government was authorized to acquire lands
and convert them into national parks in order to protect
streams; civil jurisdiction was conferred on municipal and
county courts; and for judicial reform, a conference was
organized to consist of all the judges, and twenty lawyers
representing the bar in every district, who, after considera¬
tion, are to recommend changes to the Assembly. To con¬
sider freight rates and waterways an Admiralty Commis¬
sion was appointed ; and an Educational Commission was
created. Nor were the veterans of the World War for-

Innova-

tions

1334

McLEAN GOVERNOR

1925

Executive

Budget

System

gotten : pursuant to the referendum, a bond issue was au¬
thorized to secure them homes.

At length it was found that the appropriations were so
largely in excess of the probable revenue that the conditions
required drastic action. Eventually the appropriations were
severely cut : only $300,000 annually was allowed for the
payment of the deficit ; the bus tax estimated at a con¬
siderable amount was given to the general fund, and the
income tax was largely increased.

Then the Council was invested with authority if need be
to abate all appropriations pro rata : and, indeed, in May
the Council found it necessary to reduce all appropriations
five per cent.

On the adoption of the Constitution of 1776, it was said
the Governor was given authority only to receive his salary,
now on Governor McLean was conferred the power to di¬
rect the economics of the State; to abate the appropriations
of the Legislature ; to reduce salaries ; to appoint various
commissions and to exercise the largest functions of gov¬
ernment. Such confidence was a tribute to worth and ex¬
cellence that is seldom displayed.

This session was marked by the Assembly putting into
distinct operation the Executive Budget system, an innova¬
tion which Governor McLean, with his large business ex¬
perience, had much at heart. It was regarded as a very
interesting step forward in the detail of government.

After the adjournment, Governor McLean vigorously set
to work to justify the confidence reposed in him and in view
of the numerous ramifications of governmental functions
came to regard it of prime importance that there should be
some more compact organization both of the county and
of the State administrations, and he indicated that the sub¬
ject of county administration should be thoroughly con¬
sidered, even by a convention clothed with the power to
change the Constitution.

Evolution

An interesting episode developed from the introduction
in the House of a resolution by Representative D. Scott

STIR ABOUT EVOLUTION

1335

Poole of Raeford, to prohibit the teaching of evolution in
the public schools. The text being: “That it is the sense
of the General Assembly of North Carolina that it is in¬
jurious to the welfare of the people of the State of North
Carolina for any official or teacher in the State, paid wholly
or in part by taxation, to teach or permit to be taught as
a fact either Darwinism or any other evolutionary hypoth¬
esis that links man in blood relationship with any lower form
of life.” This resolution was referred to the Committee on
Education. At the hearing the Committee voted 17 to 17,
and the chairman, H. G. Connor, gave a deciding vote
against the measure and for an unfavorable report. The
bill, however, came before the House on a minority report
and was made a special order for the evening session of
February 17. When the hour arrived citizens from all parts
of the State so thronged the halls, lobbies and galleries that
the House could not sit as a deliberative body. A motion
to adjourn until the next day prevailed. After three hours
debate a motion to table was lost by fifty-two to forty-nine;
but after two- hours of debate the following day the bill
was defeated by a vote of sixty-four to forty-six.

The object of the measure was defined in this wise:
“Organic evolution is being taught in the schools of this
State, and this undermines and destroys the authenticity
of the Scriptures. As the Christian people maintain, at
their own expense, schools in which they teach theology,
they think it unfair to be taxed for the support of schools
that bring about the undermining of a work they labor
zealously to accomplish.”

On the other hand the opponents of the bill pleaded for
freedom of thought and freedom of speech. They argued
that the teacher should be the judge as to what he will teach.
The proponents countered that those who met the expense
account should have some rights in the premises ; “that the
servant is not greater than his master.”

This controversy evolved much interest throughout the
State, it being understood that the theory of evolution is
that there was not a separate creation of man, but that man
evolved from more primitive forms of animal existence,

1336

McLEAN GOVERNOR

1925

just like other animals. Governor Morrison, some months
earlier, had issued a proclamation withdrawing books favor¬
ing that theory from the list of textbooks for the public
schools. Subsequently, Tennessee prohibited the teaching
of evolution in that State, and a case arose in the courts
that has elicited great interest throughout the Union, many
persons holding that evolution is not consistent with the
foundations of the belief which Christians accept, and that
the Christian faith is involved. Similar controversies have
led to notable results in the history of the race.

The Charlotte centennial

As in 1875 Charlotte was the scene of a great centennial
celebration of the Mecklenburg Declaration, so in 1925 at
the 150th anniversary, there was a still greater celebration
of the event. The festivities lasted a week, immense crowds
attending, and among the attractions being pageants and
decorations of particular interest. Congress appointed a
commission to attend, and appropriated ten thousand dollars
to share in the expense. While the Charlotte Association
was commemorating the May 20 Declaration, Congress did
not commit itself to that date nor to that declaration, merely
proposing to ‘Commemorate the patriotic action in May,
1775.” But the action of Congress is not only a recognition
of North Carolina’s patriotic spirit in 1775, but is a gratify¬
ing illustration of the patriotic sentiments now prevailing
throughout the Union concerning Southern as well as
Northern observances of historic incidents.

The coal field disaster

The possibilities of the coal fields between the Haw and
the Deep rivers have attracted attention and several com¬
panies, in 1924, began extensive developments. At Coal Glen
some half dozen miles from the old Egypt Mine and about
the same distance from Sanford, the Carolina Coal Company
had a mine in successful operation, and on the morning of
May 27, 1925, sixty men were at work when an explosion
occurred and the entrance was destroyed, the miners en-

COAL MINE DISASTER

133 7

tombed, and noxious gas exuded through crevices. At once
some five thousand persons gathered there. The sheriff and
his posse took possession. The local community went im¬
mediately to work, the Governor sent aid as did Fort Bragg,
and the Red Cross came. Every effort for rescue was
made without avail. The State and Federal authorities took
charge. Day by day some bodies were exhumed. Many
were so burned that they were only human remains. Hun¬
dreds of persons were continuously at the mine. Sad and
solemn funeral rites marked the passing days as the mourn¬
ing friends recovered some body from the ruin. The people
of the State were deeply moved at the horrible calamity.
For the immediate relief of the women and children who
were bereaved, at the suggestion of Governor McLean, a
fund of $35,000 was subscribed.

It was supposed that the atmosphere in the mine became
explosive from an admixture of gas with the air, or of dust
and the air, and in some way a spark caused the explosion ;
but the problem remains unsolved.

Conditions

At the close of this period we find that the State, since
she emerged from the devastation promised in the second
inaugural of Mr. Lincoln, has at length entered on a career
that accords with the characteristics of her people. Her
several interests are prospering, and the social condition of
her inhabitants is rapidly improving. Perhaps the best evi¬
dence of actual advancement is to be found in the dis¬
semination of information by the newspapers, in the prog¬
ress of the educational institutions, in the law-abiding con¬
duct of the people and the prevalence of religious sentiment.

Adding to this view of the conditions the improvement in
home life, the increased industries, and the beneficial efifects
of the good roads, we realize the great step forward the
State has made and can look for still more gratifying
changes.

1925

i33«

McLEAN GOVERNOR

The press

The press of the State has kept pace with the general
improvement, both in number, an enlarged circulation and
influence. The circulation of the leading daily papers at
Charlotte and Raleigh is stated at more than 31,000, at
Greensboro 25,000, at the other towns not so much, but all
with increasing number. The North Carolina Press Asso¬
ciation has its annual meetings, and the fraternity being in
elbow touch, the tone of the publications is considerate and
elevated, while indicating the intelligence of the editors.
At the fifty-second meeting in 1924, the membership in¬
cluded 143 persons, representing 118 newspapers. To the
influence of the press may be ascribed much of the improve¬
ment of the State, and particularly, the Progressive Farmer
under the able and versatile Dr. Clarence Poe has advanced
agriculture and benefited social conditions in farm life.

Literature

During these later years North Carolina has not been
devoid of literary endeavor. John Charles McNeill doubt¬
less stands foremost in poetic fancy and expression, his
“October" and “Sun Down" being favorites.

Jerome Stockard was the most prolific and, perhaps, most
critical. “Sir Walter Raleigh” and “Appomattox” are gen¬
erally thought his best. Edwin W. Fuller’s “Angel in the
Cloud" is a masterly performance. John Henry Boner
ranked deservedly high, “Poe's Cottage at Fordham” and
the “Fight’ood Fire” being examples of his genius; while
of Theodore Hill’s fine poetry “The Star Above the Manger’’
is esteemed the best. William Thornton Whitsett ranks
among the best. His volume, Saber and Song, is highely
appreciated, “The Ode to Expression,” embodying the ideals
of artists, being particularly admired. Mrs. F. C. Tiernan
(writing under the name of Christian Reid), who earlier
was Miss Fisher, besides her novels also wrote some ex¬
quisite verses.

LITERARY LABORS

1339

Mrs. Olive Telford Dargan, since her residence in North
Carolina, has likewise published some excellent poetry.

And there are others who occasionally wrote verse, among
them Miss Minnie Curtis and Cecil Pool.

Among those who have otherwise added to the State’s
literature have been Walter Clark, R. D. W. Connor,
Daniel H. Hill, J. De R. Hamilton, Dr. W. K. Boyd, Dr.
Archibald Henderson, Stephen B. Weeks, Marshall De-
Lancey Haywood, E. C. Brooks, Henry G. Connor and
James Sprunt, and others who have prepared excellent
county histories, besides such contributors to literature as
Col. R. B. Creecy, Miss Bettie Freshwater Pool, and Mrs.
L. A. McCorkle.

Among the publications of this period is to be mentioned
one of particular value. C. L. VanNoppen, in 1905, began
the publication of the Biographical History of the State,
intended to embrace as far as possible a sketch of every
man who had ever performed any service that was worthy
of being remembered. Eight volumes have been published,
containing about 600 sketches, many of them of particular
importance. Among the authors are some fifty who are
entitled to be regarded as more or less eminent in literature.

The State Literary and Historical Association organized
in 1900 has published the papers read at its meetings, many
being of great merit and interest. Its presidents, annually
elected, have been on the level of those so serving in any
other state, and it is to be noted that in 1923 the president
chosen was Miss Adelaide Fries.

The Historical Commission, under the admirable manage¬
ment of its former secretary, R. D. W. Connor, issued four¬
teen volumes of unusual historical interest and secured a
large collection of valuable material that is important as
illustrating the high culture of the State. This work was
efficiently continued by the late Dr. D. H. Hill, who was
succeeded by the very competent R. B. House as the secre¬
tary. Too much praise cannot be given to the devotion of
Col. F. A. Olds in the work of securing the collections, for
he has rendered a most valuable service throughout many
years.

1340

McLEAN GOVERNOR

In 1902 the South Atlantic Quarterly was established at
Durham as a cosmopolitan journal, and a medium for
opinion concerning Southern problems, historical, economic
and literary. It has actual recognition as one of the best
balanced journals of the country; among its contributors
being some of the most esteemed writers of the North as
well as the South. It was the outcome of the progressive
spirit of President Crowell of Trinity College, who inspired
among others John Spencer Bassett to literary pursuits,
the magazine being one of the beneficial results. It has
always stood in the front rank for criticism in the several
fields of literature. Originally a child of Trinity, after some
years it was taken over by the South Atlantic Publishing
Company. Contemporaneously, there have been published
fourteen Series of historical papers of the Trinity College
Historical Society; three volumes of John Lawson Mono¬
graphs, and since 1922 the Trinity College Press has issued
three other volumes, and now the Duke University Press is
issuing six volumes. Such has been the outcome of Bassett’s
endeavor to promote literature at Trinity.

The N. C. Booklet, begun in 1908, at Raleigh, by the
Daughters of the Revolution for patriotic purposes, having
had some 300 contributions to its pages by North Carolin¬
ians, has fostered an inclination to write for the public with
very beneficial results.

Among the publications emanating from the colleges and
the University, the Sprunt monographs have been of special
value.

The University

The Legislature, in 1921, agreed to a bond issue of $20,-
000,000 for permanent improvement of the State institutions
and by 1924 $17,000,000 of that had been used, greatly en¬
larging the University, the State College of Agriculture and
Engineering, the North Carolina College for Women and
other schools. As construction progressed at the University,
educational facilities increased with added accommodations
and the institution not only received more students but made
rapid strides forward in its curricula. Indeed, during the

HIGHER EDUCATION

i34i

five years of President H. W. Chase's administration, the
number of students has nearly doubled, while the total en¬
rollment ran up to over 6,000 of whom 2,250 were resident
students, 2,100 students in the Summer School, and 1,200
in extension work and 900 in “correspondence courses.”

The increasing number of students is attributed to the
flood of graduates from the high schools and in itself is
evidence of the progressive prosperity of the people of the
State. The fees paid by the students in 1924 amounted to
$165,030, while the State appropriation for maintenance was
$650,000. The value of the property of the University plant
is now considered $5,000,000 and its income at present
$950,000 outside of the appropriations for permanent im¬
provements. The faculty giving instruction in all the
branches common to universities now number 165.

The activities of the institution, extending to the collec¬
tion of information concerning conditions in the State re¬
lating to manufactures, commerce, education, historical inci¬
dents and every other interest, wide publication is made of
these data in various University periodicals.

The University has had a new birth and has developed
until it has attained a high standard of excellence. In this
respect it is typical of all the institutions of higher learning
in the State.

The State College

The advent of Dr. E. C. Brooks as President of the State
College of Agriculture and Engineering, has been accom¬
panied by a remarkable extension of service. The teaching
faculty numbers 124, research faculty 36, agricultural fac¬
ulty 26, and administrative officers 16, totaling 202. Be¬
sides, there are 154 farm and home demonstration agents
and 21 student fellows and research assistants. The resident
students reached 1,255, others pursuing extra college work
437, and Summer School 628, making 2,320 ; and there are
nonresident students to the number of 4,239. And the plant
has been largely increased to meet the requirements.

1925

1342

McLEAN GOVERNOR

Then a large number of farmers and farm women receive
instruction through the farm and home agents. The devel¬
opment of the several schools of engineering and of ceramic
and chemical engineering continues to expand. There are
36 major vocations open to young men, for which the State
offers from four to seven years training in technical, scientific
and professional science. Its plant at Raleigh has annually
been enlarged to meet requirements. Indeed, the institution
touches the industrial and home life of the State in manifold'
ways and exerts a most beneficial influence.

The College for Women

At the North Carolina College for Women, opening in
1892, to the end of 1923, there had been enrolled
more than 12,000 young women, two-thirds of whom had
become teachers, and have taught lessons and right living
to at least 500,000 North Carolinians, by precept and ex¬
ample diffusing culture and elevating society in every com¬
munity throughout the State. The beneficence of this ad¬
mirable institution has been beyond calculation. The value
of its buildings is now more than five million dollars, and
the appropriation is $200,000 a year.

Other institutions

And the same can be said of the East Carolina Teachers
College at Greenville, established by act of 1907 at the
particular instance of Governor T. J. Jarvis, and opened in
1909 with a capacity for 194 students. During its first three
years it had, including the summer terms, 1,612 students
enrolled ; and all together it has had enrolled 8,702 students.
The value of its seventeen buildings and grounds is now
$2,250,000 and the appropriation is $135,000.

The Appalachian Training School and the Cullowhee
Normal and Industrial School and the Stonewall Jackson
Manual Training and Industrial School have shown very
substantial growth likewise.

At the session of 1923, the Legislature appropriated
$924,000 for buildings at the four negro schools, and also

SCHOOLS AND INSTITUTIONS

1343

established a reformatory for negro boys. And at the ses¬
sion of 1925 the negroes asked for appropriations aggregat¬
ing two million. In addition, at Pembroke in Robeson
Comity, is the Cherokee Indian Normal School which opened
in 1887 with 223 students above the seventh grade.

Perhaps as a result of their intercourse with the kindly
whites the colored people of the State have long been
among the most advanced of their race.

In 1877 a colored normal school was started at Fayette¬
ville,. and nearly all of the negro teachers in that part of
the State have been educated and trained there. The num¬
ber of pupils above the seventh grade is 455. The buildings
are valued at $300,000, and the appropriation for main¬
tenance is $34,000.

The Negro Agricultural and Technical College at Greens¬
boro, founded in 1891, has buildings valued at $800,000,
with an appropriation for maintenance of $60,000: there
being 526 students at the regular session and 571 at the
summer session.

In 1892 a similar school was started at Elizabeth City, the
buildings costing $403,000, and the pupils numbering 378.
Three years later the Slater School opened at Winston-
Salem, now with 505 students; and the Durham Normal
School has 200 students.

Charitable institutions

The State has several charitable institutions other than
the great hospital for the insane, where unfortunates are
cared for ; both races, females as well as males, being pro¬
vided for, as whatever appeals to human sympathies has
found a response among the people of the State.

Duke University

The Christmas season of 1924 was made memorable by
the vision of Duke University that suddenly came to the
eyes of the patriotic people of the State.

In 1838 the Methodists and Quakers of Randolph estab¬
lished a school under Rev. Brantley York who called it

1925

Negro

schools

1344

McLEAN GOVERNOR

Union Institute. Four years later Rev. Braxton Craven
took charge, and in 1851 it was chartered as Normal Col¬
lege, and in 1859 with its name changed to Trinity College
it passed into the service of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
South, in North Carolina.

In 1892, the College was moved to Durham, where it at
once entered on a new life. While much was accomplished
under President Crowell, under Dr. Kilgo with the as¬
sistance of Washington Duke and his sons, Julian S. Carr
and others, it attained a very flourishing condition. Liberal
donations were made for it. Sixteen commodious struc¬
tures and an endowment of more than three million dollars
attest their liberality in the cause of education, and Trinity’s
fame for efficiency and progress was widespread. Then
under the wise administration of President William Preston
Few, the College grew in every line of educational endeavor.

In the closing days of 1924 James B. Duke provided a
building fund of six million dollars for Trinity, under the
name of Duke University, as an item in the creation of the
Duke Foundation, carrying a trust fund of forty million
dollars ; and he has since added two million dollars to the
building fund. The trustees accepted the gift and now the
University plant is to be nearly a mile west of and adjoin¬
ing the present campus which will be developed into a great
coordinate college for women.

This munificence is a gift to North Carolina of an institu¬
tion that will redound to her credit in the years to come and
it marks an era in the educational history of the State.

The denominational colleges

Wake Forest College has had its part in the general
awakening of the State on the subject of higher education.
In December, 1921, the institution was admitted to mem¬
bership in the Association of Colleges, and under the excel¬
lent management of Dr. W. L. Poteat, the President, its
development and growth have been continuous. It has met
the new demands incident to the astonishing expansion of
the high schools of the State, and for the year 1924-25 its
enrollment of regular students ran up to 703.

CHURCH COLLEGES

1345

In 1921 there was organized a summer session for the
training of teachers and regular college students, the school
from the beginning being rated as Approved Grade A. At
the last session there were 550 registered in the Summer
School, and in all there were 106 degrees conferred, while
in 1925 89 graduates received degrees.

Scholarship and character are the great ideals of the col¬
lege and the Student Government Council has given excel¬
lent service and the literary societies exercise a fine influence.
While the college plant needs speedy enlargement, the
general scheme looks forward to the expenditure of two
and a half million dollars. The endowment now is
$2,950,000.

The Baptists have three colleges classed as A-i : Wake
Forest, Meredith and Chowan, and junior colleges at Win¬
gate and Mars Hill, and twelve high schools.

Meredith College, established some thirty years ago in the
city of Raleigh, has been moved into the suburbs, with an
extensive plant to cost a million dollars, and capable of
indefinite expansion; its endowment is $410,000 and it has
500 students. It bids fair to become one of the great insti¬
tutions of the South.

Davidson College that has for generations played its high
part in the education of the State Fas continued its progres¬
sive course. With a plant valued at $875,000 and an endow¬
ment of $668,000, it has 627 students, while with recent
additions to endowment estimated at more than a million
and a half dollars, its facilities will be largely increased.
Its future is very bright.

In addition the Presbyterians have Flora McDonald Col¬
lege with 400 students, Queen’s College with 300, Peace
Institute with 200, Mitchell College 150, and five high
schools and 150 students at the Union Theological Seminary
at Richmond.

Meredith

Davidson

1346

McLEAN GOVERNOR

Salem

Greensboro

College

St. Mary’s

Salem Academy and College

In 1772 the Moravians opened a seminary known as the
Salem Academy as a school for the higher education of
young women. From the first it enjoyed a fine reputation,
and attracted patrons from other communities. It was sup¬
plied with excellent teachers and professors of culture from
Europe and America, and was not merely a preparatory
school. Indeed, “there was no similar school anywhere at
the South and only two in the North/’

Since the opening day, in spite of the conditions during
the long years of the Revolutionary War, and the deplor¬
able situation in 1861-65, the school has never been closed
for a single school day in the 152 years of its existence.
In 1866 a charter was obtained for Salem College and
Academy and the College was separated from the Academy.
The two institutions have ever grown, each in its field be¬
ing widely recognized for what is best in scholarship and
.for the pervading spirit of high idealism and of Christian
interpretation of daily life which has ever characterized
“The Salem Community.” The College is A Class and
grants degrees for the usual four-year course. Upward of
700 students are annually enrolled, those at the College in
1924 numbering 233. In recent years large additions have
been made to the physical plant, in keeping with the general
expansion of the colleges of the State.

Next in usefulness to the Salem College has been the
Greensboro College for Women. In 1837 the North Caro¬
lina Conference, M. E. Church, began its separate existence,
and the next year it had the Greensborough Female College
incorporated. A site of forty-six acres was bought and the
corner stone was laid in 1843, the buildings being completed
in 1846. Rev. Solomon Lea was elected president and the
college opened. The enrollment in 1925 was about 350, of
whom 280 were boarders.

St. Mary’s School at Raleigh was the private undertaking
of Dr. Smedes and of his son, but in 1897 it was bought
for the Episcopal Diocese, the purchase including 25 acres
of land. The Diocese of South Carolina eventually joined

SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS LIFE

1347

in the purchase. The material growth of the institution now
justifies the value of $248,000, not considering any increase
in the value of land. It has a high standard of scholarship.

St. Augustine School is recognized as a church school of
the Episcopal Church at large for negroes. It has 572
pupils and a corps of 26 teachers, with property valued at
$214,000, and endowment fund of $100,000. It trains
colored women in every branch of church work, as nurses,
etc., and it prepares young men to enter the Divinity School.

The streams of life

Natural conditions seem to perpetuate the several social
streams of life that originally differentiated the groups of
early settlers — the Anglo-Saxon ; the Celtic, including the
Scotch-Irish ; the German and the Moravians. Not merely
were there differences in language and manners and cus¬
toms, but there were various shades of religious faith.
Then in time the Baptists and Methodists grew beyond all
others : but the gentle Quakers and the devoted Catholics
continued to increase, but not so much as the Presbyterians
and the Protestant Episcopalians, as also, the Christians and
the Disciples.

The German-speaking element of the colonists, besides the
Moravians who settled around Bethabara, numbered some
twenty thousand families who 'located in the counties from
Alamance to Mecklenburg and southwest to Morganton.
They were of the Lutheran and German reformed religion
and were served by pastors and teachers sent, over by the
institutions of learning in Germany, and had their separate
congregations.

The Lutheran synod originally embraced congregations
in the northwest and western states until 1820; but a century
later, in 1920, their church in this State became “The United
Evangelical synod in North Carolina.”

In educational activities the Lutherans have never been
deficient. In 1853 the North Carolina College was opened

1925

The

Lutherans

1348

McLEAN GOVERNOR

1925

at Mount Pleasant and six years later, Mount Amoena Semi¬
nary. These institutions were Grade A and had many stu¬
dents, but now are preparatory schools having an enroll¬
ment of 250; then at its thirty-fourth commencement Rhyne
College in Lenoir, which is Grade A, had an enrollment of
350 students, male and female, in the regular session. In
the synod are 1 1 5 ministers, 23,000 communicants, or count¬
ing children, 35,000. At every synod new congregations
are admitted.

In 1924 the North Carolina Synod contributed $50,000
for missions to foreign countries. In works of charity the
Lutherans set an example, and the standard of education
for their ministry is very high. This interesting stream in
the life of North Carolina has ever been of importance,
and it remains measurably distinct, its admirable character¬
istics finding illustration in the communities of German
descent.

Tlie Catholics

From early days there were a few Catholics in North
Carolina, but the first bishop the Catholic Church had in
the State was James Gibbons, Vicar Apostolic, in 1868.
Eventually he became Cardinal. He was succeeded by other
Vicar Apostolics until after the death, in July, 1924, of Rt.
Rev. Leo Haid, made Vicar Apostolic in 1888. Most Rev.
M. L Curley, Archbishop of Baltimore, was appointed
Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Raleigh,
December 22, 1924. The canonical diocese includes all
the State except six counties adjacent to Belmont Abbey,
which are under the jurisdiction of the Abbot of Belmont.
In March, 1925, Rt. Rev. William J. Hafey was appointed
Bishop of Raleigh and was installed July 1. The Diocese
of Raleigh has about 9,000 Catholics, 25 priests and six
benedictines. There are four hospitals under the care of
sisters, of whom there are five orders. There are larsre
colleges for young ladies at Asheville and Belmont, schools
at Raleigh, Durham, Belmont, Wilmington, Charlotte, Salis¬
bury and an orphanage for boys and one for girls. The
church has steadily made progress.

BAPTISTS AND METHODISTS

1349

Tlie Baptists

In 1830 fewer than 30 delegates representing separate
Baptist congregations assembled at Greenville and organized
a State Convention for the promotion of missions, educa¬
tion, Sunday schools and other evangelical purposes. The
Missionary Baptists have steadily increased ever since, and
now are the largest body of Christians in the State; the
white members numbering 347, 760, and the colored members
300,000. During 1924 “the 2,291 white Baptist churches in
the State received into fellowship by baptism 21,565 new
members; and the Sunday school enrollment increased 12,-
269. The Baptists have three colleges classed as A-i.
Wake Forest, Meredith and Chowan, and junior colleges at
Wingate and Mars Hill, and twelve high schools.”

The activities of the Baptists have been so admirable that
they have in five years raised almost six million dollars for
general church purposes, in addition to local church ex¬
penses. The past year the Baptists raised $944,556.56 be¬
sides $2,740,860.26 for local churches. They allotted to the
Thomasville Orphanage, $224,566.42; education, $212,112.35
besides missionaries, etc.

The Methodists

The Methodists have likewise been particularly active, there
being two conferences in the State — the North Carolina and
the W estern North Carolina conferences.

In the North Carolina Conference are 227 pastoral
charges, with 112,929 members, 725 Sunday schools and
84,575 pupils. In the Western Conference there are 303
preachers with 131,067 members, 892 church buildings, 855
Sunday schools with 127,535 pupils. In the State are 1,650
church buildings valued at fifteen million dollars. In the
entire State the contributions were $3,673,858. At Raleigh
is the orphanage of the value of $750,000, and at Winston-
Salem the Children’s Home, valued at $850,000.

Duke University and the Greensboro College for Women
are owned jointly by the two conferences; besides these are

1925

1350

McLEAN GOVERNOR

1925

eight other schools, the total enrollment being about 3,700
pupils. J. B. Duke, dying in October, 1925, provided in
his will for increasing the endowment of Duke University
to seventy million dollars.

The Presbyterians

The Presbyterians have 520 churches, 288 ministers with
nearly 5,000 elders and deacons, and 70,873 members with
63,528 Sunday school enrollments. Their contributions
amount to more than two million dollars. They have more
educational institutions than any other denomination. An
orphanage was opened in Charlotte in 1883, but was re¬
moved to Barium Springs in 1891, and it has so grown that
its capacity is now 360 children, the usual expenditure for
support is a hundred thousand dollars ; and in 1920 the
Synod authorized $100,000 to be spent each year for five
years on new buildings. At one time, a thousand people ate
in the dining room. Mr. Jos. B. Johnston is the general
manager.

Episcopalians

In the State there are the three dioceses of the Protestant
Episcopal Church — East Carolina, North Carolina and
Western North Carolina. In the first are 88 churches, 17,-
870 sittings, 6,346 communicants and 4,330 church pupils
in 73 schools. In the Diocese of North Carolina there are
10,005 communicants, 6,988 pupils. In that of Western
North Carolina, 3,891 communicants and 3,206 pupils.

There has been particular activity in the last named dio¬
cese : at Valle Crucis no pupils; at Arden, 168; at Leger-
wood, 100, and at Penland, 40. In the Diocese of North
Carolina there are three convocations, each under its arch¬
deacon. Among its institutions are the Thompson Orphan¬
age and Training School and the hospital at Charlotte.

Such brief references to the several denominations as are
here given fail to convey an accurate impression of the deep
religious spirit that generally pervades the entire body of
Christian people of the State : but their relative liberality
in donations illustrates the fervor of their devotion.

REFLECTIONS

I35i

After sixty years

Bishop Tucker, in the course of a sermon published in
March, 1925, mentioned that in the campaign of September,
1861, in the western part of Virginia, there was killed Col.
John Augustine Washington, of the George Washington
family, then on Lee’s staff, and the Bishop read an unpub¬
lished letter, written at once by Lee to the orphaned chil¬
dren. This led to the following letter published in the
Churchman , March 24, 1925 :

Mr. Editor:

Upon reading the sermon by Bishop Tucker, printed in the
current number of the Southern Churchman , my attention was
arrested by the paragraph relating to the death of Col. John
Augustine Washington. Perhaps a few additional facts relating
to that tragedy may be of interest to some of your readers.

My father, Col. George IS. Rose, serving at that time in the
Federal Army in West Virginia, was in command of the out¬
posts where Washington was killed. Colonel Rose took charge of
the body, which, with the personal belongings, was returned to
General Lee. Colonel Rose, however, retained a letter found in
the breast pocket of Washington’s coat. The letter was pierced
by a bullet and stained with blood. That letter is now before me.
It has been made yellow by time; the hole made by the bullet
is there, and there is a dark stain around the ragged edges.

The letter that General Lee wrote to Miss Washington is beau¬
tiful in tone and composition, but it calls up pathetic and somber
memories. The pathos and the horror of the fratricidal strife!
The North, though nominally victorious, is still a great sufferer
in this sense — the best of its American blood was poured out upon
a hundred battlefields. Their places have been taken largely by
people of alien races and an alien creed. Our congested cities
in the North are the breeding places of anarchy and lawlessness,
while powerful politicians consort in great public demonstra¬
tions with the purple-clad emissaries of a foreign power. Obvious¬
ly an object lesson.

The South has come back from the struggle strong, chastened,
resolute. The South is still American, retaining the old Ameri¬
can ideals and traditions. The South still has its problems,

1352

McLEAN GOVERNOR

In Congress

especially one very grave problem; but I am convinced that to
the new South we must look in large measure to defend and up¬
hold the faith and the ideals that “have made and preserved us
a nation.” John T. Rose.

Cazenovia, N. Y.

On the occasion of the anniversary of the birthday of
General Lee in 1925, the House of Representatives at Wash¬
ington City suspended business and stood in silence.

Maj. Charles M. Stedman, the only Confederate soldier
in Congress, came down the aisle, amid the applause of the
members ; and he made a beautiful address on the character
and greatness of Lee. When he concluded, the House rang
with applause.

Later Congress passed a joint resolution as follows:

FOR THE RESTORATION OF ARLINGTON

Joint Resolution in Congress authorizing the Restoration of
the Lee Mansion in the Arlington National Cemetery,
Virginia, passed without a dissenting vote, February, 1925.

Whereas, the era of internecine strife among the States having
yielded to one of better understanding, of common loyalty, and
of a more perfect Union; and whereas, new honor is accorded
Robert E. Lee as one of the great military leaders of history,
whose exalted character, noble life, and eminent services are recog¬
nized and esteemed, and whose manly attributes of precept and
example were compelling factors in cementing the American
people in bonds of patriotic devotion and action against com¬
mon external enemies in the war with Spain and in the World
War, thus consummating the hope of a reunited country that
would again swell the chorus of the Union: therefore be it

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress Assembled, That the Secre¬
tary of War be, and he is hereby authorized and directed, as
nearly as may be practicable, to restore the Lee Mansion in the
Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, to the condition in which
it existed immediately prior to the Civil War, and to procure, if
possible, articles of furniture and equipment which were then
in the mansion and in use by the occupants thereof. He is
also authorized, in his discretion, to procure replicas of the
furniture and other articles in use in the mansion during the

FRATERNITY

1353

period mentioned, with a view of restoring, as far as may be
practicable, the appearance of the interior of the mansion to the
condition of its occupancy by the Lee family.

And during the same session of Congress the administra¬
tion caused to be minted at Philadelphia 5,000,000 half dol¬
lars stamped with the heads of Lee and Jackson for the
benefit of the Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial.

Time brings its changes, and the spirit with which the
people of the South addressed themselves to the duties of
citizenship has apparently met with a response at the North.

As agreeable as is this era of good will heightened by
the patriotic sentiments that pervade the entire Union, the
particular scene presented by the progress, prosperity and
happiness of the people of the State is yet more inspiring
to them.

Great credit for this happy condition is due to the en¬
terprising captains of industry and to the general excellence
of both races of the people, but, with gratitude, particular
applause is awarded without stint to Governor Charles B.
Aycock for the advancement in education, while the phe¬
nomenal benefits that have accrued from good highways
are largely attributed to Miss Harriet Morehead Berry, be¬
cause of her activities in her chosen field of service that
tended to bring about the great and fortunate consumma¬
tion.

In every aspect North Carolina now appears to be ad¬
mirable, and the skies are bright with promises of long
continued happiness for her people.

■

; ;

• u

NOTES ON THE FIRST VOLUME

On page 137, mention is made of the appointment of Capt. Henry
Wilkinson as Governor of Albemarle. It has now been ascertained
that Captain Wilkinson never sailed from England.

On page 287, reference is made to the probable origin of the
“Croatan Indians” of Robeson County, since designated by the Leg¬
islature of the State as “Cherokees.” A reasonable suggestion seems
to be that when Stede Bonnet’s pirates were routed in 1719, some
escaped and, penetrating the swamps of Robeson, there associated
themselves with the Indian inhabitants.

On page 426 is a reference to the action of the people of the Cape
Fear in regard to imported tea, 1774. In 1922, Prof. Charles McLean
Andrews published The Journal of a Lady of Quality, being a diary
of Miss Schaw, who arrived at Brunswick in February, 1775, and
remained on the Cape Fear some six months. He mentions that she
had no -tea at Brunswick, but a month later was served “with a dish
of tea” at the house of a royalist some forty miles distant. On page
1 55, speaking of the ladies of Wilmington, she wrote: “The ladies
have burnt their tea in solemn procession ; but they delayed, however,
till the sacrifice was not very considerable, as I do not think any one
offered above a quarter of a pound.” Evidently, she was present on
the occasion. Her reference to the fact is the only one known.

On page 634, in the account of the battle of Kings Mountain, after
the proof was read, some printer removed the 25th line and replaced
it with the line that properly appears as the 3d line of page 636. The
sentence with the line improperly removed was, Ferguson used the
“bayonet and made a heroic onslaught.”

' •

■

■ i . . r. lv I " {

■ • ’ i.

INDEX

[Figures refer to pages]

Abbott, Joseph C., accepts bribe for corrupt practices . 1066

makes inflammatory speech to negroes . 1084

Abolition success in 1860 election alarms the South . 534

Abolitionists, Assembly adopts strong resolutions in reference to . 376

Academies, charters and trustees, 1784 . 32

Academies incorporated . 445

thirteen chartered at one session of the Legislature . 455

twenty-five incorporated . 163

Accounting in pounds and shillings, coinage in dollars and cents . 199

Accounts, State, changed to dollars and cents . 200

Act of Assembly held void . 53

Adams, John, President . 152

Adams, John Quincy, presents Massachusetts petition for dissolution

of the Union . 430

Adjutant-General, report of on troops in service . 892

Adkinson, Joseph H., fights on his home ground. . 978

Ad-Vance, capture of . 923

formerly Lord Clyde, famous as blockade runner . 851

Africans, large Methodist membership in Wilmington . 171

Aftermath of war, apprehensions of Grant and Sherman . 1004

After sixty years: letter recalling incidents of the war . . 1351

Agriculture, Board of, established . 286

boys’ and girls’ clubs . 1307

condition of at the close of this record . . 1306

Department of established . 1182

Department of extends its activities . 1307

Department operations enlarged..... . 1293

in 1800 . 164

in period following the Revolution . 4

under Craig’s administration . 1252

Agricultural conditions, glimpses . 258

Agricultural Society, State, functions efficiently . 277

Society to hold State Fair . 489

“Ain’t that General Hoke?’’ — incident following the war . 1011

Alabama secedes from the Union . 556

Alabama soldiers threaten the peace of Raleigh . 846

1358

INDEX

Alamance County declared in a state of insurrection . 1111

established . 472

Ku Klux activities in . 1110

Albemarle (ironclad) blown up by Cushing . 926

built on Roanoke River . 854

in action at capture of Plymouth . 884

in battle with seven Federal gunboats . . 898

Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal, connecting sounds with the Bay . 518

Albemarle Sound, inlets to from the ocean . 1310

Alderman, E. A., President of the University . 1216

promoter of education for women . 1196

Alexander County incorporated . 455

Alexander, John McKnitt, reproduces Mecklenburg Declaration from
memory . 271

Alexander, Julia, member of the Legislature . 1313

Alexander, Nathaniel, elected Governor . 201

Alexander, S. B., active in the Alliance movement . 1196

Alien and sedition laws passed . 154

Alleghany County established . 522

Allegiance, oath of taken by men in the east . 67b

to the State . 593

to the Union, Federal Supreme Court fails to point out reason for

superior claim .

Allen, J. D., portrays war feeling in the mountains .

Alston, Theodosia, tragic fate on North Carolina coast .

Ambitious projects for inland navigation .

Amendments to Constitution proposed by Fayetteville convention

American Colonization Society .

American Tobacco Company organized by J. B. Duke .

Americanism to be taught in schools .

Amnesty, proclamation of by President Johnson .

Anaconda and Atlas captured by British at Ocracoke .

Anderson, George B., commissioned colonel .

promoted to brigadier general .

wounded at Sharpsburg .

Anderson, J. R., general in command of the District of Cape Fear

relieves Gatlin of command .

Anderson, Edwin A., inventor of naval appliances .

mentioned for gallant service in war with Spain .

naval service and rank of .

placed in command of Cuban navy .

silver service presented to .

. 595
. 591
. 219
. 260
. 112
. 279
1218

1298
1091
. 228
. 606

787
. 747
650
691
1274
1210

1299
1274
1250

INDEX

1359

Anderson and Broadfoot colonels of Junior Reserves . . 931

Anderson’s Brigade in battles around Richmond . 734

Anderson, H. L., killed at Gettysburg . 828

Anderson, W. C., commanding artillery at Fort Hatteras . 648

Annexation of Texas, act passed by Congress . . 547

of Texas, resolution in Legislature rejected . 444

Annapolis conference to amend the Constitution; Caswell appoints

delegates . 48

Annie Childs, blockade runner . 708

Antagonism following the Revolution . 3

Appomattox, surrender of Lee’s army . . . 990

North Carolina troops paroled . 990

the last shot . 990

Argonne, North Carolina troops in battles . 1269

Arlington, Congress provides for restoration of . 1352

Armfield, Joseph F., colonel in war with Spain . 1207

Armfield, R. F., elected solicitor . 761

President of the Senate . 1166

Armies, Federal and Confederate, relative strength of . 1009

Arms and powder from Fayetteville furnished to other 'states . 601

Arms, cargo of received in Wilmington . 702

from Fayetteville Arsenal supplied to State troops . 637

great need of the Confederacy . 692

Lee writes for in dire extremity: suggests use of pikes . 700

President Davis undertakes to collect . . . 700

to be collected from private sources . 692

Armstrong, John, involved in land frauds . . 152

Army chaplains, testimony of . 783

convention denounces Holden’s agitation . 843

officers resign to enter the Confederate service . 604

under Lee, positions before Richmond . 728

under Lee reinforced from all quarters . 727

“Arrest Holden and send him out of the country”: General Hoke’s

suggestion for relief . 863

Arsenals at Fayetteville and Raleigh . 387

Arsenal at Fayetteville, machinery from Harper’s Ferry installed . 632

at Fayetteville, operations of enlarged . 777

at Fayetteville ordered to be equipped for manufacture of arms . 603

at Fayetteville surrendered to State forces . 599

Articles of Confederation, difficulties realized early . 26

Artillery, North Carolina in the World War . 1268

1360

INDEX

Asbury, Francis, in favor of emancipating slaves .

notes in Journal, 1780 .

preaches in State House .

Asbury’s Journal, glimpses of religious conditions in 1800 .

Ashe, John B., elected Governor; dies without assuming office .

Ashe, Major, purchases arms for soldiers . . .

Ashe, Samuel, elected Governor .

Ashe, Samuel, last surviving officer of N. C. Continentals, passes

Ashe, S. A., lieutenant in artillery service .

proposes cure for illiteracy .

publisher of Raleigh Observer . . .

Ashe, Thomas S., accepts Conservative nomination for Governor..

Associate Justice of Supreme Court .

elected to Congress .

elected Confederate States Senator . .

Representative in Confederate Congress .

Ashe, William S., dies of accident . .

in charge of army transportation .

delegate to national convention I860 .

elected to Congress . .

Ashe, Spencer and Williams, judges, under impeachment charges

exonerated by Assembly . . .

Asheville, occupation of prevented . , . : . .

Asperities of politics in 1787 . .

Assembly, first after the Revolution meets in Hillsboro .

of 1784 manifests progressive spirit . . .

prominent men in session of 1848-46 .

Assets and liabilities of the State in 1828 .

Assumption of State debts by Federal Government .

Atheism shows signs of subsidence .

Atkinson, Bishop, relates his experience with a plundering soldier.

Bishop, draws the line on subjects for thankfulness .

Atlanta burned by Sherman’s army . .

Atlantic, with name erased, sails on secret mission to begin war .

Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad, capital stock fixed .

completed . .

leased to W. J. Best . : .

leased to Howland Company .

revived after the war .

Atlantic and Tennessee Railroad, vicissitudes of .

Atlantic, Tennessee and Ohio Railroad chartered .

Atmore, William, glimpses of North Carolina in his journal .

150

. 171
. 169
. 187
. 701
. 148
. 374
. 599
.1211
.1183
.1069
.1183
.1165
. 529
. 661
. 753
. 754
. 536
. 483
. 51
. 52
.1006
. 78
. 28
44
. 468
. 318
. 121
. 408
967
1038
958
579
502
515
1185
1228
1144
1144
502
81

INDEX

1361

Automobiles, first legislation on the subject . 1237

revolutionize trade . 1320

Authors . 531, 1193

Averasboro, battle at . . . 978

Avery County established . 1242

Avery, A. C., Associate Justice of Supreme Court . 1191

Avery, five brothers in the war . 985

Avery, I. E., falls at Gettysburg . 826

Avery, W. W., chairman Committee on Platform . 536

delegate in Confederate Congress . . . 632

elected Speaker of the Senate . 511

mortally wounded . 920

Aycock, Benjamin, his keynote . 890

Aycock, Charles B., administration of . 1224

Democratic candidate for Governor . . . 1213

education the keynote of his inaugural address . 1225

elected Governor . . 1214

last speech and death of . 1242

Ayer, Hal W., Auditor . 1205

Badger, George E., appointed judge of Superior Court . 276

appointed Secretary of the Navy . 426

elected Senator . ; . 451, 470

fails of confirmation to U. S. Supreme Court . 500

offers ordinance of secession in convention . 614

pen sketch of . * . 611

to Ely: no Union feeling in North Carolina . 706

Badin, notable as an industrial community . 1304

Bagley, D. W., in command of ship when torpedoed . 1276

Bagley, Worth, killed at Cardenas . 1209

Baker, John A., appointed colonel of Third Cavalry . 753

Baldwin, John A., warns Lincoln of effect of the first shot . 580

Bancroft, George, changes attitude toward freemen of the Albemarle

section . 671

Bank certificates issued as currency . 1237

resources following the World War period . 1284

Bank of Cape Fear incorporated . 199

Bank of the State of North Carolina chartered . 359

Banks in the war period . 893

in 1868, limitations on . 1088

of issue incorporated . .• . . 199

1362 INDEX

Banks rechartered . 359

State, made impossible by Federal Taxes . 1144

State, sound condition of . 252

suspend specie payments . 319, 388

under Craig’s administration . 1253

Banners of various devices . 616

Baptists flourish in early times . 10

organization and growth of . 1349

Earbasin, Francis N., railroad construction engineer . . . 411

Barn burners hanged by Ku Klux . 1098

Earn burning, negroes incited to . 1093

Barnesmore, first foreign steamship sailing from Wilmington . 1234

Barringer, D. M., chairman of Democratic Executive Committee . 1153

delegate to Peace Conference . 558

Barringer, Rufus, active in support of Ashe railroad bill . 476

commander in last Confederate victory . 987

taken prisoner . : . 988

Battery Wagner, Clingman’s Brigade suffers losses at . 832

Battle, Elisha, presides at session to consider the Constitution . 80

Battle, Kemp P., elected State Treasurer . 1033

President of the University . 1175

raises funds for the University . 1175

starts inquiry regarding appointment of military officers . 633

Battle, W. H., Judge of Supreme Court . : . 469

president of educational convention . . . 1164

Battle, Richard H., private secretary to Governor Vance . 752

Battle and Pearson retained on Supreme Court bench . 1033

Battles around Richmond, losses in . 735

State troops engaged . 734

Bays, H. C., major in the World War . 1267

Beaufort, vessel employed in defense of the State . 647

Beaureguard, general in command at battle of Manassas . 638

Beauty and booty, inducements to enlist in Federal army . 671

Bechtler’s coin recognized as standard . 406

Beddingfield, E. C., Corporation Commissioner . 1212

Beecher, Henry Ward, prominent in anti-slavery agitation . 509

Belfield, battle of . 931

Bell, John, and EVerett, Edward, nominated by Constitutional Union

party . 539

Bell battery, cast from Edenton church bells . 774

Bench and bar, collisions frequent . 47

Benefit of clergy extended to women . 202

Bennett, R. T., wounded at Sharpsburg . 747

INDEX

1363

Bentonville, battle of . 979

North Carolina troops engaged . 981

Berry, Hattie M., promoter of good roads . 1353

Bethel, battle of, celebrated with rejoicing . 1 . . . 630

First Volunteers engaged; Wyatt killed . 627

Bethel Regiment distinguished for officers in subsequent service . 660

Bible society formed . 231

Bickett, Thomas W., Attorney-General . 1255

death of . .1298

elected Governor . 1255

final message of to the Legislature . . . 1289

inaugural address of . 1255

notable events in administration of . 1288

on North Carolina’s part in the World War . 1281

success of in obtaining legislation . 1256

Bickett, Mrs. T. W., services of in public welfare work . 1314

Biggs, Asa, Confederate judge for North Carolina . . 815

elected to Congress . 447

elected Senator . 503

Judge of United States District Court . 517

proposes restrictions on aid to internal improvements . 485

Biennial sessions of the Legislature adopted . 1160

Bingham, Daniel, builds Experimental Railroad . 349

Bingham, William, begins career as an educator . 163

Bingham, D. H., opens a military school . 410

Birney, James G., abolitionist candidate for President . 419

Blair, Gen. Frank P., nominated for Vice-President . 1079

proposes plan to restore government in the South . 1079

Blair, F. P., senior, visits Richmond in behalf of peace . 946

Blakely, Johnson, naval hero, lost at sea . 232

Blakely and Forsyth children adopted by the State . 234

Blalock, “Samuel,” married woman serving in the ranks . 693

Blalock, Tilman, captain in war with Mexico . 458

Bland, Kit, heroism of in attack on Fort Fisher . 940

Blasting Powder, Democratic campaign paper . 1155

Bledsoe, Anthony, complains of Indian atrocities . 60

Bleeding Kansas a storm center . 509

Blind, school for, project falls through . . . 455

Blockade running, extensive commerce at Wilmington . 707

more than a hundred vessels engaged in . 954

Blockade runners, number multiplied and commerce enlarged . 854

“Blood is thicker than water” — Governor Graham in address at Hillsboro 590
Blood worth, Timothy, speaker of the House; Senator . 144

i364

INDEX

Bloomsbury, Federal Court held in . 182

“Blow, Gabriel, blow”: despairing cry of a soldier at Appomattox . 991

Blue Book, publication of directed . 1258

Board of Agriculture established . 286

Boats on Dan and Roanoke rivers . 256

Boats transporting produce . 330

Boesch, Charles E., captain of engineers on Mexican border . 1252

Bolles, C. B., assistant at Fayetteville Arsenal . 777

erects battery at Confederate Boint . 607

Bond, Hugh L., Judge of Circuit Court, releases Kirk and Bergen . 1135

refuses to accept bonds of prisoners . 1138

Bonds authorized by the Legislature of 1868 . 1093

unconstitutional, decision by Supreme Court . 1096

Bonds of the State depreciated in markets . 1093

sold to procure war supplies . 851

Boner, John Henry, poet . 1338

Book stores and printing offices . 209

Boonsboro Gap, action at . 745

Boone’s Mills, engagement at . 833

Booth, John C., in command at Fayetteville Arsenal . 777

Border states, efforts to prevent secession of . 565

refuse Lincoln’s call for troops and side with the South . 587

Borough system of representation doomed to go . 369

Boston Exposition, Governor Jarvis strikes a popular chord . 1187

Botts, John Minor, tries to show Lincoln the way out . 582

Bosworth, Nathaniel, operates gold mine in Columbus County . 306

Bounties offered for enlistments . 668

Boyd, James E., Judge of Western District Federal Court . 1204

testimony in Holden impeachment trial . 1129

Boyd, W. K., literary work of . 1339

Boylan, William, commissioner to rebuild State House . 353

Boyce and Keitt call on North Carolina to join South Carolina in

secession . 550

threats of mob violence against . 550

Boyden, Nathaniel, appointed Judge of the Supreme Court . 1148

Brabble, Colonel, falls at Spotsylvania . . . . 906

Bradford, J. A. J., Colonel of Tenth Artillery . 659

goes to support of Fort Hatteras . 653

member of military board . 603

Bragg, Braxton, acting as Confederate Commander-in-Chief . 896

sent to command Cape Fear defenses . 936

Bragg, Camp, army reservation . 1321

INDEX 1365

Bragg, Thomas, death of . 1150

draws agreeable picture of conditions in the State . 511

elected Governor . 502, 509

elected Senator . 521

representative of Confederate Government in Raleigh . 815

Bragg, Thomas, contracts to repair State House . 334

Branch, John, elected Speaker and Governor . . . 255

elected Senator . 287

recites deplorable condition of the people . 276

speaker of Senate . 246

Branch, Laurence O’B., appointed brigadier-general . 786

elected to Congress . 508

killed at- Sharpsburg . 748

quartermaster-general . 605

Branch and Iredell elected Senators . 317

Branch’s Brigade in battles around Richmond . 734

Breckinridge and Lane nominated by seceders from Democratic National

Convention . 539

Brice, Francis, Tory, gives offense by parading streets . 46

Bridal touring by boat in early part of Nineteenth Century . 266

Bridgers, John L., commissioner to confer with seceded states . 559

Bridges built to connect highways . 1310

Brilliant men in the decade before the war . 530

Bristow Station, battle at . 830

North Carolina officers wounded in battle of . 830

British designs against New Bern frustrated . 228

Broadfoot and Anderson, colonels of Junior Reserves . 930

Brogden, Curtis H., becomes Governor . 1166

nominated for Lieutenant-Governor . 1152

Brooks, E. C., literary work of . 1339

Superintendent of Public Instruction . 1280

Brooks, George W., appointed judge of Federal Court . 1019

never reconciled to secession . 891

releases prisoners arrested by Kirk . 1119

Brown, Bedford, death of . 1106

delegate to National Convention 1860 . 536

elected Senator . 326

pen sketch of . 611

Brown, B. Gratz, accepted by Democrats as candidate for Vice-Fresident..ll54

Brown, John, becomes a hero and martyr . 526

butchery at Pottawatomie . 525

Northern sentiment regarding portrayed by Thomas L. Clingman.... 526
plot to massacre Harpers Ferry frustrated . 526

1366

INDEX

Brown, John, raid startles the South . 527

tried and executed . 526

Brown, Robert W., reports quick transportation of merchandise.. . 402

Broughton, Carrie, State Librarian . . . 1313

Brownlow, Parson, influence of in mountain country . 858

Bryan, John H., death of . 1106

Bryan, J. Q. A., appointed general of military division . 1112

Brummitt, D. G., Speaker of the House . 1281

Buchanan, James, appeal for preservation of the Union . 555

determines to hold forts at Charleston . 554

efforts to save the Union . . 547

holds that the Federal government has no power to coerce a state . 547

on the right of states to withdraw from the Union . .• . 594

visits the University . 532

Budget Commission created . 1282

“Buffaloes,” activity of in the eastern counties . 775

murders and robberies traced to . . 895

Bulwinkle, Alfred M., major in the World War . 1268

Buncombe County, first settlers . 127

Buncombe, Edward, for whom Buncombe County was named . 127

Burgwyn, Colonel in War with Spain . 1208

Burgwyn, Harry K., killed at Gettysburg . 828

Burgwyn, W. H. S., President pro tern, of the Senate . 1332

Burke, Dr., dies a sacrifice to his own obstinacy . 16

Burkett, Elder, preaches to four thousand in rain . 173

Burns, Otway, Burnsville named in honor of him . 357

master of Snap Dragon . 232

Burnside, Ambrose, appeals to loyalty of citizens . 681

commands at attack on Roanoke Island . 673

Burton, Hutchins G., elected Governor . 295

Burton and Williamson chosen delegates to Continental Congress . 81

Burwell, Armistead, Associate Justice of Supreme Court . 1191

Bushwhackers, companies of in the mountains . 858

Business in the South, Northern men engage in . 1029

Butler, B. F., takes Fort Hatteras . 654

Butler, George E., major in war with Spain . 1207

Butler, Marion, a leader in the Alliance movement . 1195

elected Senator . 1203

succeeds Polk as leader of the Peoples party . . 1200

Buxton, R. P., elected solicitor . 761

Bynum, William P., appointed Judge of Supreme Court . 1151

elected solicitor . 761

INDEX

1367

Cabarrus, Stephen, Speaker of the House . 122

Caldwell County formed . 424

Caldwell, David F., appointed to Superior Court bench . 438

Caldwell, Green W., declines nomination for Governor . 450

Caldwell, J. F., author of Carlton Letters . 308

begins agitation for education . . . 347

death of . 374

President of University . 162

Caldwell, Tod R., death of . 1166

elected Governor over Merrimon . 1156

message of to the Legislature . 1147

nominated for Governor . 1152

nominated for Lieutenant-Governor . 1068

Caldwell Institute incorporated . 387

Calhoun, John C., last speech read by Senator Mason . 484

Cameron, Duncan, commissioner to rebuild State House . 353

Cameron, Paul C., author of model agricultural addresses . 402

President of North Carolina Railroad . . . 635

Camp of instruction near Raleigh . ; 591

Camps of instruction at Raleigh, Warrenton, Asheville and Garysburg.... 637

Camp meetings, few surviving . 1221

first in North Carolina . 172

great gathering in Iredell County . 173

Camp Bryan Grimes, troops for war with Spain assembled at . 1208

Camp Vance captured by Kirk . 920

Campbell, Reuben, commissioned colonel . 606

killed at Hanover Court House . . . 724

Campbellton, name charged to Fayetteville . 32

Ca.mpbellton and Fayetteville Railroad chartered . 358

Canal between Yadkin and Cape Fear rivers projected . 452

Dismal Swamp, company chartered . 125

Canals for drainage encouraged . 149

surveys ordered . 256

Canard about Vance’s ambition published . 838

Canby, E. R. S., arbitrary action by . . 1062

succeeds Sickles as Military Governor . 1054

Candidates for Governor in 1862 . 714

Cannon, War Department declines to exchange with North Carolina . 207

for the war cast in Richmond . 646

1368

INDEX

Canova employed to make statue of Washington . 248

statue of Washington destroyed in State Capitol fire . . 337

statue of Washington, Ball Hughes undertakes its restoration . 340

statue of Washington, commission on reproducing . 1299

Cape Fear, Bank of incorporated . 199

country, great outpouring of people for revival meetings . 173

forts strengthened . 824

Cape Fear Steamboat Company chartered . 473

controls boats plying on the river . 267

Cape Fear Transportation Company operates successfully.... . 466

Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Railroad dismembered . 1203

restoration of status undertaken . 1297

Cape Fear River, deepening of the channel . 1296

dams to facilitate transportation . 1296

improving entrance channel . 518

Capital, State, located and named The City of Raleigh . 136

commission appointed to locate . 135

Capitol, cost far exceeds original estimates . 406

destroyed by fire . . . 337

new, first session of the Legislature in . 422

old, first meeting of Assembly in . 144

rebuilding of, rivalry between Fayetteville and Raleigh . 338

to be rebuilt in Raleigh . 351

Carlton Letters urging railroads and schools . 308

Carmichael, Priscilla, dies at age of 113 years... . 258

Carolina, blockade runner renamed Kate . 708

Carolina Power & Light Company, operates transmission plants . 1233

Carpetbaggers in the Legislature . 1075

virtual disappearance of . 1122

Carpetbag government in other states . 1167

Carr, Elias, active in the Alliance movement . 1196

elected Governor . ; . 1199

Carr, Julian S., builder of industries . 1218

mentioned for gallant conduct . 931

Carson-Vance duel . 306

Caswell Academy . 163

Caswell County declared in a state of insurrection . 1114

Caswell, Fort, evacuated and blown up . 955

taken by Wilmington Minute Men . 556

taken under orders of Governor Ellis . 588

Caswell, Richard, dies while Speaker of the Senate . . . 114

elected Governor . . . 37, 42

INDEX

1369

Catawba County established . 432

Catawba River, power development on . 1233

Catholic Church, historical summary of in the State . 1348

Cavalry, North Carolina, in one of the fiercest battles . 987

Cecile, Confederate government blockade runner.....' . 708

Cedar Mountain, battle of . 739

Cemetery Hill, daring and stubborn conflict at . 826

Cemetery Ridge, fifteen North Carolina regiments in assault on . 827

North Carolina losses at . 828

Census, first taken in the State . 55

of 1790, population of North Carolina . 126

provision made in 1784 for taking . 32

Centerville, military movements at . 741

Century, conditions at close of . 1216

Chamberlain’s Run, battle at . 987

Chambers, S. C., lieutenant-colonel in the World War . 1268

Chancellorsville, battle of . 819

losses in battle of . S20

officers wounded in battle of . 821

Changes in judicial system . 275

Chaplains in the Confederate army . . . 781

Charlotte, iron works plant makes shells and machinery for Confederate

Navy . 778

looting of stores by soldiers . 1005

scene of last meeting of Confederate Cabinet . 1005

visited by President Washington . 130

Charleston, Blue Ridge and Chattanooga Railroad chartered . 503

Charitable institutions of the State . 1343

Charities and Public Welfare, board created . 1257

Chase, H. M., examines Deep River coal fields . 1188

Chase, H. W., administration of as President of the University . 1341

Chase, Salmon P., Chief Justice, asserts supremacy of the civil law . 1052

discourages peace delegates . 561

Chatham road incorporated . 502

Chavis, John, negro school teacher . 21

Cheraw and Coalfield Railroad chartered . 512

Cherokee County formed . 415

Cherokee Indians, Haywood County purchased from . 254

moved to the far west..., . 414

petition for removal west of the Mississippi . 253

Cherokee Legion enlisted for war service . 857

Cherry, W. W., dies after nomination for Congress . 447

1370 INDEX

Chickamacomico taken by Georgia troops . 663

Child Labor Law modified . 1282

Childs, F. L., appointed chief artillery officer . 599

Chowan Female Institute chartered . ; . 472

Christie, D. H., instructs youths in the duties of a soldier . 532

Christian Reid (Fisher) author of novels and poetry . 1193

Church bells converted into cannon . 773

Church of England ceases as an organized influence . 169

of England in colonial days . 9

Churches in Wilmington . 270

in the State compared with New England . 1194

Cilley, C. A., appointed judge . 1063

City of Fayetteville, first steamboat built on the Cape Fear . 267

Cities, population of in 1920 . 1283

Civil Rights Bill, drastic measure in Congress . 1165

supplemental, passes with school provision struck out . . . 1169

Civil war: term used by Federal Supreme Court . 596

Claims, Board of appointed . 633

Clarendon Steamboat Company formed . 229

Clark, C. C., elected solicitor . 761

elected to Congress . 1036

Clark, Fort, constructed . 648

Clark, Henry T., acting Governor, message to Legislature . . 651

assumes duties of Governor . 634

attempt to displace . 661

his right to fill out term questioned . . . 712

Speaker of the Senate . 520, 545

Clark, Walter, Associate Justice of Supreme Court . 1191

Clark, Walter, candidate of all parties, reelected Justice of Supreme

Court . 1203

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court . 1227

commands skirmish line at Bentonvilie . 981

death of . 1322

literary work -of . . 1339

Clarke, W. J., Colonel of Fourteenth Volunteers . 637

raises money for service in Mexico . 359

Clarke’s Island bought for fortification purposes . 231

Clarkson, Heriot, Associate Justice of Supreme Court . 1328

Claxton, P. P., Commissioner of Education . . 1253

Clement, Lillian, first woman in the Legislature . 1313

INDEX

i37i

Clay, Henry, author of a bank bill which Tyler vetoes . 428

guest of Governor Morehead . 439

nominated for President . . . 439

welcomed to North Carolina . 438

writes famous letter in Raleigh . 439

Cleveland County formed . 424

.Clingman, T. L., appointed brigadier-general . 702

appointed Senator . 517

colonel commanding Twenty-fifth Volunteers . 650

declares Lincoln a dangerous man . 548

in battle near Goldsboro . 790

makes entrance into Federal politics . 437

wounded at Petersburg . 917

Clingman’s Brigade at Drury’s Bluff... . 910

at Battery Wagner . 832

Clinton, citizens of organize for protection from raids . 824

Clio Nursery and Academy of Science . 164

Clothing for prisoners, agreement for supplying . 974

and provisions supplied to troops . 892

Coal field disaster . 1336

Coal Glen, fatal explosion in mine . 1336

Coast defense, appropriation for . . 656

at Confederate Point, Fort Caswell and Fort Macon... . 607

Coast Guard, heroic rescue by . 1278

in the World War . : . 1277

Coastal plain, Piedmont region and mountains . 263

Coastwise traffic in farm and forest products . 402

Cockades, red, worn by adherents of secession . . 553

Cockburn, Admiral, withdraws from North Carolina waters . 229

Code of Civil Procedure adopted . 1 . 1077

practice under suspended . 1126

Coggswell, school principal and librarian . „ . 410

Coin, Bechtler’s, recognized as standard . 406

Coins, foreign, circulate as currency . 198

Cold Harbor, battle of . 729

strength of McClellan’s defenses . 729

vivid account of charge . 730

Cold Harbor, second battle of . 912

Federal losses in . 913

ten North Carolina brigades in . 912

Cole, Lieutenant-Colonel, killed at Chancellorsville . 820

Colleges suspended in 1863 . 894

1372

INDEX

Colleges and academies resuming in 1868 . 1089

Compulsory attendance, school boards may order . 1230

Colonization of negroes, Lincoln’s views on in second message . 802

Colonization society formed to send free negroes to Africa . 250

Columbia burned by Sherman’s army . 965

Columbus Normal School chartered . 512

Commerce of Wilmington in 1838 . 390.

of Wilmington large and important . 403

Common schools established . . . 394

first payments by State to counties . 425

measure adopted submitting approval to popular vote . 394

two counties only out of harmony . 443

Companies, first, formed for the war . 591

assigned to First Regiment . 601

Commodities, prices of in State of Franklin . 39

Comstock, Hilliard, major in the World War . 1267

Conditional Submissionists, impressed with Holden’s watch-and-wait

policy . 566

twenty-two chosen delegates to convention . 566

Compton, Major, killed in battle . 734

Comradeship among soldiers . 780

Conference, Methodist, at Green Hill’s house . 11

of judges instituted . 160

Confederate, newspaper published by D. K. McRae . 881

Confederate Congress, delegates from the State. . 632

Confederate Point, defense strengthened . 650

battery erected . . 607

Confederate reunion at Wilson . 1321

Confederate States, Constitution of ratified by State convention . 622

initial steps taken . 560

North Carolina joins . 620

Confiscation of slaves . 797

Conflagrations, several notable at Wilmington . 434

Conflict between State and Federal judiciary . 122

Congress, nominations for in 1872 . 1155

North Carolina delegation to not seated . 1036

North Carolina members admitted . 1078

Southern States admitted to representation in . 1073

Congressional apportionment, nine districts instead of thirteen . 437

Congressional divisions of counties . 123

Connor, George W., Associate Justice of Supreme Court . 1328

Speaker of the House . 1245

INDEX

1 373

Connor, Henry G., Associate Justice of Supreme Court . 1227

death of . 1328

Judge of Federal Court, Eastern District . 1240

literary work of..... . 1339

on the secession of North Carolina . 617

Speaker of the House . 1211

tribute of the Legislature to his memory . . . 1329

Connor, R. D. W., literary work of . 1339

Conquest, Congress declares the war to have been . 1042

Conquered territory, Congress declares the South to be . 1041

Conscript act bears acutely on farm labor . 749

effect of in numbers enrolled . 776

exemptions . 720

leads to discontent . 788

passed by Confederate Congress . 719

Conscript camp, subject of controversy . . . 816

Conscripts between forty and forty-five years called into service . 856

in camps not welcomed by volunteers . 788

numbers enrolled to June 1863 . 822

Conservative convention held in Raleigh . 1067

notable men in its membership., . 1067

Conservative Convention (August, 1868) . 1081

Conservative, newspaper published by John D. Hyman . 881

Conservatives and Destructives . 760

Conspiracy to defraud the State . 48

Conspirators brought to trial . 56

Constitution, Federal, amendments proposed by Fayetteville Convention.... 112

draft of form adopted at Philadelphia submitted to Assembly . 80

convention ordered to be held to consider, it . 80

Federal, objections pointed out by Jefferson . 86

Federal, ratified by convention at Fayetteville . . . 112

Federal ratified by Virginia and other states . 87

Howard amendment . 1043

Women to vote . . . _• . 1290

Constitution, amendments to proposed in 1873 . 1160

as revised in 1866 rejected at the polls . 1037

of 1868, new provisions in . 1064

of 1868 adopted at the polls . 1071

oath to support not required of State officers . 123

rewritten under reconstruction . . 1064

Constitutional amendment — educational test — adopted 1900 . 1224

amendments adopted, 1914 — U. S. Senators elected by people . 1249

amendments adopted in 1920 . 1287

1374

INDEX

Constitutional amendments adopted, 1922 . 1294

amendments, defeated, 1913 . 1249

amendments, 1924 . 1327

amendments ratified by popular vote . 374

Constitutional Convention of 1868 . 1064

convention, 1875, call for . 1170

convention, campaigns for in 1871 . 1138

convention, election on ordered, 1870 . 1128

convention, movement in 1871 defeated . 1140

convention, measure submitted to popular vote . 366

convention, men of prominence among members . 368

convention, people approve by sectional vote . 367

convention, subjects debated . 369

convention, 1875, amendments adopted . 1173

convention, 1875, personnel of . 1171

Constitutional Union Guards . 1061

Consultation, Committee on appointed . 815

Contempt of court, attorneys cited for signing protest . 1096

Continental Congress, 1786; delegates elected . . . 55

Convention to consider Federal Constitution meets in Hillsboro . 88

debate continues a week . 89

Governor Johnston presides . 89

non-action on proposed amendments . 94

at Fayetteville to ratify Federal Constitution . Ill

Convention, Bragg, Clingman, Branch, Craig, Clingman, Ruffin and Win¬
slow, unite in letter recommending . 557

Convention called by election under reconstruction . 1055

Convention of 1865, election on . 1022

Convention, perpetuity of, opposed in Legislature . 657

Convention, secession, becomes unpopular . 711

closes its career . 711

political complexion changed . : . 710

Convention of states proposed by the Standard . . . 822

Convoy system successful in transporting troops . 1262

Cook, Charles A., Associate Justice of the Supreme Court . 1214

Cooke, James W., appointed to supervise completion of the Albemarle.... 855

Coolidge, Calvin, becomes President . 1326

Cooper, W. B., Lieutenant-Governor . 1289

Coor, James, proposes amendment to secure rights of the people . 80

Corporation Commission established . 1212

Corporations, increase in number of . 1291

Cothran, Perrin C., lieutenant-colonel in the World War . !....1267

Cotten, John W., major in war with Spain . 1208

INDEX

1375

Cotten, Lyman A., in command of submarine chasers . 1274

naval services of . 1300

Cotten, Mrs. Sallie Southall, active in women’s organizations . 1193

author of The White Doe . . 1193

Cotton bought and sold by the State . 892

culture of profitable in the seventies . 1163

exports follow invention of the gin . 139

exports from Wilmington . 1234

Federal raids for . . . . . 704

production increased after invention of the gin . 194

profits on war commerce in . 955

Cotton gin revolutionizes southern agriculture . 139

State buys right to make, use and sell . 165

Cotton factories in 1838 . . . 403

manufacturing, growth of the industry . 1218

manufacturing, notable progress of in the eighties . 1188

manufacturing in 1895 . 1201

mill, first in North Carolina . 230

mills at close of this record . 1301

mills chartered . 317

tax on after the war . 1015

Cotton Plant, early steamboat on the Cape Fear . 267

Cotton states felt themselves forced out of the Union . . . 962

County courts, agencies of civilization . 6

criminal jurisdiction . : . 123

County government, conflicting interests of east and west . 1184

Courts, David W., becomes Public Treasurer . : . 401

Court of Conference, name given . 183

renamed Supreme Court . 196

Court of Patents established . 156

Court holds act of Assembly void . 53

Court Reports issued before establishment of Supreme Court . 261

Courts, dilatory methods complained of . 44

independence of asserted by judges . 46

Coventry, Earl of, sues to establish validity of Granville claim . 197

Cowan, Robt. H . 434, 1068, 10S1

Cox, Albert L., colonel in the World War . . . 1268

Cox, J. Elwood, Republican candidate for Governor . 1239

Cox, William R., chairman of Conservative Executive Committee . 1165

judge, decision of in the case of Hoskins and others . 11S2

relinquishes ambition in favor of Vance . 1177

Cox’s Brigade fires last infantry volley of the war . 990

receives tribute from Lee . 990

1376

INDEX

Cowan, Mrs. James, the first woman mayor . 1312

Cowles, Andrew D., lieutenant-colonel in war with Spain . 1208

Cowles, C. D., lieutenant-colonel in war with Spain . 1207

Cowles, Calvin J., president of constitutional convention . 1064

Cowan, Robert H., president of Conservative convention . 1081

Craig, Locke, elected Governor . 1245

inaugural address of . 1245

Craige, Burton, delegate in Confederate Congress . 632

sponsor of secession ordinance . 614

Crater, explosion of . 917

Craven, Braxton, commands company of Trinity students . 778

important work at Trinity College . 409

Creecy, R. B., describes flight from Elizabeth City . 680

literary work of . 1339

Crescent, political newspaper . 1165

Crittenden resolution in interest of harmony fails . 552

Croom, Hardy B., famous as a botanist . 401

Crossan, Thomas M., sent out to command blockade runner . 851

Culpepper, John, elected to Congress . , . 226

Cumberland Gap, army defending surrenders to Federals . 859

Curtin, Governor, pleads for exchange of prisoners . 972

Curtis, Moses A., famous as a botanist . 401

Currency, Confederate . 893

Confederate, attempts to stabilize . 821

dearth of in 1868 . 1088

foreign coins as . 198

none in circulation in 1783 . 5

sound condition of State banks . 252

Cushing, William B., blows up the Albemarle . 926

exploit of at Smithville . 925

raid of near Wilmington . 926

Dahlgren, Lieutenant, raid and death of .

Dahlgren’s plot miscarries .

Daniel, John R. J., appointed Attorney-General .

Daniel, Junius, Colonel of Fourth Volunteers . .

killed at Spotsylvania .

Daniels, Josephus, acquires the News and Observer .

arrest and discharge on contempt charge .

efficiency of in the Navy Department .

issues first order for participation in the World War
Secretary of the Navy .

876

877
359
606
906

1202

1228

1273

1272

1253

INDEX

1377

Daniel’s Brigade in battles around Richmond . 735

Daniels, George B., in command of brigade . 917

Dan River Coal Field Company chartered . 521

Danville connection, subject of notable debate . 520

missing link, Colonel Ashe recommends construction . 786

road, A. S. Myers assigned to construction of . 786

Darden, Miles, man of height and weight..... . 400

Daughtridge, E. L., elected Lieutenant-Governor . 1245

Davidson, A. T., delegate in Confederate Congress . 633

Davidson County, creation of makes a stir in politics . 287

Davidson, Samuel, western pioneer, killed by Indians . 127

Davidson College incorporated . 387

students and plant of . 1345

Davie County established . 385

Davie, William R., commissioned brigadier general . 153

declines commission as major general . 227

elected Governor . .-. . 155

goes to France as commissioner . 158

interest of in founding the University . 113

takes political defeat to heart and removes from the State . 188

Davie and Iredell defend “state prisoners” . . 56

Davis, George, Attorney-General in Confederate Cabinet . 876

delegate to Peace Conference . 558

delegate in Confederate Congress . 632

delivers an address on results of the Peace Conference . 567

elected Confederate Senator . 658

imprisoned and paroled . 1029

Davis, Jefferson, appeals to Republicans for assurances . 549, 555

attitude of toward Blair’s overtures . 946

goes south after surrender . , . 992

on the Emancipation proclamation . 808

outlines plan for capture of New Bern . 864

President of Confederate States . 560

prisoner at Fortress Monroe . 1029

recommendations to Congress . 809

replies to Vance’s suggestion of peace proposals . 870

visits Raleigh . 1150

writes to Sherman asking for suspension of hostilities . 996

Davis, Joseph J., Associate Justice of Supreme Court . 1191

candidate for elector at large . 1081

elected to Congress . 1165

Davis, John W., Democratic candidate for President . 1327

1378 INDEX

Davis and Johnston conference at Greensboro . 993

Dawson, John G., Speaker of the House . 1295

Deaf and dumb, institution for instruction of chartered . 311

school for . 455

Deaf mutes and blind, appropriation for teaching . 444

Debt, bonded, of State in war period . 893

Debt of State in aid of the war, repudiation of . 1024

Debt, State, in 1925 . 1332

Debts of manufacturing companies, protest of Jones, Moore and Hill . 424

Debts of states assumed by Federal government . 121

Deep River Company chartered . 473

Deep River section, reports by Laidley and Wilkes . 515

Defection toward the Confederacy in the western counties . 858

Defense of North Carolina, by Joseph Sea well Jones . 273

Deficit, a disturbing element of Morrison’s administration . 1295

statement of . 1332

Delacy, Fulton and Stevens, promoters of steamboat traffic . 265

DeLagnel, J. A., in command at Fayetteville arsenal . 777

Democratic electoral ticket split, 1860 . 540

Democratic National Convention I860, adjourns without nominating

candidates . 538

National Convention 1860, aspirants for honors . 536

National Convention 1860, results in split . 539

National Convention 1860, sectional divisions . 537

Democratic Press recognized as party organ . 535

Denson, C. B., instructs youths in the duties of a soldier . 532

Denson, Daisy, secretary of Board of Public Charities . 1313

Depreciation of property values . , . 424

Depredations by soldiers call forth protest from Vance . 816

Depression in the east resulting from Federal occupation . 707

DeRossett, Mrs. A. J., leader in relief to suffering soldiers,. . 953

DeRossett, William L., wounded in battle . 749

Deserters and bushwhackers take to robbery and murder . 860

•Deserters, activities of in western counties . 778

militia employed to arrest . 757

regiment of captured by Hoke’s Brigade . 866

Desertions, extent of near close of the war . 950

from the army attributed to Holden’s agitation . 739

multiply . 776

remedies for tried by Governor Vance . 807

stimulated by Holden’s propaganda . 844

Desolation wrought by Sherman’s army in the South . 960

INDEX

1379

Destruction of Federal brigades at Marye’s Heights . 769

wrought by the war . . 1008

Destructives and Conservatives . 760

Detective force, Governor Holden authorized to employ . 1094

De Trobriand, General, breaks up the Louisiana Legislature . 1167

DeWhaley, Lieutenant, killed in action with British man of war . 232

Deweese, John T., exposes corruption in the Constitutional Convention. ...1066

Dibble Steamboat Company chartered . 467

Dickens, Asbury, Secretary of the Senate . 430

Dick, Robert P., Judge Western District Court . 1151

Dickson, William, on the policy of making concessions . Ill

Dilatory methods of courts complained of . 44

Dillard, John H., Associate Justice of Supreme Court . 1183

Disastrous year in Wilmington: pestilence and fire . 269

Disfranchisement as to presidential electors arouses indignation... . 218

Disloyal organizations, investigation of . 1136

Dismal Swamp Canal, company chartered... . 125

Dispatches to Joseph E. Johnston from General Lee . ; . 967

Dissatisfaction growing out of the war . 823

with Senators and Representatives . 124

Distillation of grain prohibited as a war measure . 762

District (military) of Western North Carolina formed . 860

Divergences, attempts to compose . 549

Divisions of State for congressional representation . 123

Divisions consequent upon secession of the State . 624

Divorces, authority to grant divided between courts and Legislature . 262

Dix, Dorothea, efforts in behalf of asylum for the insane . 437

Dixon, Benjamin F., major in war with Spain . 1208

Dobbin, James C., elected to Congress . 447

inaugurates changes in naval administration . 514

premonition of his passing . 514

reelection prevented by political tactics . 498

Secretary of the Navy . 500

Speaker of the House . 487

speech in support of asylum for the insane . 473

sponsors Commodore Perry’s expedition to Japan . 514

stampedes convention to Fierce . 495

Dockery, Alfred, elected to Congress . 447

nominated for Governor . 501

makes unsuccessful run for Governor . 1045

Domestic commerce at New Bern and Wilmington . 216

Don, ship bought for blockade running . 852

1380

INDEX

Donaldson Academy . 327

Donnell, R. S., Speaker of the House . 757

“Do not take this too much to heart”: Lincoln’s words to colored people 799

Dortch, W. T., elected Confederate Senator . 659

Speaker of the House . 545

Douglas, Robert D., Attorney-General . ....1205

Douglas, R. M., impeachment trial of . ; . 1214

United States marshal . 1151

Douglas, Stephen A., nominated for President . 539

Doughton, R. A., Commissioner of Revenue . 1299

nominated for Lieutenant-Governor . 1199

service of in Congress . 1253

Doughton, R. L., influential in agricultural legislation . . . 1318

Draft act passed by Confederate Congress (see Conscript act) . 719

riot in New York . 823

Dreadnaughts commanded by North Carolina officers . 1273

Dreams of inland navigation . 260

Drury’s Bluff, battle of . 909

Hoke fights his way to . 908

Dudley, Christopher, proposes plan for public seminaries . 189

Dudley, Edward B., elected Governor . 381, 390

elected president of railroad . 380

pledges his private estate for the rehabilitation of Wilmington . 435

proposes a great State banking institution . 391

Duel, Carson-Vance . : . 306

Duel, Stanly-Spaight . 184

Dueling, drastic legislation against . 185

Duggan, W. S., captain in war with Mexico . 458

Duke, an illustration of a modern mill town . 1304

Duke, James B., leader in power transmission . 1233

makes large provision for Duke University . 1344

organizer of American Tobacco Company . 1218

Duke University outgrowth of Trinity College . 1343

Durham, Plato, relieved of charges in Ku Klux trial....' . 1141

Duty imposed by Assembly for benefit of Federal government . 31

East Carolina Exposition . 1321

East Carolina Teachers College, attendance and plant . 1342

change of name . 1293

Eastern members oppose progressive legislation . 200

INDEX

1381

Eaton, John T., presides at Democratic caucus .

Economic conditions following the war .

Economy program under McLean administration .

Edenton, population in 1820 .

Edgecombe County, state of illiteracy in .

Edgeworth School opened in Greensboro .

Education in 1800 .

recommendations' by Governor Williams unheeded .

strenuous efforts to advance .

Educational association, 1873, executive committee of .

progress in 1912 .

situation in the early seventies deplorable .

system, state of at the close of this record .

Edwards, Weldon N., elected to succeed Macon in Congress

pen sketch of .

President of Secession Convention .

presides over Secession Convention .

Speaker of the Senate . . .

Egypt mines supply coke for Charlotte “navy yard’’ . .

Eighth Volunteers organized . .

Election of 1862, discussion of candidates . .

of 1870 goes against Holden . . . .

new system provided .

under reconstruction .

Electoral Commission votes Hayes in over Tilden .

Electors, presidential, to be elected by districts . .

Electric power transmission, development of . . .

Elizabeth City, burning prevented by Federal troops .

defense of .

taken by Federals .

Ellis, John W., buys steamers for State service .

dies at health resort . .

elected Governor .

elected Judge of Superior Court .

leaves his post under failing health . .

nominated for Governor . .

on the war spirit of the people .

proposes protective measures .

refuses Lincoln’s demand for troops .

reports the number of troops accepted .

. 485

. 1143

. 1333

. 275

. 407

. 410

. 162

. 186

. 1197

. 1164

. 1243

. 1164

. 1307

. 249

. 610

. 612

. 568

487, 496

. 631

. 713

. 1118

. 376

. 1055

. 1180

. 190

. 1232

. 679

. 678

. 679

. 605

. 634

517, 535, 542

. 471

. 634

. 516

. 602

. 545

. 588

. 625

Ellis, John W. (of Columbus) against measures for weakening the
military power . 736

1382

INDEX

Ellis, armed steamer, captured by cavalry . 789

Ellis, vessel employed in defense of the State . 647

Emancipation a war measure . 803

a war measure as viewed by Lincoln . : . 798

demands of Abolitionists . 797

first step by Congress in 1861 . . . 796

gradual, preferred by Lincoln . 796

measures taken in 1862 . 751

moral obligation to . 800

Ohio resolutions submitted to the Legislature . 302

ordinance of defeated by popular vote . 1032

proclamation, draft of read to Cabinet . 1 . 798

proclamation gives new aspect to the war . 806

proclamation published by Lincoln . 798

race war feared in consequence . 800

restrictions on . 149

Virginia ready for gradual . 345

Embargo act paralyzes business . 204

Emigration from Atlantic states before the war . 569

movement of people to other states in the seventies . 1186

tide to the Southwest arrested . 493

to the West . 167, 244, 398

Emmons, E., State Geologist, reports on explorations . 498

Enforcement Act, aimed at suppression of Ku Klux . 1136

Engelhard, J. A., elected clerk . . . 1032

nominated for Secretary of State . 1178

Engineers, brilliant record of in action . 1267

Enlistments in the war . 1007

Episcopal Church, reunion of after the war . 1037

Prayer Book altered during the war . 773

School of North Carolina chartered . 360

Episcopalians open school for boys in Raleigh . 410

* organization and institutions of . 1350

Equal Suffrage Association formed . 1285

Equity jurisdiction given to Superior Courts . 7

Era succeeds the Standard as Republican organ at Raleigh . 1155

“Erring sisters, go in peace”: Horace Greeley . 551

Erwin, W. A., cotton mill operator . 1304

Erwin cotton mills, extensive system of . 1304

Evans, negro, establishes Methodist Church in Fayetteville . 170

Evans, Joshua, on mission of emancipation . 150

Evans, Thomas, leads expedition against Indians . 61

INDEX

1383

Evans’s Brigade in battle near Goldsboro . . .

Evarts, W. M., voices protest against Louisiana outrage .

“Every boy and man”; views of E. J. Hale on necessities of the war....

Evolution episode in the Legislature .

Ewart, Hamilton, Judge of Western District Federal Court .

Exchange of prisoners discontinued by the North .

Excitement, religious, at beginning of Nineteenth Century .

Exemptions from military service, report on by a legislative committee

Experiment, the great .

Experimental Railroad Company constructs road to quarry .

Expense of the war appalls the Convention .

Exports in early times . .

from Wilmington and Fayetteville in 1816 .

Exposition, State, held in Raleigh .

Exum, W. P., candidate of Peoples party for Governor .

Fagg, John M., lieutenant-colonel in war with Mexico . 458

Fair, State, provision made for holding annually . 489

Fairs, county, authorized by Assembly . 145

Fair, W. A., captain of cavalry on Mexican border . 1252

Faircloth, William T., Chief Justice of Supreme Court . 1202

Faison, Colonel, killed at Cold Harbor . 730

Faison, John M., service of in Congress . 1253

Faison, S. L., brigadier general in World War . 1263

Falling stars, splendid display . 354

Fanny Lutterloh, early steamboat on the Cape Fear . 267

Farm and forest products, coast-wise commerce in . 402

Farming during the war by negroes . 772

Farmers Alliance, beginnings of . 1195

becomes a power in politics . 1199

Farmers’ institutes, number and attendance . 1246

Fayetteville authorized to construct waterworks . 276

citizens of robbed by Sherman’s men . 969

destruction of mills and buildings at by Sherman . 971

entered by Sherman’s army . 968

population in 1820 . 275

visited by President Washington . 130

Fayetteville and Western Railroad, the State agrees to take part of stock 393

Fayetteville Railroad Company incorporated . 331

Fealty, oath of proposed in Convention . 667

.... 791
....1168
.... 823
....1334
....1204
.... 972
.... 172
.... 889
.... 114
.... 348
.... 631
5

.... 243
....1188
....1199

1384

INDEX

Federal Courts organized in the State after the war . 1036

expedition up the Neuse, Colonel Whitford attacks . 792

raids in eastern counties . 775

Federalist leaders lose seats in Congress . 188

Female Benevolent Society at Wilmington . . . 256

establishes a school . 291

Fifteenth Amendment, effect of . 1095

ratified by the Legislature . 1095

Financial crash of 1837 . 388

distress in 1819 . 269

distress in 1821 . 281

Finances, State, in 1857 ; bonds authorized....^ . 523

First regiment for the war; companies included . 601

First Volunteers arrive in Virginia . 605

engaged in battle of Bethel . 626

organized . 605

Fisher, A. W., carpetbagger, secures arms and equipment from Vermont-1082

Fisher, Charles, publishes attack on banks . 321

Fisher, Charles F., commissioned colonel . 606

killed at battle of Manassas . 642

Fresident of North Carolina Railroad . 513

Fisher, Fort, attack on abandoned . 939

battle and fall of . 940

bombardment of . 938

land assault on . 943 •

projectiles thrown in attacks on . 944

severity of the Federal bombardment . 941

Fisheries Commission, operations of . 1310

Fishing industry in eastern waters . 454

Five Forks, battle of . 987

Flag of the Fourth Regiment riddled at Seven Pines . 722

Flag, State, adopted, 1861 . 616

Governor authorized to procure . 446

Fleming, Nathan N., Speaker of the House . 659

Floral College chartered . 425

Florida secedes from the Union . 556

Flood in western section . 1251

Food for the army, appeal of Vance to the farmers . 814

Foote, James H., work of in Roll of Honor . 892

Foote, Percy W., praised for conduct in naval disaster . 1275

Forsyth, Benjamin, a military hero . 234

Forsyth County named after Col. Benjamin Forsyth . 234

INDEX

1385

Forsyth and Blakely children adopted by the State . 234

Forest and farm products, coastwise commerce in . 402

Forbes, Rev. E. M., remains in Elizabeth City to meet the Federals . 680

Foreigners, influence of . . 569

“Fort Hambry” taken by Captain Clarke and robbers executed . 1016

Foster, Charles H., elected to Congress but not admitted . 672

Fourth Volunteers organized . 606

Fourteenth Volunteers organized . 637

Fourteenth Amendment, effect of . 1043

ratified by requisite number of states... . 1079

ratified by Legislature of 1868 . 1075

rejected by the Legislature . 1048

Four-year term of Assembly members, Supreme Court holds adversely... .1099

Foust, Julius I., head of State Normal School . 1246

Fowle, Daniel G., adjutant-general . 762

elected Governor . 1191

Franklin, Jesse, elected Governor . 277

in message dwells on hard times . 282

elected pro tern, of the Senate . 189

returns to the Senate . 201

succeeds Martin in Congress . 155

Franklin, inhabitants warned against attempt to form a State . 40

people of defiant toward authority of North Carolina . 40

State of, attempt to form . 1 . 38

State of, ceases to exist . 67

France despoils American commerce . 153

Frazier’s Farm, service of Branch’s Brigade in battle of . 732

Fraternal organizations, secret and other . 1320

Fraudulent registration and voting . 1156

Frauds under reconstruction, resolution to investigate withdrawn . 1100

Fredericksburg, battle of . 764

forces engaged . 769

graphic description of battle . 766

losses reported . 769

North Carolina losses . 770

Free negroes, names stricken from militia muster rolls . 296

prohibited from settling in the State . 304

Free persons of color, bill to remove from the State fails . 331

Free schools, State slow in establishing . 245

Free Soil emigration to the West . 507

“Free-soil” territory . 280

Free Soilers, invasion of Kansas by . 507

1386

INDEX

Free suffrage becomes an issue in the Legislature . 472

bill passed subject to subsequent action . 503

first step in constitutional change . 491

submitted to popular vote . . . 512

Freeman, George W., principal of school for boys . 410

Freedmen, laws relative to . 1035

proposed system of laws relative to . * . 1026

Freedmen’s Bureau created by Congress . 1022

operation of gives concern . 1039

Fremont, John C., candidate for President . 509

Fremont, Samuel L., captain in war with Mexico . 457

engineer in charge of Cape Fear defenses . 649

French, G. Z., makes inflammatory speech to negroes . 1084

French, S. C., in command of defenses of Wilmington . 691

Friction between Vance and Confederate troops . 816

with Confederate government, causes of . 875

Fries, Francis, founder of early textile mill . 1324

Fries, Adelaide, literary and other activities of . 1317

Fries Company pioneer in power transmission . 1219

Frost year . , . 377

Fugitive slave act comes into discussion . 491

Fuller, Edwin W., poet . . 1338

Fuller, T. C., artillery service by in battle near Goldsboro . 792

elected to Confederate Congress . 848

elected to Congress . 1036

Fulton, Hamilton, English engineer, engaged to improve river navi¬
gation . 270

resignation forced . 302

Fulton, James, editor, advocate of secession . 553

Fulton, Saunders, killed in battle . 741

Fulton and Brazier too expensive . 287

Fulton, Delacy and Stevens, promoters of steamboat traffic . 265

Furches, David M., Associate Justice of Supreme Court . 1202

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court . 1214

impeachment trial of . 1214

Republican candidate for Governor . 1199

Furniture manufacturing, extent of . 1303

Fusion politics in the State . 1202

INDEX

1387

Gaines Mills, battle of . . . 729

Gales, Joseph, first editor in Raleigh . 159

advocates progressive measures . : . . . . . 210

becomes public printer . 177

Gales, Weston R., becomes editor of the Raleigh Register . 364

Gales and Seaton establish National Intelligencer . . 210

Galloway, John M., wounded at capture of Plymouth . 793

Gardner, James T., colonel of regiment on Mexican border . 1252

Gardner, O. Max., Lieutenant-Governor . 1255

Garland’s Brigade in battles around Richmond . 734

Gaston County incorporated . 455

Gaston, Hugh, killed in battle . 749

Gaston, William, author of “The Old North State Forever” . 422

antagonism toward the administration . 226

debate with Clay . 249

dying words of . 437

Justice of the Supreme Court . 361

on duties of citizenship . 343

Speaker of the House . 207

speech of, defeats removal of Capitol to Fayetteville . . . 340

support to Chief Justice Marshall . 320

Gattis, S. M., Speaker of the House . 1227

Gatlin, R. C., appointed Adjutant-General . 876

general commanding Department of North Carolina . 649

Gatlin v. Walton, important decision in . 891

Gazette, North Carolina, established at New Bern . . 15

General military hospital at Raleigh . . . 779

Genet, Citizen, buys ship in Wilmington for privateering . 138

Geological survey, first, made by Denison Olmstead . 290

Geological and Economic Survey established . 1230

Georgia secedes from the Union . i . 556

German language, religious services in . 335

Germans adopt Lincoln’s idea of warfare . . . 963

Germany, war with declared . 1260

Gerrard, Charles, devises land to University . 162

Gettysburg, battle of . 825

Lincoln’s memorial address at . 917

North Carolinians advanced farthest . 829

North Carolina officers wounded in battle of . 828

Giants of war: seven generals at Fredericksburg . . . 765

1388

INDEX

Gibson mine operated for gold .

Gibbs, George C., assigned to command of Salisbury prison..
Gillette, George W., captain of engineers on Mexican border

major in the World War .

Gillett’s farm, night attack on .

Gilliam, Henry A., goes to support of Fort Hatteras .

Gilliam, Robert B., elected judge .

Speaker of the House .

Gilmer, John A., elected to Congress .

elected to Confederate Congress .

labors to keep North Carolina in the Union .

nominated for Governor .

offered seat in Lincoln’s Cabinet . . .

pleads to let the crisis pass .

would have gone on his knees to avert bloodshed .

Gilmer, Robert D., Attorney-General . . .

Giraffe, ship purchased for blockade running . .

Gist, George, inventor of Cherokee alphabet .

306

778

1252

1267

696

653

761

469

756

515

815

568

509

565

573

589

1213

852

414

Glasgow, James, Secretary of State, involved in plot to burn State House 152

Glasgow trial, notable event in the State’s judicial history . 176

Glimpses of North Carolina in William Atmore’s journal . 81

Glenn, Robert B., elected Governor . 1228

notes progress in his inaugural address . 1229

“Go it, cotton tail”: Vance on the field of Malvern Hill . 738

“God bless gallant old North Carolina”: Lee’s words to Cox’s Brigade.... 990

Gold found in Cabarrus County . 306

Gold seekers, exodus of to California . 481

Golden period of North Carolina’s existence . 529

Goldsboro, battle near . 790

citizens of organize for protection from raids . 824

occupied by Schofield . 982

Goldsborough, Matthew T., railroad construction engineer . 411

Gorman, John C., Adjutant-General . 1148

Governor, house for authorized . 148

required to reside in Raleigh . 201

Governor Dudley, blockade runner renamed Nellie . 708

Governors, conference of, called to meet in Raleigh, fails; informal

conference held . 510

of nine Northern states press Lincoln to begin hostilities . 577

Governor’s Mansion, construction of begun by Jarvis . 1186

Governor’s Palace . 352

INDEX

1389

Government funds, Assembly provides for accepting deposit of . 384

powers of under the constitution . 116

Gowns for judges and speakers abolished . 160

Graham, A. W., Speaker of the House . 1239

Graham, John W., author of measure to repeal railroad appropriations.. ..1102

Graham, Edward K., President of the University . 1247

Graham, Joseph, goes to rescue of settlers in Gulf states . 235

proposes plan for military academy . 186

Graham, W. A., a principal actor in last scenes of the war . 984

address on Mecklenburg Declaration . . . 1174

choice of Whigs for Governor . 440

Confederate States Senator . 761, 930

contribution of to cyclopedia . 1174

death of . : . 1174

declares that blood is thicker than water . . . . . 590

declares the spirit of independence . 759

elected Governor . .• . 441, 450

elected Senator . . . 423, 432, 1033

first to deliver an inaugural address . ' . 446

five sons to volunteer for war service . . . 761

interviews Vance on separate State action for peace . . 986

misjudges the state of the Northern mind . 948

nominated for Vice-President . 492

pen sketch of . 611

opposes proposed sedition act . - . 667

President of Conservative Convention . 1069

proposed for Governor in 1862 . 713

recommendations to the Legislature . 451, 469

reputed author of article on Mecklenburg Declaration . 273

Secretary of the Navy . 492

urges north and south railroad lines . 354

Grant, Ulysses S., admits severe losses at Petersburg . 916

elected President over Seymour . 10S4

in supreme command of Union armies . . . 899

on exchange of prisoners . 973

shifts scene of fighting south of James River . 915

shows magnanimity to surrendered soldiers . 991

Grant, U. S., and Henry Wilson, nominated for presidential ticket . 1154

Granville claim contested successfully . 197

Granville and McCulloh lands held to be forfeited . 32

“Grandfather Clause,” favorable report on by Josephus Daniels . 1211

1390

INDEX

Graves, Calvin, gives deciding vote for North Carolina Railroad bill..

Speaker of the House . ., . . .

Speaker of the Senate .

Gray, Elizabeth, raises question of benefit of clergy .

Greeley, Horace, accepted by Democrats as candidate for President-

counsels letting erring sisters go in peace .

on the right of states to leave the Union .

Greensboro College for Women .

Greensborough Female College incorporated .

obtains State loan .

Greensboro, looting of stores by soldiers .

plant at turns out arms for soldiers .

Green, T. E., test case of in rate regulation . .

Greenville, Federal raid on .

visited by President Washington .

Greenville and French Broad Railroad chartered .

Greenville and Roanoke Railroad chartered .

Grier, H. P., Speaker of the House .

Griffin Free School chartered .

Grimes, Bryan, states position of States’ Rights men .

Grimes, J. Bryan, death of .

Secretary of State . , .

Grimes’s Division takes a leading part in closing scenes of the war .

Grove, William B., distinguished public man and financier, passes .

elected to Congress . .

Gudger, J. M., service of in Congress .

Guilford Battleground preserved and marked with memorials .

Guilford Courthouse, scene of battle, visited by President Washington

Guion, Haywood W., author of novel .

member of military board .

Guion, 0. H., Speaker of the House .

Guthrie, Julius, in command of navy yard on Roanoke River .

Guthrie, W. A., Alliance candidate for Governor .

Gwynn, Walter, construction engineer of Wilmington and Weldon

Railroad .

engineer planning coast defenses .

479

431

469

202

1154

551

554

1346

387

473

1005

778

1236

834

128

503

358

1289

360

565

1299

1213

990

258

125

1253

1222

131

1193

603

1230

854

1204

411

648

Habeas corpus, suspension of . 759

Hafey, William J., Catholic bishop of Diocese of Raleigh . 1348

Hale, E. J., appeals for moderate counsels . . . 841

views of on necessities of the war situation . 823

Hale, Peter M., with W. L. Saunders publishes the Observer . 1181

INDEX

I39i

Halifax, visited by President Washington . . 128

Halifax Day made a legal holiday . . 1241

Halifax and Weldon Railroad chartered . 358

Hall, Edward, appointed to the bench . 424

Hall, John, elected judge . 178

Halleck, General, suggests the destruction of Charleston . 961

Hambley, Egbert, projector of great industry . 1232

Hamilton, J. DeR., literary work of . 1339

Hampton Roads Conference ends without result . 947

Lincoln’s ultimatum at . 950

Hampton, Wade, dash of on Kilpatrick’s camp . 970

Hancock, W. S., praises North Carolina troops in action . 703

Hanes, Lewis, elected to Congress . 1036

Hanes, P. H., founder of important industries . . . 1218

Hanover Court Plouse, Branch’s Brigade sustains attack. . 721

Hansa, ship bought for blockade running . „ . 852

Hargrove, Tazewell L ., captured . 833

Harriet Lane and other ships for relief of Fort Sumter . 577

Harpers Ferry, North Carolina troops in movement . . . 745

taken by Jackson . 745

Harris, C. J., Republican candidate for Governor . 1228

Harris, Judge Edward, dies on circuit with burial clothes in his trunk.... 225

Harrison, William H., elected President . 422

hero of log cabin and hard cider campaign . 421

Harnett County established . 503

Hartford convention excites fears of dissolution of the Union . 239

Hatteras, scene of Marconi’s wireless experiments . 1312

Hatteras, Fort, constructed . 648

fall of . 652

surrendered . 654

Hatteras and Ocracoke, defenses of . 648

Hawfields, scene of first camp meeting in State . 172

Hawkins, William, elected Governor . 213

Hayes, Rutherford, Republican candidate for President . 1178

Hayti, emigration of emancipated slaves to . . . 295

Haywood County purchased from Cherokee Indians . . . 254

Haywood, Duncan, killed in battle . , . 724

Haywood, E. Burke, surgeon in charge of military hospital . 605, 779

Haywood, John, commissioned judge of Superior Court . 139

Haywood, Marshall DeL., literary work of . 1339

Haywood, Judge, resigns to defend Glasgow; removes to Tennessee . 176

Haywood, William H., elected Senator . 433

resigns from the Senate on account of attitude toward tariff bill . 448

1392

INDEX

Heath, Robert R., Judge of the Superior Court . 523

Hebrews, political disabilities of removed . 625

Hedrick, B. S., dismissed from the University . 511

represents Governor Worth in Washington . 1035

Hedrick, J. J., active in erecting earthworks . 650

Helper, Hinton Rowan, author of The Impending Crisis . 525

Henderson County formed . 415

Henderson, Archibald, literary work of . 1339

Henderson, Leonard, chosen Chief Justice of Supreme Court . 327

Henderson, Thomas, agent for State in disposition of lands . 285

Hendricks, Thomas, A., Democratic candidate for Vice-President . 1178

Henrietta Steamboat Company chartered . 455

Henrietta, early steamboat on the Cape Pear . 267

Henry, Jacob, gains victory for religious tolerance . 207

Henry, Louis D., kills Thomas Stanly in a duel . 224

runs against Mor.ehead for Governor . 428

speaker, tables call for convention . 352

Henry, Patrick M., captain in war with Mexico . 458

Henry-Morehead debate . 429

Heroes of America, secret society . 919

High Point, foundations of wood-working industry laid . 1189

High schools, city and rural in 1924 . 1308

State aid for building . , . 1292

Highway Commission established . 1227, 1251

Highway construction, bonds authorized for . , . 1290

Highways, spectacular operations on . 1294

Hill, D. H., appointed to command camp of instruction . 591

assigned to command of coast defenses . 664

breaks Federal lines at Cold Harbor . 730

brigadier-general . 630

Colonel of First Volunteers . 605

commands reserve at Marye’s Heights . 765

crosses the Potomac . 744

given command of Whiting’s Division . 911

in command at Petersburg . v . 723

leads assault at Seven Pines . 721

lieutenant-general . 825

organizes demonstration against New Bern . 811

Hill, D. H., and C. C. Tew commissioners to purchase arms . 558

Hill’s Divisions at Sharpsburg . 746

Hill, Daniel Harvey, death of . 1323

literary work of . 1339

president of A. and M. College . 1247

INDEX

1393

Hill, Fred J., proposes to create office of Superintendent of Public

Instruction . 394

Hill, Gabriel H., in command of Fort Bartow . 674

Hill, Joseph Alston, proposes east and west railroad lines . 354

Hill, Sam P., Speaker of the House . 502

Hill, Theodore, poet . 1338

Hill, Lieutenant-Colonel, killed at Chancellorsville . 820

Hilleman, A. F., Speaker of the House . 1205

Hindenburg line broken by North Carolina regiments . 1265

Hines, P. E., surgeon in charge of Petersburg hospital . 779

Hinsdale, John W., colonel of Junior Reserves . 932

His own motion and his own wrong: characterization of Lincoln’s action.. 645

History of State, proposed by Archibald Murphey, falls through . 312

Historical Commission established . 1227

work and publications of . 1339

Historical Society, State, incorporated . 353

Hoar, George F., on the character of Southern men . 959

Hobart Pasha, served as blockade runner under the name of Captain

Roberts . 853

Hobbs, Graham K., ma jor in the World War . 1267

Hobbs, Mary Mendenhall, activities of . ; . 1287

Hodge, Abram, had presses at New Bern, Edenton, Halifax and

Fayetteville; . 140

printer to the State . 140

Hodges and Wills elected State Printers . 104

Hoffry, Michael, & Co., establish nail factory . 258

Hoke County established . 1242

Hoke, John F., adjutant-general . 606

captain in war with Mexico . 459

Colonel of Thirteenth Volunteers . 636

Hoke, John, and Michael Schenck operate first cotton mill in the State.— 230

Hoke, Michael, Democratic candidate for Governor . 410

Hoke, R. F., abandons movement against New Bern . 898

Brigade of at Drury’s Bluff . 910

Brigade of meets with disaster . 831

Division of at battle of Drury’s Bluff . 910

Division of sent to defense of Richmond . 923

in command of movement on New Bern . 897

preferred by Lee as a possible successor . 951

thanked for success at Plymouth . 886

wounded at Chancellorsville . 820

Hoke, W. A., Chief Justice of the Supreme Court . 1328

“Hold Robeson”: famous message of Gen. W. R. Cox . 1170

1394

INDEX

Holden, Joseph W., speaker of the House . 1075

Holden, W. W., agitation by denounced by the army . 843

appointed Governor by General Canby . 1074

appointments by . 1020

aspirations for senatorship disappointed . 521

asserts the right to declare counties in insurrection . 1099

becomes editor of Raleigh Standard . 436

death of . : . 1198

delegate to National Convention . 1860, 536

determines on Vance for Governor in 1862 . 714

draws following of the disaffected . 758

elected Public Printer . 756

hanged in effigy by people of Charlotte . 844

impeachment of . 1126

in 1863 announces himself a candidate for Governor . 879

inauguration of a Republican jubilee . •. . 1076

indictment of the Confederate government by . 835

loses nomination for Governor . 516

Memoirs of published . 1198

message of to the Legislature of 1870-71 . 1124

nominated for Governor by Republican convention . 1068

ousted from position of Public Printer . 546

pen sketch of . 612

political scheme framed in caucus at house of . 1049

presents Davis in odious light . . . 835

proposes public meetings to demand peace . 836

Provisional Governor . 1019

recommendations of to the Legislature . 1085

suspends the Standard . 878

Holmes, Gabriel, elected Governor . 284

on water transportation, roads and education . 286

urges experimental farm at University . 290

Holmes, T. H., assigned to command of the District of North Carolina.... 611

assigned to organize Reserves . 876

assigned to western command . 723

general in command of the Southeast . 633

returns to the plough . 1011

Hollester, Wesley, President and Superintendent of Raleigh and

Gaston Railroad . 449

Holt, Thomas M., succeeds Fowle as Governor . . . 1191

Holy and just war: expression in a soldier’s letter . 927

Home Guards, organization of by authority of the Legislature . 858

INDEX

1395

Homestead exemption bill fails . 331

exemption act passed . 521

provision for laying off . 1077

Hooker, “Fighting Joe,” in command of Union army . 818

Hoover, State versus, verdict of murder sustained for killing a slave . 361

Horse racing, popular sport . . . 166

Hospital, military, established at Raleigh . . 605

Hoskins, Charles, falls in battle in Mexico . 457

House, a, divided against itself, maxim set forth by Abraham Lincoln . 525

House for Governor authorized . 148

for Governor built . 201

Houston, David F., Secretary of Agriculture . 1253

Howard, 0. O., head of Freedmen’s Bureau . 1022

Hughes, Ball, undertakes restoration of Canova statue of Washington . 340

Hughes, John, nominated for Lieutenant-Governor . 1153

Hughes, T. J., sent out as purser of blockade runner . 851

Humphrey, Lot W., deprived of command of Third Cavalry . 753

takes revenge on Vance . 1158

Hunt, Memican, first Treasurer of the State . 31

Huske, Major, killed in battle . 734

Hyman, J. A., negro, elected to Congress . 1165

Hyman, John D., publishes the Confederate . . . 881

Ideals of Public men . 400

Illiteracy after the Revolution . 11

comparisons with other states . .* . 1191

on the increase . 407

state of in 1870 — Lincoln’s gift . . . 1145

Impeachment of Governor Holden, argument of counsel in . 1130

Chief Justice Pearson presides . : . 1127

counsel employed . 1128

Judge E. J. Warren president pro tern of the State . 1127

managers appointed . 1127

proceedings in . 1129

resolution introduced . 1126

Senators file opinions in . 1131

sentence imposed . 1131

vote on articles . 1130

Impeachment trial of Judges Furches and ‘Douglas . 1214

Impeachment of Judges Williams, Spencer and Ashe . 51

Impending Crisis, Hinton Rowan Helper’s book . 525

1396

INDEX

Immigration, efforts to attract to the State . 1125

Importation of negroes severely condemned . 195

Imprisonment for debt abolished . 286

Incendiary address issued by Republican members of the Legislature.— 1083

Industrial companies chartered . 425

progress in 1912 . 1243

Independence of separate states recognized in treaties . 116

Industries, condition of in 1923 . 1301

following the World War period . 1283

in period following the Revolution . 3

under Craig’s administration . 1252

Inequalities of representation corrected . 499

Indian aggressions in western territory . 60

population in 1835 . 415

Indians in Robeson and Person counties . 416

items of expense in making treaty with . 109

Infidel literature in circulation . 168

Infidelity as a mark of respectability . 169

Inflation and speculation, era of sets in . 379

Inheritance laws amended . 149

Inland navigation, dreams of . 259

navigation, Murphey’s report . 251

waterways, progress in development of . 1296

Inlets opened by storms . . 454

Innes Academy . 163

Insane Asylum at Morganton, contraction of . 1176

Insane, asylum for . 474

Instruction of Senators, Legislature assumes right . 366

Instructions unwisely made an issue . 183

Insurrections, negro, fears of in consequence of attempts in Virginia . 185

Invisible Empire . 1061

Intellectual activity promoted by struggle for independence . 22

Insurance Company, Marine, incorporated . 311

companies chartered . 357

Department created . 1212

Internal Improvement Convention held in Raleigh . 353

memorializes the Legislature . 358

Internal improvements, Legislature responds to Reid’s suggestion of

a judicious system . 500

recommendations of convention . 392

Interest, rates of following the war . 1144

Intoxicating liquors, limitations on sales of . 1235

INDEX

1397

Iredell, James, appointed commissioner to revise laws of the State . 105

elected Governor . 312

high rank of among illustrious North Carolinians . 175

publishes masterly dissertation on the Constitution . 85

recommendations in message . 316

Speaker of House . 255

Iredell and Branch elected Senators . 317

Iredell -and Davie defend “state prisoners” . 56

Iron industry begun in Lincoln County . . . 230

Irrepressible conflict, declaration in speech by W. H. Seward . 524

“I say fight, fight, fight!” Judge Ruffin in an address at Hillsboro . 590

Iverson, Alfred, Colonel of Tenth Volunteers . 631

Jackson County established . . 490

Jackson, Andrew, appointed major general . 235

carries the State on People’s Ticket . 294

elected President . 314, 346

hero of the Battle of New Orleans . 240

manner and address . 315

panic attributed to . 364

proclamation against nullification . 346

question as to nativity of . 315

resolutions approving his administration . 333

scenes at his inauguration . : . 316

vote of censure of, Senators Mangum and Brown dividing . 364

wins fame as Indian fighter . 235

Jackson, Thomas J., an avenging angel . . .. 726

killed at Chancellorsville . 819

James, Hinton, constructs jetties in the Cape Fear . 290

first student of the University . 140

Jamestown Exposition, the State makes an exhibit . ..1226

prizes awarded . 1231

Jarvis, Thomas, death of . 1251

lionized in Massachusetts . 1187

nominated for Lieutenant-Governor . 1177

Speaker of the House . 1122

succeeds Vance as Governor . 1183

succeeds Vance as Senator . 1201

takes charge of bill to repeal railroad appropriations . 1102 •

wounded at Drury’s Bluff . 909

Jay’s treaty, Sam Johnston’s comment . 146

1398 INDEX

Jefferson, Thomas, casts aspersions on Hooper and Hewes . 273

offers political preferment to North Carolina Federals . 181

supported by resolution in State Senate . 196

Jefferson and Burr, election thrown into House of Representatives . 179

Jenkins, James W., major in the World War . 1267

Jeffries, George W., publishes letters on agriculture . 277

Jerks, described as a fit . 174

discountenanced and censured by preachers . 175

strange accompaniment of religious fervor . 173

Jerman, Mrs. Palmer, leader in woman’s rights movement . 1316

Johnson, Andrew, attends exercises at the University . 1053

communicates with Holden . 841

elected Vice-President . . .* 933

impeachment trial of fails . 1072

interviewed by North Carolina delegations . .. . 1018

on the place of the negro . 802

resolution impeaching introduced . 1050

vetoes reconstruction bill . 1050

visits Raleigh . 1053

* Johnson, Charles, surgeon-general . 605

Johnson, Mrs. Kate, Commissioner of Charities and Public Welfare . 1314

Johnston, Port, taken by order of Governor Ellis . 588

Johnston, Joseph E., assigned to command in North Carolina . 966

final order of to his army . 1004

retires before McClellan . .• . . . 720

surrenders to Sherman . 1003

Johnston, Samuel, accepts appointment to the bench . 176

comment on Jay’s treaty . 146

elected Governor . 81

Johnston, William, commissary general . 605

proposed for Governor in 1862 . 713

Jones, Alex. K., elected to Congress . 1036

Jones, Calvin, Adjutant General, commissioned major general . 223

appointed to command sea coast defense . 229

Jones County, scene of carpetbag disturbances . 1098

Jones, Edmund W., allowed to resign judgeship while under impeach¬
ment charges . 1132

Jones, Fort, named in honor of Col. J. P. Jones . 885

Jones, Hamilton C., elected judge . 1099

• Jones, Johnstone, Secretary of Constitutional Convention . 1171

Jones, Joseph Seawell, publishes Defense of North Carolina . 273

publishes memorials of North Carolina . 274

INDEX

1399

Jones, W. D., appointed general of military division . 1112

Jones, Willie, becomes head of party to defeat the Constitution . 85

introduces bill providing for convention . 101

offers many important bills . 102

supported by a majority of the convention . . 94

Jordan, F. M., relates his experience as a wartime preacher . 782

Jordan, J. V., Colonel of Thirty-first Volunteers . 660

Journal, Wilmington, in the political campaign of 1862 . 713

Joyner, J. Y., reports progress in public schools . 1240

retires from Department of Education . 1280

succeeds Toon as Superintendent of Public Instruction . 1225

Judges, conference of instituted . 160

formal procession to courthouse abolished . 160

retirement of . 1293

rotation of established . 122

Judicial activities in politics, the bar protests against . 1096

circuits, State divided into two . 112

power, limitations in amendment to Constitution . . 143

procedure, reforms inaugurated . 149

reform by action of Assembly . 122

Judiciary, conflict between Federal and State . 122

conflicts of under Confederate government . 836

Junior Reserves called out . . . 876

• cover themselves with glory at Bentonville . 979, 981

formed into regiments and battalions . 931

in action at Belfield . 931

Justice, E. J., Speaker of the House . 1237

Justice, J. M., victim of an outrage . 1137

Kansas-Nebraska bill . 506

Kansas, war in . 509

Kate, blockade runner . 708

blockade runner, important factor in battle of Shiloh . 954

Kautz, Lieutenant, arranges exchange of prisoners . 655

Kehukee Association, wide extent of . 170

Keith, Colonel, executes men and boys at Shelton Laurel . 859

Keith, Robert, sets up printing press at New Bern . 15

Kenan, Thomas S., nominated for Attorney-General . 1178

Kenansville, Federal raid on . . . 823

Kennedy, William, elected to Congress . 226

Kerr, David, first President of the University: . 140

1400

INDEX

Kerr, John, elected Judge of Superior Court . 1166

runs for Governor against Reid . 494

speech of as chairman of Democratic convention . 1153

Kerr, W. C., services of as State Geologist . 1181

Kill Devil Hill, scene of airship’s first flight . 1312

King, William R., nominated for Vice-President . 495

raises his voice for war . 214

Kingsbury, T. B., editor of Our Living and Our Dead . 1164

Kinston, battle at . . . 978

Kirk, George W., directed by Holden to release political prisoners . 1118

raid of in Western Carolina . 920

Kirk’s Militia, arrests by . 1115, 1120

operations of . 1113

Kirkland, W. W., Colonel of Eleventh Volunteers . 636

succeeds Martin in command . 916

Kirkpatrick, W. E., captain in war with Mexico . 458

Kitchin, Claude, Democratic leader in Congress . 1254

strong support of President Wilson . 1318

Kitchin, W. W., contests unsuccessfully with Senator Simmons . 1244

elected to Congress . 1204

elected Governor . 1239

inaugural address of . 1239

Know Nothings, plurality of in Congress . * . 508

Ku Klux Klan, activities of . ; . . 1071

brought into prominence by outrages . 1138

introduced in the State . . . 1060

later organization of . 1283

scattered activities of . 1109

trials before Judge Bond . 1140

trials, prominent men indicted . 1140

trials, thirty-seven persons convicted and sentenced . 1141

Labor, Department of established . 1190

Lacy, B. R., State Treasurer . 1213

Lacy, B. R., Jr., chaplain in role of fighting man . 1269

Lady Davis (changed from Cornelia) ship in blockade running service.... 852

Lafayette, Marquis de, visits the State . 297

Lamb, John C., captures Federal pickets at Plymouth . 793

in command at Fort Clark . 648

Lamb, William, in command at Fort Fisher . 934

wounded in defense of Fort ’Fisher . 944

INDEX

1401

Land frauds exposed . 152

grants, Revolutionary . 285

low values in 1815 . 242

values in eastern counties depreciate . 357

Land and water, natural features . 263

Landlord and Tenant act passed . 1095

Lane, James H., Colonel of Twenty-eighth Volunteers . 660

Major of First Volunteers . 605

wounded at Cold Harbor . : . 912

Lane, Joel, sells site for State Capitol . 136

Lane’s Brigade at Fredericksburg . 767

Latham’s battery at Sharpsburg . 748

Lay of the land . 263

Leach, James Madison, elected to Congress . 524

elected to Confederate Congress . 848

Leach, J. T., elected to Confederate Congress . 848

League with hell, Abolitionist assertion regarding the Constitution . 550

Leake, Walter F., proposes cheers for South Carolina in Secession

Convention . 613

Leatherman, Minnie, manager of Library Commission . 1313

Lee County established . 1242

Lee, Robert E., anxiety of as to provisions for the army . 900

appointed to command on the field of Seven Pines . 721

army of reduced to ten thousand . 989

daughter of buried in Warren County . 1044

devotion of soldiers to . . . 903, 905

disappointment of at failure to carry out orders . 734

farewell address of . = . 1013

hampered by conditions . : . 900

invested with title of Commander-in-Chief . 964

military adviser to President Davis . 727

prefers Hoke as a possible successor in chief command . 951

surrenders at Appomattox . 990

Lee, C. C., Lieutenant-Colonel of First Volunteers . 605

Lee, Stephen, Colonel of Sixth Volunteers . : . 636

Lee, Colonel, killed at Cold Harbor . 730

Legislature, biennial sessions of proposed . ,1160

of 1862, old members and new . 756

of 1864 faces new questions . 887

of 1864 meets . 929

of 1868, declaration of as to political situation . 1082

of 1868, certain members of not admitted . 1076

of 1868, some members of ability . 1076

1402

INDEX

Legislature of 1870-71, political complexion of . 1121

of 1870-71, prominent men in membership of . 1121

of 1872, some of the members . - . 1157

of 1874, personnel of . ' . 1166

of 1874, political alignment in . 1166

of 1876, leading members of . 1180

spirit of adverse to the Confederacy . 814

Legislative procedure, reform in . 277

Lenoir, William, Speaker of the Senate . 123

Leonard, James A., major in the World War . 1267

“Let me kiss him for his mother”: incident of the war in Raleigh . 982

Liberals, political activities of . 1185

Library Commission established . 1226

Lillian, one of the most successful blockade runners . 954

Lillington County, proposition falls through . 522

Lincoln, Abraham, acts personally in precipitating a conflict . 579

anticipates presidential authority . 554

assassination of . 1005

attitude of toward the seceded states . 617

birth and early influence . 795

Cabinet originally for peace . 572

calls for 75,000 troops . . 587

calls for 300,000 men . 789

Congress refuses approval of his action . 645

declares the executive has nothing to do with secession . 571

declares that the Union is older than the states . 572

declares that all acts of disunion are null . 572

disavows intention to interfere with slavery* . 571

elected President . 543, 933

election of startles the South . 543

expression as to war of exhaustion . 977

meets peace overtures with attitude of a conqueror . 945

memorial address of at Gettysburg . . . 917

memory of sanctified . 1008

mistaken view of as to duration of the war . 718

nominated for President . 539

on a house divided . 524

on colonization of negroes . 795

on conditions of peace . 919

on the right of the people to shake off existing governments . 553

on the right of the people to dismember or overthrow the govern¬
ment . 794

INDEX

1403

Lincoln, Abraham, on the sincerity of Southern soldiers . 962

on expectations as to the war . 975

proposes to pay for slaves . 947

second inaugural address . 977

starts the war . 579

tries to sidetrack the Virginia convention . 580

yields to the governors . 577

Literary fund, plan adopted . 283

profits from investments vested in . 385

Literary and Historical Association . 1339

Literature, dearth of following the Revolution . 12

Littlefield, Milton, and associates, operations of . 1086

controlling influence of . ....1092

corrupt practices of . 1078

disappears and returns . 1092

makes proposition at long range.... . 1105

obstructs investigation . 1103

president of Republican convention . 1082

Linney, Frank A., Republican candidate for Governor . 1255

Loan for defense of the State . 603

Local Option, beginning of . 1185

Locke, Francis, elected Senator, but fails to qualify . 238

resigns from Senate . 248

Lockwood, T. J., blockade runner . 708

Locomotives named after counties . 412

Lodge, Henry Cabot, views of on rights of states . 548

Log cabin and hard cider campaign . 421

Logan, Judge, calls for Federal troops . 1137

deterred from holding court by fear of Ku Klux . 1137

throws many citizens into jail . 113S

Long, B. F., judge, firm in dealing with rate regulation . 1236

tries and sentences mob leader . 1236

Long, “Divine Polly,” nuptials celebration of . 108

Long, J. A., testimony of in Holden impeachment trial . 1130

Long, J. Elmer, Lieutenant-Governor . 1332

Long, Richard W., captain of volunteers for Mexican War . 451

Longstreet’s battle flag at Second Manassas . 743

Loom and spinning wheel in the homes . 809

Lord Clyde, English ship bought for blockade running . 851

Losses in battles around Richmond . 735

in the war . 1007

of North Carolina in the war . 1010

1404

INDEX

Lotteries resorted to for religious purposes . 311

to promote public enterprises . 167

Louisiana, political outrage of stirs the country . 1168

purchase . 190

secedes from the Union . 556

Loudoun Heights, eighteen North Carolina regiments in movement . 745

Love, J. R., holds Swannanoa Tunnel against Federals . 1006

Love, S. L., nominated for Auditor . 1178

Lovejoy, J., instructs youth in the duties of a soldier . 532

Lowry gang, Robeson County rid of . 1145

outlaws, depredations of . 1016

Loyalists lose hope . 45

status of in 1783 . 23

I-umber River and Cape Fear Railroad chartered . . . 358

Lusk, Virgil S., District Attorney . 1151

Lusitania, sinking of brings on war with Germany . 1259

Lutheran synod established . . . . . 288, 335

synod and institutions . 1347

Lutherans feel effects of War for Independence . 11

Lyell, Sir Charles, writes of Wilmington fires . 435

Lyerly, George L., major in the World War . 1267

Maces in procession before speakers abolished . 160

Macon, Fort, occupied by State troops . 588

siege of . 694

surrender of . 694

Macon, Nathaniel, advises the President to purchase Florida . 203

begins career in Congress . 126

demonstrates his statesmanship . 208

elected Senator . 248

elected Speaker of House of Representatives . 180

estimate of his influence . 324

loses speakership of the House . 204

opposed to appropriations for public improvements . 192

retires to private life . 323

seer and prophet . 193

Macon, John, with McCulloh and Montfort, charged with conspiracy to

defraud the State . 47

trial and disposition . 56

Madison County established . 490

Madison, James, elected President . 205

INDEX 1405

Madness rules the hour — distress of John A. Gilmer at the news from

Port Sumter . 585

Maffitt, J. N., blockade runner . 708

Magruder, Allan, writes of efforts of Northern governors to provoke war 581

Mail line from Fayetteville to Tennessee established . 167

Mails between Raleigh and Salem . 259

none to the interior following the Revolution . . . 6

Maine and Missouri, free-soil and slavery . 280

Mallett, Peter, conscript officer for North Carolina . 719

Malvern Hill, battle of . 732

Manassas, battle of . 638

Federal retirement becomes a flight . 642

forces engaged . 639

losses . 643

Manassas, second battle of . 741

Manassas Junction, Federal army stores at captured . 740

Mangum, W. P., elected Senator...' . 332

president of the Senate . 430

resigns from the bench . 276

returned to the Senate . 423

rises to prominence in antagonizing President Tyler . 428

Mangum, Wiley P., killed at battle of Manassas . 642

Mangum-Owen duel called off . 332

Manly, Charles, death of . 1150

elected Governor . 464

had three sons in the war . 985

nominated for Governor . 463, 485

inaugurated . 473

recommendations of to the Legislature . 488

Manly, Matthias, elected Senator . 1047

Speaker of the Senate . 1047

Manly’s battery at Sharpsburg . 748

Manning, John H., major in the World War . 1267

Manuel, State versus, opinion of Judge Gaston . 362

Manufacturing industries chartered . 386

in the State before the war . 533

Manufacturers in war period . 750

revival of following reconstruction . 1147

unexpected display of at Exposition in 1884 . 1188

Manumission, right of . 20

societies . 278

1406

INDEX

Map of State, by McRae and Brazier . 305

of State made by Price and Strother . 268

Marching, discomforts of . 784

Marshall, John, Chief Justice, holds circuit courts in North Carolina . 184

presides at trial of Granville claims . . . 197

Marshall, J. K., killed at Gettysburg . 828

Marshall raided by bushwhackers . . . 859

Martin, Alexander, delivers great address before Assembly . 29, 30

Speaker of the Senate . 79

Martin, Green, mortally wounded at Gettysburg . 826

Martin, Francis Xavier, young printer at New Bern . 15

Martin, James G., appointed Adjutant-General . 657

appointed brigadier-general . 702

assigned to command of troops in the State . 723

forms a brigade for State defense . 750

promoted to major-general . 657

relieved by Colonel Zachary . . . 916

relieved of position of Adjutant-General . 761

Martin, William, reports public school bill, which fails of passage . 262

Martin, W. F., Colenel of Seventh Volunteers . 636

Martindale, G. F., appointed general of military division . 1112

Marye’s Heights, defense of stone wall assigned to Gen. Robert Ransom.. 768

fighting of North Carolina troops at . 768

Maryland entered by Lee’s army . 744

Masons, early activity of . 313

Masonry, influence of at an early period . : . 15

Master and servant, kindly and affectionate relations . 534

Mattamuskeet Lake, drainage of . 1241

Maxwell, A. J., starts inquiry as to State deficit . 1295

Meade, George G., in command of Union army . 825

Meade, William, forms colonization societies . 279

Means to an end: Governor Morton’s views on emancipation . 800

Meares, Gaston, commissioned colonel . 606

killed in battle . 734

Meares, Iredell, Progressive candidate for Governor . 1245

Mebane, Charles H., Superintendent of Public Instruction . 1205

Mebane, Giles, Speaker of the Senate . 756

Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence . , . 271

centennial celebration of . 1173

confusion of dates . 272

published in legislative proceedings . 272

150th anniversary of . 1336

INDEX

140 7

Mechanicsville, beginning of battle .

North Carolina troops engaged in battle of . . .

Medical Examiners, board of established .

Medical Society, State, incorporated .

Medicines declared contraband of war . I .

resort to herbs and roots .

Meekins, Isaac M., Judge of Eastern District Federal Court .

Republican candidate for Governor .

Meigs, Captain, sees war at hand .

Memorial Sunday, an old observance . .

Memorials of North Carolina, published by Joseph Seawell Jones
Menninger, carpetbag Secretary of State, excoriated by Turner....

Mercer, Colonel, mortally wounded at Plymouth .

Merchandise, high prices of prevailing in 1816 .

Merchants Steamboat Company chartered .

Meredith College, growth and expansion of .

Merrimac converted into an ironclad and named Virginia .

Merrimon, A. S., Chief Justice of the Supreme Court .

declines to contest election of Caldwell .

defeats Vance for Senator .

delivers speech on Louisiana outrage .

elected judge of Superior Court .

elected solicitor . .

Justice of the Supreme Court .

nominated for Governor .

Meteoric shower, splendid display . . .

Methodist conference at Green Hill’s house .

societies, first in the colony . : .

Methodist Protestant Female College chartered .

Methodists, activities and growth of .

Metts, J. V. B., colonel in the World War .

colonel of regiment on Mexican border .

Mexican border, trouble on .

Mexico, war with, Legislature characterizes it as unjust .

war with, the North Carolina regiment .

war with, volunteers for service .

Mhoon, William S., commissioner to rebuild State House .

“Midnight judges,” political appointments of President Adams....

Milestone, the year 1874 in the State .

Military academy, plan proposed by Joseph Gordon .

board appointed .

. . 728

. 729

. 521

164, 521

. 749

. .1328

. 1326

. 579

. 1221

. 274

. 1094

. 884

. 243

. 455

. 1345

1191

1157

1158
1168
1033

761

1187

1153

354

512

1349

1266

1252

458

457

450

353

181

1162

186

603

1408

INDEX

Military departments, division of the State under reconstruction....

government, Federal, formed at New Bern .

Military and literary society incorporated .

Militia called into service . , .

districts, divisions of counties .

law, objectionable sections repealed .

regiments, Holden authorized to organize .

Miller, William, elected Governor .

Milton to Salisbury, charter for railroad .

Mimms, Fort, scene of Indian massacre .

Minerals, collection of specimens by State Geologist .

Minor, Sidney W., colonel in the World War .

colonel of regiment on Mexican border .

Missouri Compromise .

Legislature affirms adherence to .

repealed .

Mississippi secedes from the Union .

Mitchell, Anderson, elected to Congress .

Mitchell, Elisha, carries on geological survey .

reports on proposed State turnpike .

Mitchell, Mount, State establishes a park on .

Modern Greece, blockade runner, beached to avoid capture .

Money, none in circulation in 1783 .

used in election .

Monitor arrives in Hampton Roads .

sunk in a gale at sea .

Monroe, President, visits the State .

Montfort, Macon and McCulloh charged with conspiracy to defraud

the State .

trial and disposition .

Montgomery, A. S., plans rising of negroes .

Montgomery, Walter A., Associate Justice of Supreme Court .

writes of Vance’s speech to the army .

Moore, Alexander Duncan, falls in battle .

Moore, Alfred, goes on the bench .

judge of United States Supreme Court . . .

prosecutes “state prisoners” .

Moore, Augustus, appointed Judge of Superior Court .

Moore, A. G., and others arrested by Kirk at Yanceyville .

and others, denied relief by Pearson .

and others, writ of habeas corpus for .

.1112
. 704
. 231
. 692
. 222
.1126
.1080
. 238
. 376
. 235
. 531
.1267
.1252
. 278
. 471
. 507
. 556
. 431
. 305
. 453
.1251
. 709
5

.1156
. 787
. 788
268

. 47
. 56
804
1202
880
912

156

157
56

469

1115

INDEX

1409

Moore, B. F., appointed Attorney-General . 470

never reconciled to secession . 891

statement of before Scott committee . 1139

writes as to no durable Union . 564

Moore, John W., relates story of pillaging by Northern soldiers . 895

Moore, Mrs. Marinda B., author of wartime schoolbooks . 785, 1192

Moore, W. D., Speaker of the House . 1224

Moore’s Creek Bridge battlefield . 1223

Moravians as men of peace . . . - . 11

early activities of . 1324

Mordecai Female Seminary . 163

Mordecai, George W., . President of Raleigh and Gaston Railroad . 413

Morehead, James T., President of the Senate . 1157

Morehead, John M., delegate in Confederate Congress . 632

delegate to Peace Conference . 558

delivers economy message . : . 429

elected Governor . 419, 430

had two sons in the war . . . 985

message attracts wide attention . 434

message deals with Treasury embarrassment . 442

presides over Whig National Convention . 464

takes railroad construction contract . 513

views on passage of the North Carolina Railroad act . 480

Morehead, John M. (later), contests senatorship with Simmons . 1279

Moreliead-Henry debate . 429

Morehead-Saunders campaign for Governor . 419

Morgan, Fort, construction of . . . . . 648

Morganton, sessions of Supreme Court to be held in . . . 452

Morrison, Cameron, administration of . 1330

extends protection to negroes . 1330

inaugurated . 1290

inaugural address of . 1290

nominated for Governor . 1284

outlaws evolution textbooks . 1336

Morrison, Mrs., distinguished sons-in-law of, in the war . 985

Morrison, Robert H., establishes religious newspaper . 409

first President of Davidson College . 409

Morus Multicaulis craze . 387

Moses, Franklin J., addresses Secession Convention . 613

Motor vehicles revolutionize travel . * . 1320

Mott, J. J., president of eastern division of W. N. C. Railroad . 1079

Mountains, Piedmont region and Coastal plain . 263

1410

INDEX

Mount Airy, extensive granite industry of . 1306

Mud Cut, obstacle to construction of W. N. C. Railroad . 1184

Municipal offices vacated by Legislature of 1868 . 1077

Munitions of war received from England . 647

Murchison, John R., falls in battle . 912

Murphey, A. D., educational scheme of . 257

efforts of in behalf of public education . 251

recommends public improvements . 247

reports on conditions in the State . 246

retires from the bench . 275

Murphy Branch completed . 1201

Murphy, Walter, Speaker of the House . , . 1245, 1255

Murray, L. H., subjected to barbarous treatment . 1119

Muster, a custom of old times . 1220

McAden, R. Y., fiercely denounces secessionists . 569

Speaker of the House . 1047

McBryde, Representative, writes of pending legislation . 211, 213

McCoy, Spruce, becomes a Superior Court judge . 137

McClammy, Charles W., opinion of in Holden impeachment trial . 1131

McClellan, George B , deposed through Abolition influence . 801

in full retreat after Cold Harbor . 731

moving on Richmond . 718

protests against arbitrary measures . 944

runs for President on Democratic ticket . 933

McCorkle, Mrs. L. A., literary work of . 1339

McCorkle, Rev. Samuel, gives impressions of jerks . . 174

McCrosky, B. B., lieutenant-colonel in the World War . 1266

McCready, James, resolute stand and far-reaching results . 172

McCulloh, Macon and Montfort charged with conspiracy to defraud

the State . 47

trial and disposition . 56

McCulloh and Granville lands held to be forfeited . 32

McDowell County established . 432

McDowell, Thomas D., delegate in Confederate Congress . 632

McDowell, Colonel, killed at Chancellorsville . 820

McDowell, Federal army under, defeated at Manassas . 638

McElroy, John W., brigadier-general in command of Home Guards . 858

McGehee, Montfort, head of Department of Agriculture . 1188

Mclver, Alexander, efficient in school administration . 1145

Mclver, Charles D., promoter of education for women . 1196

INDEX

141 1

McKay, James J., author of tariff measure . 447

McKethan, Hector, takes command of Clingman’s Brigade . 917

McKoy, A. A., elected judge of Superior Court . 1166

McKimmon, Mrs. Jane, director of home industry on the farms . 1315

McKinney, R. M., killed at Lee’s Mills . . . 702

McLaw’s cavalry crosses into Maryland . 744

McLean, A. W., Democratic candidate for Governor . 1326

large powers conferred on . 1334

sets to work on his program . 1334

McNeil, Daniel, gives offense by parading streets . 46

McNeill, Franklin, Corporation Commission . 1212

McNeill, John Charles, poet . 1338

McNeill, James H., killed at Namozine Church . 988

McPheeters, William, principal of school and pastor of Raleigh . 164

MacRae, Hugh, services of to the Cape Fear section . 1254

McRae, Duncan K., candidate for Governor . 516

commissioned colonel . 606

Consul at Paris . 500

publishes the Confederate . 881

MacRae, James C., Associate Justice of Supreme Court . 1191

McRee, James, distinguished as a man of science . 401

McRee, Griffith, editor of Iredell correspondence . 175

McRee, William, plans details of campaign against British . 233

Nail factory in Raleigh . 258

Namozine Church, battle of, North Carolinians suffer severely . 988

Nash, Frederick, begins illustrious judicial career . 262

appointed Judge of Supreme Court . 438

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court . . . 499

Nation, significance of the word in Lincoln’s Gettysburg address . 918

National Convention proposed by Legislature . 1049

National Guard, brigade of sent to Mexican border . 1252

organization of perfected . 1230

National Intelligencer conducted by Gales and Seaton . 364

Natural features of land and water . 263

Naval forces, State, turned over to Confederacy . 632

officers resign to enter the Confederate service . 604

Reserve, enlistments and service in . . 1277

Navigation act bears hard on commerce . 282

inland, Assembly authorizes subscriptions for improvements . 254

inland, Murphey’s report . 251

Navy, fighting ships by the hundred for the World War . 1272

prohibition in . 1272

1412

INDEX

Navy organized for industry and education... . . 1272

services of in the World War . 1272

“Navy yard” at Charlotte . . 778

Negro insurrections, attempts in Virginia excite fears . 185

insurrection in Carteret, Jones, Onslow and Bladen . 282

schools in 1868 . 1070

schools taught by white women . 1060

troops, Lee suggests the use of . 949

uprisings thwarted . 186

Negroes, after-the-war convention of . 1027

become a menace to society . 1059

bill to conscript defeated . . . 949

civil rights given to by act of Congress . . . 1036

civil rights of extended . 1057

flock to New Bern . 1022

free, colonization society to send them to Africa.... . 250

free, rights of citizenship . 20

improvement and advancement of . 1325

in the Legislature, little friction with white members . 1163

military service in Revolution . 20

movement of to the North . 1283

new life of after the war . 1021

rations issued to . 1022

rising of planned by A. S. Montgomery . 804

start Methodist churches in Fayetteville and Wilmington . 170

State schools for . 1343

their attitude in freedom to the white race . 1027

thousands camp near Wilmington . 1022

“We love this land and people more than ever” . 1027

Nellie, blockade runner . 708

Neuse Manufacturing Company chartered . 341

Neuse River, proposal to make upper waters navigable . 503

New Bern, battle at . 686

defenses of . 684

disastrous fire at . 1295

instances of heroism at battle of . 689

losses in battle of . 690

movement against under Hoke . 896

plan of campaign against . 863

population in 1820 . 275

troops engaged in defense of . 685

visited by President Washington . 128

INDEX

1413

New Bern Bank incorporated . 1 . 199

New Bern Marine Insurance Company incorporated . 199

New Bern Steamboat Company incorporated . 256

New Garden School chartered . 359

New Hope Chapel Hill, site selected by the University . 136

New Inlet closed by a storm . 1311

New Orleans, Jackson’s victory over the British . 240

Newland, W. C., elected Lieutenant-Governor . 1 . 1239

Newport taken by troops under General Martin . 865

Newspapers chiefly political . 413

in the period before the War . 531

Raleigh in 1801 . 177

in the seventies . 1164

in the nineties . 1202

in 1924 . 1338

resume publication after the war . 1030

leading publications . 414

Ney, P. S., known as a teacher . 312

supposed to be Marshal Ney . 411

Nichols, Major (Federal) describes conditions around Fayetteville . 968

“No concession, no compromise”: voice of Senator Chandler . 562

“No kitchen and no parlor”: Neill McKay’s promise to negroes . 1155

No step backward, Lincoln’s advice taken by partisans . 556

Non-intercourse act displaces the Embargo act . 208

Non-jurors subject to special taxes . 2

Non-slaveholders in Confederate service . 661

Norfolk, mortality of North Carolina militia in camp . 236

North Carolina militia sent to defense of . 235

Norfolk Southern Railroad establishes numerous connections . 1250

North, resources of brought into the war . 1010

North Carolina brigades in the war . 786

losses of in the war . 1010

number of men sent to the war . 1010

troops with Lee in his final movement . 989

North Carolina Center and Seaport Railroad chartered . 358

North Carolina and New York Steamship Company incorporated . 513

North Carolina, blockade runner renamed Annie Childs . . . 708

North Carolina Booklet . 1340

North Carolina College for Women, extent of influence . 1342

North Carolina Military Institute conducted by D. H. Hill . 532

North Carolina Railroad bill passed in the House . 477

bill passed in the Senate . 479

construction begun . 482

1414

INDEX

North Carolina Railroad, construction finished . 512

cost of construction and equipment . 513

leased to the Richmond and Danville for ninety-nine years . 1201

passenger car Charlotte to Concord . 502

proposals to abandon the charter . 489

stock subscribed . 482

North Carolinians in other educational fields . 1320

Norwood, William, appointed judge of Superior Court . 276

Nullification, Jackson’s proclamation against . 346

Oath of allegiance, required and taken, 1791 . 134

to support Federal Constitution not required of State officers . 123

Observer, bought by S. A. Ashe . 1183

publication begun by Hale and Saunders . 1181

Ocracoke bar, 1200 vessels cross annually . 403

Ocracoke and Hatteras, defenses of . 648

Odell, Major, killed at Chancellorsville . . . 820

Ohio emancipation resolutions . 302

Oil transportation in the World War . 1273

Old Capital Prison, what the author as a prisoner of war read in a

Washington paper there . 799

Old customs passing away . 1220

Old Democracy, defeat of . 489

Old Hickory Division assigned to Ypres salient . 1264

Division, early in the World War . 1263

“Old North State Forever,” Judge Gaston’s song, published and sung . 422

Olds, F. A., work of in securing historical collections . 1339

Olmstead, Denison, makes first geological survey of the State . 290

Opinion as to facts prohibited in judge’s charge to jury . 149

Opposing forces in Virginia . 727

Orange Presbytery organized in 1770 . 10

Ordinance of secession adopted . 614

proposed by Badger . „ . 613

signed by every delegate . 616

Oregon Inlet opened by storm . . . . 454

Oregon, steamboat operated on the Tar and the Roanoke . 467

Orphan asylum organized at Fayetteville . 231

Osborne, E., chaplain in the war with Spain . 1208

•observations of on piety of soldiers . 783

unique exploit of on battle field . 722

Osborne, James W., candidate for elector at large . 1081

INDEX

1415

Our Living and Our Dead, publication by S. D. Pool . 1164

Outlaw, George, Speaker of the Senate . 218

Outrages on citizens perpetrated by Sherman’s men . 968

Overman, Lee S., first Senator elected by popular vote . 1250

services of in the Senate . 1318

succeeds Pritchard in the Senate . 1227

Owen, James, elected railroad president . 381

Owen, John, recommendations to Legislature . 325

sees ominous signs . 330

Packets plying to Northern ports . 402

Page, Frank, at head of State road improvement . :...1309

Fage, Henry F., promoter of sandhills development . 1322

Page, Robert N., service of in Congress . 1253

service of to the city of Washington . 1318

Page, Walter H., Ambassador to England . 1254

Paine, Robert T., colonel in war with Mexico . 458

elected to Congress . 508

exonerated by court-martial . 460

shoots a man in service . 460

Paint Rock branch completed . 1201

Palmer, Mary B., director of Library Commission work . 1313

Panic weathered successfully by North Carolina banks . . . , . 1161

Panthers and wolves, killing of encouraged . 167

Paper mill on Neuse River . 258

Partridge, Captain, establishes military schools . 410

Parrott, George F., sacrifices his ship and his life . 1276

Parker, F. M., Colonel of Thirtieth Volunteers . 660

wounded at Sharpsburg . 747

Pasteur, Edward, master of Snap Dragon . 225

Patents, court of established . 156

Patillo, Rev. Henry, observations as to young people . 8

Patterson, Samuel F., President of Raleigh and Gaston Railroad . 413

Paton, David, architect of the State Capitol . 406

Patrick, John T., starts development of sandhills . 1322

Patriotic societies in the State . 1222

spirit, appeal to by members of the Legislature . 814

Pawnee and other ships for relief of Fort Sumter . 577

Peace, conditions of stated by Lincoln . 919

on basis of independence: resolution by Legislature . 890

proposals fail in Legislature . 930

1416

INDEX

Peace Conference, called by Virginia, at Washington . 561

delegates appointed to . 558

George Davis delivers an address on the results . 567

proposes amendments to the Constitution . 561

Pearson, R. M., chosen Chief Justice of the Supreme Court . . 523

death of . 1182

declares the judiciary is exhausted . 1115

judge of Supreme Court . 471

reversal of by Supreme Court on exemption decision . 891

starts action for a State convention . 351

statement by in regard to refusal of habeas corpus

1132

urges whites to support Grant and Colfax .

Pearson and Battle retained on Supreme Court bench .

Peebles, W. W., sponsor of Local Option law .

Pender, W. D., appointed brigadier-general . .

Colonel of Third Volunteers .

killed at Gettysburg .

promoted by President Davis on the field of Seven Pines

promoted to command of a division .

report of battle of Fredericksburg . .

wounded at Cold Harbor .

Pender’s Brigade at Fredericksburg . .

in battles around Richmond . .

opens attack at Mechanicsville . .

Pendleton, George H., protests against arbitrary measures....

runs for Vice-President on Democratic ticket .

Penitentiary, construction of . . .

controversy as to location defeats measure .

proposal for submitted to popular vote .

provision made for building .

Pennsylvania, Confederate invasion of .

People’s Ticket designed to defeat Crawford for President....

Feople’s Ticket in 1862 . .

Perry, Commodore, expedition to Japan . .

Person County, Indian population of . .

Person, Sam J., elected Judge of the Superior Court . .

on final separation from the United States . .

“Persons of Color,” designation for negroes .

1081
1033
1185
787
606
827
. 722
821
767
730
766
734
728
945
933
1176
256
..444
1077
825
294
715
514
416
504
759
195

“Pestiferious ulcers”: Hinton Rowan Helper on reconstruction administra¬

tion . 1109

Petersburg, Butler begins movement against . 907

first fighting at . 915

Grant settles down to siege of . 916

INDEX

1417

Petersburg, sickness thins the ranks at .

tobacco hauled from State to .

Pettigrew, J. Johnston, adjutant-general .

appointed brigadier-general .

charge of at Gettysburg .

Colonel of Twelfth Volunteers .

exchanged and given command of a brigade . .

killed at Falling Waters .

wounded at Gettysburg . . .

wounded at Seven Pines .

Petway, Lieutenant-Colonel, killed in battle . .

Pharr, Edgar W., Speaker of the House . .

Philadelphia convention to consider defects in the Constitution .

delegates appointed to .

Philadelphia convention to revise Articles of Confederation .

conflict between large and small states .

Hamilton’s plan of government .

North Carolina delegates attend .

principles agreed on .

questions considered .

Phillips, S. F., accepts Republican nomination for Attorney-General

becomes chairman of Republican organization .

elected State Auditor .

Speaker of the House .

Philiips, Charles, Chairman of Faculty of the University .

Pickens, Fort, Captain Adams declines to reinforce .

Pickett, General, in command of expedition against New Bern .

withdraws from expedition against New Bern .

Piedmont region, coastal plain and mountains . r .

Piedmont Railroad chartered .

Pierce, Franklin, nominated for President .

Pierce, W. W., major in the World War .

Pigott, Jennings, elected to Congress but not admitted .

Pikes offered to Holmes by Lee .

Pilots of blockade runners, service of .

Pillaging by Northern soldiers in eastern counties .

Plank roads, legislation on .

come into use .

thirty-six incorporated .

Plot to burn State House .

Plymouth, battle of .

capture of provisions and clothing at .

916

165

750

787

829
636
723

830
828
722
734

1332
53
53
. 70
73
72
71
. 74
. 74
1108
1139
. 761
1032
.1175
. 583
. 863
. 868
. 263
. 712
. 495
.1267
. 672
. 701
. 924
. 895
. 478
. 467
. 499
. 152
. 883
. 793

1418

INDEX

Plymouth, important captures at following the battle . 886

taken from Federals . 793

Pocahontas and other ships for relief of Fort Sumter . 577

Poe, Clarence, publisher of farm paper . 1328

Political campaign of 1862, newspapers and speakers in . 716

Polk, William, dies mourned throughout the State . 374

Polk County incorporated . 455

Polk, James K., elected President . 741

Polk, L. L., appointed head of Agricultural Department . 1182

separates himself from the Democratic party . 1199

Polk, Mrs. Sarah, promoter of Experimental Railroad . 348

Pool, Bettie F., literary work of . 1339

Pool, John, elected Senator (after the war) . 1033

political conduct of investigated . 1132

proposed for Governor in 1862 . 713

Pool, S. D., elected Superintendent of Public Instruction . 1166

Pool, Solomon, President of the University . : . 1090

Poole, D. Scott, author of anti-evolution resolution . 1335

Population doubled in twenty-five years . , . 1 . 1229

movement of . 334

of cities in 1920 . 1283

of the State in 1783 . 1

of the State in 1800 . 162

of the State in 1840 . 398

of the State in 1920.. . 1291

Populist nominations in 1894 . : . 1202

Portrait of Washington in Capitol . 161

Port terminals, transportation measure of Governor Morrison . 1297

Potter, Robert, begins brilliant career in Congress . . . 321

proposes plan to relieve financial distress . 320

fined and imprisoned for brutal orime . 321

killed by mob in Texas . : . 321

Poteat, W. L., President of Wake Forest College . 1344

Potomac, Army of, strength and equipment . 899

River crossed by Lee’s army . 744

Pou, E. W., service of on Committee on Rules . 1318

wins distinction in Congress . 1253

Powhatan and other ships for relief of Fort Sumter . 577

Powers of government under the Constitution . 116

Powder for the war made at Raleigh . 646

mill at Raleigh blown up with fatal results . 1000

ship exploded in front of Fort Fisher . 937

INDEX

1419

Power transmission, connections of with plants in other states . 1303

transmission, number and extent of plants . 1303

Pratt, Joseph Hyde, colonel in the World War . 1267

head of G, and E. Survey . 1230

public service of . 1241

Preparations for war . 601

Presbyterian colleges for women . 1345

membership and benevolences of . 1350

on the ground early . 10

Presbytery, Orange, organized in 1770 . 10

Presidential elections, changed by constitutional amendment . 192

electors chosen by Legislature . 215

electors, election of under Confederate government . 661

electors, method of choosing changed . 219

electors, provision for election by districts . 190

Press Association shows appreciation of State Exposition . 1188

Association, strong organization of editors . 1338

number of publications in 1924 . 1338

Price, Charles, Speaker of the House . 1180

Price, William J., captain in war with Mexico . 458

Price and Strother make map of State . 268

Prices, action limiting taken by convention . . 666

of merchandise in 1816 . . . . . 243

Primrose, W. S., President of State Exposition . 1188

Princeton, fatal explosion on, . 438

Printing offices and book stores . . . 209

office opened in Halifax . 16

press set up at New Bern . 15

Prisoners of state . 50

brought to trial . 56

conviction and sentence . 57

of war, treatment of . 960, 973

Pritchard, Jeter C., elected Senator . : . 1203

Federal Circuit Court judge, acts of in rate regulation . 1235

Privation in Lee’s army . 900

of the people increase . 929

Progressive Farmer, publication of begun by L. L. Polk . 1195

Prohibition, State, approved by popular vote . 1237

State election on in 1881 results unfavorably . 1185

Prometheus, first steamboat on the Cape Fear . 266

Property revaluation, first effect of . 1287

revaluation of under Bickett . 1258

1420 INDEX

Property, revaluation of directed by the Legislature . 1282

values in 1870 . 1147

values and taxes in Bickett’s administration . 1256

Prosperous conditions in third decade of century . 1301

Prosperity during the Sovereign State period . 108

Protestant Episcopal Church organized in State . 146

Convention, first, held at Tarboro . 289

Provisions at cost, aid for the poor and families of soldiers . 762

and clothing supplied to troops . 892

purchased, report on by Vance . 850

Public improvements, legislative action . . . 247

necessity, Lincoln’s excuse for unauthorized war measures . 597

schools, bill passed providing for a fund . 300

Pugh, Senator, declares Crittenden resolutions would have saved the

Union . 562

Purdie, Colonel, killed at Chancellorsville . 820

Purnell, Thomas R., Judge Eastern District Federal Court . 1204

Puryear, R. C., delegate in Confederate Congress . 633

Quakers allowed to wear hats in court . 32

movement of to Indiana . 335

movement of to the west . . . 244

presented by grand jury at Edenton . 151

take attitude hostile to slavery . 150

suffered little from Revolution . . . . . 11

Quota of North Carolina in anticipation of war in 1808 . 207

Race conditions in 1854 . 505

equality under the Constitution of 1868 . 1065

riot in Wilmington . 1206

Racing, horse, popular diversion . 166

Radcliffe, J. D., Colonel of Eighth Volunteers . 631

Railroad celebration at New Bern . 515

Commission, establishment promoted by Marion Butler . 1196

east-and-west line projected . 386

mileage in 1895 . 1201

Railroads, Ashe bill for a North Carolina system . . . . . 476

Ashe bill passes readings . 479

authorized to issue bonds to be endorsed by the State . 424

Beaufort to Fayetteville line chartered . 502

Beaufort to Goldsboro line chartered . 500

INDEX

1421

Railroads, celebration of completion to Raleigh and Wilmington . 413

conflicting policies . 404

construction progress in 1856 . 512

discrimination in rates of . 1235

discrimination in freight rates . 1248

J. F. Caldwell’s plan . 310

Joseph Alston Hill proposes east and west lines . 354

important lines projected in 1887 . 1190

in operation after the war . . . . . 1144

new lines and connections . 1320

new projects . 467

operated during the war period . 785

progress in construction . 388

projects and construction . 380

Salisbury to Tennessee line chartered . 500

State aid and new projects . . . 490

State obligations for . 431

the State divests itself of control . 1320

to Petersburg and Norfolk . 348

toll gates on . 411

train loads of freight from the interior to Wilmington . 513

William A. Graham urges north and south lines . . . 354

Raleigh Academy . 164

Raleigh Canal, commissioners appointed for cutting . 105

ironclad, wrecked on a sand bank . 925

ladies of, form a society for philanthropic purposes . 276

name given to the State capital . 136

peace of threatened by Alabama soldiers . . . 846

population in 1820 . 275

vessel employed in defense of the State . . . 647

Raleigh and Columbia Railroad chartered . . . 386

Raleigh and Fayetteville Railroad chartered . 376

Raleigh and Gaston Railroad chartered . 376

completed . 411

foreclosure and sale authorized . 444

goes from bad to worse . 465

purchased and operated by the State . 449

Ramseur, Stephen D., killed in battle . 928

the youngest Confederate major-general . 929

Ransom, Edward, President of Constitutional Convention . 1171

Ransom, M. W., asks Judge Brooks for writ of habeas corpus . . . 1117

commissioner to confer with seceded states . 559

1422

INDEX

Hansom, M. W., death of . 1229

delivers the speech of his life . 1168

elected Senator . 1148

in command of brigade . 833

wounded at Drury’s Bluff . 908

Ransom, Robert, assigned to command of Pamlico District . . 691

colonel of Ninth Cavalry . . . 659

commissioned colonel . 606

promoted to major-general . „ . 914

Ransom’s Brigade at Boone’s Mills . 833

in battle of Malvern Hill . 734

at Fredericksburg . 765

at Sharpsburg . 746

Ransom’s Division at battle of Drury’s Bluff . 910

Rate discrimination, solution of by the Legislature . 1248

Rate regulation, special session called to deal with . 1237

Ravenscroft, Bishop, supervises school for boys . 410

Rayner, K., author of resolution denouncing Jackson’s administration.— 396

Rayner-Mander, term to characterize redistricting of the State . 454

Reade, E. G., appointed Confederate States Senator . 876

elected judge . 849

elected to Congress . 508

president of 1865 convention . 1023

with John Pool, author of incendiary political address . 1083

Reams Station, battle of . 922

North Carolina brigades in battle of . 922

“Reason has left; rage controls”: views of Jonathan Worth on Lincoln’s

action . 609

Rebellion often the duty of patriots . 1043

Rebuilding Capitol, rivalry between Fayetteville and Raleigh . 338

Reconstruction, attitude of Sickles toward State government . 1051

barbarous treatment of prisoners under . 1120

condition of the people under . 1056

congressional, first act of . 1050

congressional, inaugurated . 1040

era begins . 1035

fraud and corruption under . 1107

policy of Lincoln pursued by Johnson . 1018

political alignment under . 1067

regiments of State troops under Clarke and Kirk . 1113

registration of voters . 1054

INDEX

1423

Reconstruction, the press strong in denouncing Holden’s acts under . 1115

the State becomes a military district . 1050

villainous and incompetent officials under . 1109

Red Shirts, political organization . 1206

Red Strings, organization used by Holden for political purposes . 1045

Regimental Histories, compiled by Judge Walter Clark . 1322

Regiment, first formed for the war: companies included . 601

Regiments, designations changed . 650

new, formed . 650

Registration of voters, reform measure passed . 1212

Reid, D. S., delegate to Peace Conference . 558

elected Governor . 486, 495

elected Senator . 503

makes campaign for Governor on free suffrage . 463

nominated for Governor . 463, 486

Reign of terror in eastern counties . 1060

Reilley, Mrs. J. Eugene, activities of . 1287

Reilly, Major, succeeds to command of Fort Fisher . 944

Reilly’s battery at Sharpsburg . 748

Religion in early times . . 7

in the army . , . 764

revival of at beginning of Nineteenth Century . 172

Religious awakening . 408

conditions deplorable in 1800 . 168

revival accompanied by remarkable manifestations . 172

revival in the Confederate army . * . 783

side of soldier life . 781

test for office, debate in Constitutional Convention . 373

tolerance, the principle vindicated . 207

Rencher, Abraham W., charge d’Affairs at Portugal . 437

Representation, inequalities of corrected . 499

in Assembly, disproportion shown by Murphey’s report . 252

in the Legislature, limits adopted . 369

Representatives in Congress, first under the Constitution . 120

Republican National Convention 1860, nominates Abraham Lincoln

for President . 539

nominations in 1894 . 1202

party, birth of the organization in North Carolina . 1050

Repudiation of State debt incurred in aid of the war . 1024

Respass, Mayor of Washington, arrested for relations with Federals . 711

1424

INDEX

Revaluation of property under Aycock . 1226

of property under Bickett . 1258

Revenue officers and illicit distilling . 1182

Revival of religion at beginning of Nineteenth Century . 172

Revolutionary land grants . 285

Reynolds, Charles A., Lieutenant-Governor . 1205

Reynolds, John F., Federal general, cultivates friendly relations . 662

Reynolds, R. J., establishes tobacco industry . 1217

Rice, remunerative crop . 402

Richards, Walter P., captain in war with Mexico . 458

Richmond and Danville Railroad leases the N. C. Railroad . 1149

Ridings, judicial, State divided into four . 160

Ripley’s Brigade in battles around Richmond . 735

Rip Van Winkle, name applied to North Carolina . 390

River improvement, commission on appointed . 255

Rivers flowing into the Atlantic and into the Mississippi . 264

and canals, early efforts to promote navigation . 32

surveys ordered . 256

Roads, bond issues for improvement of . 1309

constructing from Fayetteville to Morgan, and from Burke County

to Charleston . 259

construction program of Morrison’s administration . 1290

demand for improvement of . , . 1238

extensive improvement begun . 1308

State, ordered to be laid off . . 304

State system inaugurated . 1309

to the western part of the State . 405

Roanoke and Raleigh Railroad chartered . 358

Roanoke and Yadkin Valley Railroad chartered . 358

Roanoke Inlet, plans for opening abandoned . 518

Roanoke Navigation Company earns dividend . 466

extends canal . 290

Roanoke Island, attempts to fortify . 662

battle on . 676

blame for fall of attributed to Huger and Benjamin . . . 681

Federal attack on . 675

surrender of . - . 678

troops engaged in defense of . 676

Roanoke Rapids, scene of industrial development . 1305

Robbers infest Piedmont and mountain country . 1016

Robbins, William M., elected to Congress . 1165

Roberts, Henry, captain in war with Mexico . 457

INDEX 1425

“Roberts,” Captain, blockade runner, later Hobart Pasha . 853

Robertson, Mrs. Lucy H., president Greensboro College . 1287

Robertson, James, urges protection from Indians . 61

Robeson County, delegates of in Constitutional Convention . 1172

Indian population of . 416

lawless acts by half-breeds . 1059

Robins, M. S., Speaker of the House . 849

Robinson, James L., Speaker of the House . 1157, 1166

tribute of appreciation to . 1160

Rocks of the central section . 453

Rocky Mount, Federal raid on . 834

Rodman, Wiley C., colonel of regiment on Mexican border . 1252

Rogers, S. L., corporation commissioner . 1212

superintendent of the census . 1254

Rogers, Sion H., elected Attorney-General . 761

elected to Congress . 500

Roll of Honor ordered by the Legislature . . . 892

Ross, E. A., killed at Gettysburg . . . 828

Ross, John, Indian chief, exerts great influence for good . 254

Rotation of judges established . 122

Rough and Ready Guards, commanded by Z. B. Vance . 591

Rountree, Judge, chairman of committee on Constitutional Reform . 1212

Ruffin, Thomas, accepts the gage of war . 590

chosen Chief Justice of the Supreme Court . 361

death of . 1106

delegate to Peace Conference . 558

elected Justice of the Supreme Court . . . 327

endeavors to prevent severance of the Union . 567

Judge of the Supreme Court the second time . . 523

pen sketch of . 611

resigns from Supreme Court . 499

saves the State from possible financial disaster . 322

succeeds Badger on the bench . 303

successful as a farmer . 402

Ruffin, Thomas (of Wayne), delegate in Confederate Congress . 632

elected to Congress . 1 . 501

killed in battle . 830

Russell, Daniel L., administration of . 1215'

elected Governor . 1204

Rutledge, Frederick, captain of cavalry on Mexican border . 1252

Rutzler, George P., major in war with Spain . 1207

1426

INDEX

Salem Academy and College .

Salem Female Academy .

Salem and Gerrnanton Railroad chartered .

Salem, visited by President Washington .

Salisbury, great mass meeting for preservation of the Union

population in 1820 .

prison, numbers of Federal soldiers at .

prison and other buildings burned by Stoneman .

site for military prison .

visited by President Washington . : .

Salt, ample supply provided by the State .

State contract for making .

works established to supply domestic demand . .

works, raid on . .

1345

163

512

131

542

275

972

995

778

131

894

762

216

920

Saunders, Bryan, and William Tannahill given exclusive steamboat

privileges . 376

Saunders, R. M., begins congressional career . 427

commissioner to rebuild State House . 353

elected Attorney-General . 318

elected Judge of Superior Court . . . 499

Minister to Spain . 447

negotiates treaty for purchase of Cuba . 447

Saunders-Morehead campaign for Governor . . . 419

Saunders, W. L., editor of Colonial Records . 1193

laugh abruptly ended . 768

refuses to answer questions of Scott Committee . . . 1137

Secretary of State . 1183

with Peter M. Hale publishes the Observer . 1181

Savannah, North Carolina troops sent to defense of . 963

Sawyer’s Lane, Federal advance strongly contested . 697

Scales, A. H., distinguished service of in the navy . 1276

Scales, A. M., death of . 1198

elected to Congress . . . 515, 1U65

in temporary command of Pender’s Brigade . 767

promoted to brigadier-general . 821

succeeds Jarvis as Governor . 1190

Scarborough, John C., Superintendent of Public Instruction . 1178

Scarcity of necessaries severely felt . 771

of necessaries in 1862 . 749

INDEX

1427

Schenck, David, author of contribution to Revolutionary history . 1193

Judge of Superior Court . 1166

president Guilford Battleground . : . 1222

Schenck, Michael, and John Hoke operate first cotton mill in the State—. 230

Schofield, General, advises slaves to remain with their masters . 1021

organizes county police force . 1017

restrains excesses . 1017

Schools, amount expended for in 1880 and 1890 . 1192

and schoolhouses in 1895 . 1201

attendance in 1842 . 432

books printed during the war period . . . 785, 1192

books, scarcity of in war period . 894

closed in 1865 . 1089

common, measure adopted submitting approval to popular vote . 394

compulsory attendance of certain ages . 1281

consolidation of districts authorized . 1247

deplorable consequences of interruption of . 1145

enrollment greatly increased . 1291

expenditures for in 1924 . 1308

for poor children, bill defeated . 296

for poor children maintained by a Raleigh society . 299

four months term required . 1231

free, Johnston County authorized to establish . 341

graded, special taxes for authorized . 1184

increase in number of teachers employed . . 1291

J. F. Caldwell begins agitation for . 347

kept open during the war . 785

public, at end of first decade . 493

public, early efforts to establish defeated . 11

public, kept open during the war . _• . 894

sessions of two and a half months in 1873 . : . _* . 1164

six months term ratified . 1257

summer, numerous attendance at . 1308

tax retained over opposition . 426

Textbook Commission . 1308

under care of the State . . . 1342

Scotland, artisans brought from to build the State Capitol . 406

Scott, Winfield, determines to secretly relieve Charleston forts . 554

Scott Committee to investigate alleged outrages . 1136

Scott, Don E., lieutenant-colonel in World War . 1267

Seacoast defense, preparations for made . 647

Seat of government, Fayetteville and Raleigh contestants . 99

1428

INDEX

Seaton, W. W., engages in publishing business . 210

Seaton and Gales establish National Intelligencer . 210

Seawell, Henry, commissioner to rebuild State House . 353

Seawell, James, promoter of steamboat operation . 267

Secession, adoption of ordinance celebrated with enthusiasm . 616

active and forceful advocates of . 564

an abstract question no longer — New York Times . 577

ayes and noes on adoption of ordinance called on motion of Ashe.... 615

breach between North and South widens . 556

call for a convention made by the Legislature . 602

commissioners appointed to confer with seceded states . 558

commissioners from Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia address the

Legislature . 558

communications received by the Legislature from New York, Minne¬
sota and Michigan . 558

convention assembles . 610

convention called subject to popular vote . 558

convention, prominent men among the members . 610

convention proposal defeated by popular vote . 567

declared a nullity . .1024

great convention held in Goldsboro . 568

great meeting in Raleigh, resolves to defend the State . 591

heated campaign preceding vote on convention . 564

movement, public meetings following 1860 election . 544

newspapers outspoken for . 553

no concession, no compromise, declared by Senator Chandler . 562

North Carolina joins the Southern Confederacy . 620

nullifying ordinance, vote on . 1032

opposition represented by prominent men . 564

ordinance of adopted . 614

red cockades worn 'by adherents . 553

right of asserted by New York and Virginia . 618

right of becomes a live topic after 1860 election . 544

sentiment spreads . 550

State Convention ratifies Confederate States Constitution . 622

statehood of states recognized in the Constitution . 593

storm warnings and counter movements at the North . 551

taught as a right of the states at West Point . 605

Second Volunteers organized . 606

Secret communications with the enemy . 925

Sectional animosities, obliteration of . 1352

Sedition, acts of, proposed to be made crimes . 667

INDEX

1429

Seldon, W. B., engineer engaged in fortifying Roanoke Island . 662

Selective service for the World War . '. . 1260

Senators and Representatives, dissatisfaction with in State Assembly.... 124

Senior Reserves called out . 876

organized into Seventy-seventh Regiment . 936

Sequoya, inventor of Cherokee alphabet . 414

Settle, Thomas, appointed Judge of Supreme Court . 1151

elected solicitor . 761

offers resolutions which are tabled . 504

Republican candidate for Governor . 1178

Speaker of the House . 1 . 520

*Speaker of Senate . 1032

“We are all one now” . . . 589

Settle, Thomas (II), Republican candidate for Governor . 1245

Seven Pines, battle of . , . 721

North Carolina troops engage in battle of . 722

President Davis on field of battle . 721

Seventh Volunteers formed . 636

Seventeenth Volunteers organized . 631

Sevier, John, assumes defiant attitude . 59

charged with treason and arrested . 68

elected to State Senate . . . 69

elected Governor of State of Franklin . 39

engages in an Indian war . . . . 63

pardoned by act of Assembly . 68

violates parole and escapes . 68

Seward, W. H., advises against provoking civil war . 575

gets a rebuff from President Lincoln . 578

on the irrepressible conflict....: . 524

Seymour, A. S., elected Judge of Superior Court . 1166

Judge of Eastern District Federal Court . 1204

Seymour, Governor of Connecticut, at the University . 1070

Seymour, Horatio, nominated for President . 1079

protests against arbitrary measures . 944

Shaw, Colonel, killed in advance on New Bern . . 867

Shaw, Lieutenant-Colonel, killed at Namozine Church . 988

Sharpsburg, battle of. . 745

North Carolina troops engaged . 746

officers wounded in battle of . 749

Shaw, H. M., elected to Congress . 501

Shepherd, James B., nominated for Governor . 450

* Thomas Little in the text.

1430

INDEX

Shepherd, James E., Associate Justice of the Supreme Court . 1191

Chief Justice of Supreme Court . 1191

Superior Court judge . 1 . 1187

Shepherd, Jesse G., elected Speaker of the House . 511

Judge of the Superior Court . 523

Shepherdstown, North Carolinians drive Federals back . 748

Sheridan, Phil, proposes to treat White Liners as banditti . 1167

raids Lee’s communications . 901

reports on his work of desolation . 962

Sherman, W. T., answer of to Vance’s communication . 998

denounced for his terms to Johnston . 1014

march of destruction . 958

offers rations and horses to Johnston’s army; kindly actions . 1004

outburst of in the presence of Mrs. Childs . . . 971

private views about “niggers” . 959

resents action of Stanton . 1014

Shelby, Evan, in role of pacificator . 58

Shelton Laurel, scene of bushwhacker operations . 859

Shellabarger, Ohio Congressman, utters slander of the South . 1049

Shenandoah floats the Confederate flag months after the war . 1012

Shine, Martin, captain in war with Mexico . 457

Shipp Fraud Commission authorized . ...1126

Shipp, William E., killed at San Juan . 1209

Shipp, William M., elected judge . 761, 1033

Shipping, American, suffers by British and French captures . 211

Shober, Charles E., colonel in Senior Reserves . , . 936

Shober, Frank E., elected to Congress . 1084

Shoffner, author of measure to authorize the Governor to declare counties

in insurrection . 1101

Shotwell, Randolph A., example made of in Ku Klux trials . 1141

Siamese twins marry and settle near Salem . 388

Sickles, D. E., issues orders interfering with courts . 1048

suspends court process . 1054

Signs of war in 1812 . 216

Silk industry, early beginnings . 387

Simmons, F. M., active in promoting road improvement . 1244

called to leadership of the Democratic party . 1205

elected Senator . 1226, 1279

obtains favorable action as to Panama and Cuba . 1244

services of in financing the World War . 1279

services of on Senate Finance Committee . 1244

summary of services in the Senate . 1319

INDEX

i43i

Singletary, G. B., Colonel of Seventeenth. Volunteers . 651

Colonel Twenty-seventh Volunteers . 660

Sinking Fund Commission created . 1333

Sitgreaves, John, Speaker of the House . 79

Sketches of Western North Carolina, by Hunter . 1193

Skinner, Major, killed in battle . 734

Slade, Jeremiah, commands militia sent to relief of Norfolk . 235

Slaveholding in the State a domestic institution . , . 534

Slavery abolished by ordinance . 1024

agitation in Congress . 483

American Colonization Society . 279

and the war . 975

bitter feeling over the Missouri compromise . 280

constitutional amendment proposed by Congress . 563

early opposition to . 19

in America, early introduction of . 1028

issue drawn in admission of California . 486

‘its effect on the negroes . 1026

Kansas-Nebraska bill : . 506

looms prominent in the 1860 election . 541

manumission societies . 278

Massachusetts protests in the form of a resolution to dissolve the

Union . 430

Missouri Compromise . 278

party platform on, 1860 . 541

Quakers assume hostile attitude . 150

resolutions reaffirming adherence to the Missouri Compromise . 471

state of the public mind in 1854 . 505

statement by the Council of State . 527

“Underground Railroad” . 279

Utah and New Mexico organized as territories . 486

Vermont resolutions are returned with curt response . 491

Wilmot proviso . 462

Slaves as tradesmen . . . 17

could not own property . 17

duties on importation repealed . 145

free negroes could own, and could vote . 20, 21

given religious instruction . . . 18

importation restricted . 144

importation from certain states prohibited . 55

marriages or matches . 19

more valuable than land in certain counties . 242

1432

INDEX

Slaves, Nat Turner’s insurrection of . 341

numbers following the Revolution . 16

of loyalists, action by the Assembly . 106

plot for insurrection near Wilmington frustrated . 342

property tax levied on . 658

restrictions on emancipation . 149

right of manumission . 20

value of . 1009

Sloan, William, appointed State Treasurer . 1026

Small, John H., promotes inland waterway development . 1318

wins distinction in Congress . 1253

Smedes, Aldert, converts St. Mary’s School into a seminary for girls . 410

Smith, Benjamin, elected Governor . 212

gives Tennessee land to University . 162

recommends progressive measures . 212

Smith, J. B., dies pending Ku Klux trials . 1141

Smith, G. W., in command in Eastern North Carolina . 790

Smith, Goldwin, on Lincoln’s attitude toward secession . ‘593

Smith, M. T., killed at Gettysburg . *. . 828

Smith, Orrin R., designer of a Confederate flag . 616

Smith, W. G., major in war with Spain . 1207

Smith, William A., Republican candidate for Lieutenant-Governor . 1178

Smith, W. N. H., Chief Justice of the Supreme Court . 1182

delegate in Confederate Congress . 632

elected to Congress . 524

fails of election to speakership . . 524

Snap Dragon, exploits of . 225

Social conditions during the war . 772

conditions in 1783 . 1

conditions in 1800 . 162

equality, demand for voiced by James H. Harris . 1152

equality, measure in Congress fails to pass . 1152

progress in the period preceding the war . 529

Soldiers in custody, measure for relief of fails . : . 763

of the Revolution clamor for pay . 24

pride in organizations . 780

“Solemn protest” of the bar against judicial activities in politics . 1096

South Anna, engagement at . 833

South Atlantic, publication begun by Mrs. C. W. Harris . 1164

South Atlantic Quarterly . : . 1340

South Carolina secedes from the Union . 551

South Mills, Federal force sent to destroy canal locks at . 697

INDEX

1433

Southern Confederacy, initial steps to form . 560

recognition at Washington refused . . 574

Southern States admitted to representation in Congress . 1073

extent of . 945

government and constitution of . 945

Southern Power Company develops plants on Catawba River . 1233

Southern Railway contests rate regulation in the courts . 1235

Southerner, Tarboro, hints at assassination . 1113

Sovereign state, North Carolina before ratifying Federal Constitution.... 107

Spaight, Richard Dobbs, counsels harmony . 383

elected Governor . 137, 375

killed in duel by John Stanly . 184

Spain, war with . 1207

Spartanburg and Asheville Railroad aided by convict labor . 1176

Sparrow, Thomas, reports resolution impeaching Governor Holden . 1126

Special tax bonds, efforts to collect . 1231

Specie payments, banks resume . .-. . 432

banks suspend . 319, 388

Spelman, John, advocate of secession . 553

editor of State Journal . 546

Public Printer . 546

Spencer, Mrs. Cornelia, on closing scenes of the war . 983

on conditions following the fall of Richmond . . . 969

prolific writer . 1 . 1192

Spencer, Williams and Ashe, judges, under impeachment charges . 51

exonerated by Assembly . 52

Spinning and weaving in homes . :.... 244

Spiritual influences in the army . 780

Spotswood, Mary, christens the Albemarle . 855

Spotsylvania, battle of . 905

Sprunt, Alexander & Son, arm the ship City of Wilmington . 1260

exporting business of . 1234

Sprunt, James, death of . 1323

literary work of . 1323, 1339

Squatter Sovereignty . 537

Stage coaches from Asheville to Tennessee . 4 . 405

from Selma to Raleigh, Raleigh to Plymouth, and Raleigh to

New Bern . 259

Stacy, W. P., Chief Justice of the Supreme Court . 1328

Standard charged with repudiating the Southern cause . 717

Holden becomes editor . 436

1434

INDEX

Standard printing office wrecked by Georgia soldiers . 845

State press bitter against . . . 844

Standard and Register in the political campaign of 1862 . 713

Stanly County formed . ■ 424

Stanly, Edward, appointed military governor at New Bern . 704

elected to Congress . 483

in conflict with Helper . 705

meets Inge of Alabama in duel . 487

outspoken opponent of the Danville convention . ‘475

resigns military governorship . 706

testimony of as to plundering in eastern section . 896

Stanly, John, kills Richard Dobbs Spaight in duel . 184

Stanly, Thomas, killed in duel by Lewis Henry . 224

Stanton, Edward M., as to evacuation of Fort Sumter . 577

Star of the West sent to relieve Charleston forts . 5H5

Starbuck, District Attorney, prosecutes in Ku Klux trials . 1140

State affairs, summary of at beginning of Nineteenth Century . 175

bank, with branches and agencies, in full operation . 401

bonds, extent of operations in . 1104

bonds, investigation of by the Senate . 1102

bonds, operations in by Swepson and associates . 1097

bonds, transactions in investigated . 1101

capital, commission appointed to locate . 135

capital located and named The City of Raleigh . 136

debt, adjustment of . 1149

debt, limitations under the Constitution of 1868 . 1066

debt summarized in message to the Legislature . 1099

defense, Legislature declines to raise troops for . 760

degraded, divergent views in Constitutional Convention . . 371

house, commissioners appointed to rebuild . 353

house, plot to burn . 152

institutions, enlargement and improvement of . 1292

institutions, provision for expansion of . 1257

State Bank of North Carolina . 19D

State College, extension of service . 1341

numerous board of directors for . 1298

State Journal printing office destroyed by followers of Holden . 846

State Normal and Industrial College established . 1197

State of Franklin, attempt to form . 38

conflict of courts . 58

disappears . - . 67

INDEX

1435

States, separate sovereignties under the Constitution . 117

States’ rights, a live question in 1792 . 141

rights men, position stated by Bryan Grimes . 565

rights, views of Jay, Wilson, Iredell and Marshall . 141

Statue of Washington (Canova’s) set up in State House . 283

Statutes, commission appointed to revise . 262

revision of, Battle, Hogg and Iredell appointed commissioners . 365

Stay law passed . 219

Steamboat between Plymouth and Edenton . 266

Clarendon, company formed . 229

companies organized at Fayetteville . 317

first arrival at Wilmington, publicly celebrated . 266

New Bern Company incorporated . 256

Steamboats, introduction of . 265

from New Bern to Elizabeth City . 259

operated successfully . 413

Stedman, Charles M., address of on the character of Lee . 1352

Lieutenant-Governor . 1190

last Confederate veteran in Congress . -. . 1318

service of in Congress.... . 1253

Stedman, Robert Winthrop, displays heroism . 832

Steele, John, elected Speaker of the House . 213

Steele, Walter L., Secretary of Secession Convention . 612

succeeds Thomas S. Ashe in Congress . 1178

Stem, Thaddeus G., major in the World War . 1268

Stephens, Alexander H., Vice-President of Confederate States . 560

Stephens, John W., murder of in Caswell County . 1111

Stevens, Delacy and Fulton, promoters of steamboat traffic . 265

Stevens, Thaddeus, declares Southern States have no rights under the

Constitution . 809

proposes measure for perpetual party ascendancy . 1040

Stevens & Co. obtain steamboat concession with strings tied to it . 219

Stockard, Jerome, poet . 1338

Stokes, Benjamin, wins fame in campaign against British . 234

Stokes, Colonel, killed on field of battle.. . 734

Stokes, Montfort, declines election as Senator . 196

elected Governor . 332

major in war with Mexico . 458

presides over Western Convention . 288

Stokes, M. S., commissioned colonel . ! . 606

Stone, David, elected Governor . 205

judge at age of twenty-five . 148

1436 INDEX

Stone, David, spreads himself in a message . 209

succeeds Franklin in the Senate . 219

tragic retirement of to private life . 237

Stoneman’s raid in Western North Carolina . 991

“Stonewall” Jackson, origin of the name . 640

Strange, Robert, elected Senator . 382

Streams of life in the State . 1347

Strudwick, F. N., introduces resolution impeaching Governor Holden. ...1126

Strong, George V., employed as prosecutor . ." . 815

Strother and Price make map of State . 268

St. Mary’s boys’ school chartered . 360

School, Episcopal institution . 1346

St. Mihiel salient, North Carolina Artillery in drive on . 1268

Stubbs, Jesse R., elected to Congress . . 1035

Subjugation of the South, congressional talk of in 1861 . 644

Summer, year without . 377

Sumner, Charles, delivers speech on emancipation . 801

Sumter, Fort, bombardment of . . . 586

evacuation demanded by Beauregard . 586

James E. Harvey telegraphs about relief expedition . 584

Lincoln consults as to provisioning . 575

Major Anderson surprised at purpose to reinforce . . . 584

Sunday schools at Raleigh and Poplar Tent . 258

bill for State aid fails . 301

Orange County Society memorializes the Legislature . 299

Supplies held by the State . 892

Superior Courts provided for every county . 201

Supreme Court of United States discusses the war . 595

Supreme Court, Bartlett Yancey’s report . 257

established . 261

name of Court of Conference changed to . 196

number of judges increased to five . 1191

sessions to be held in Morganton . 452

Surplus revenue, apportionment of . 385

results in enhanced value of lands . 401

Surveys of rivers ordered . 256

of rivers and canal routes . * . 260

Swain County established . 1133

Swain, D. L., anxiety of to save University buildings . 996

commissioner to confer with seceded states . 559

death of . 1089

elected Governor . 350, 364

INDEX

1437

Swain, D. L., first message confined to State matters . 356

inveighs against abolition propaganda . 375

President of the University . 374

urges revision of State Constitution . J65

Swain, Moses, gauges sentiment regarding slavery . 279

Swamp drainage, lottery authorized to promote . 312

Swepson, G. W., and associates form plan for transactions in State

bonds . 1097

furnishes funds to pay the Legislature . 1095

investigation of acts of ordered . 1104

president of western division of W. N. C. Railroad . 1078

settlement with . 1105

supplies money for Littlefield . 1 . 1084

Sweet, member of the Legislature, denounces acts of corruption . 1086

Syme, John Y., Public Printer . 621

Tannahill, William, and Bryan Saunders given exclusive steamboat

privileges . 376

Tarboro, Federal raid on . 834

visited by President Washington . 128

Tar Heel Brigade, commanded by Gen. S. L. Faison . . 1263

Tar, pitch and turpentine in early days . 4

Tariff, American system adopted . 307

the South in opposition . 308

Tate, S. McD., State Treasurer . 1202

Tax, State, on land in 1856. . 512

Taxation, ad valorem, an issue in State election . 535

ad valorem, as it related to property in slaves . 534

ad valorem system first proposed . 522

limitations under the Constitution of 1868 . .*. . 1066

Taxes in the war period . .. . 893

Federal, in period following the war . 1048

State and county, in 1870..-. . 1147

Taylor, James F., death of . . . .' . 318

elected Attorney-General . 303

Taylor, John Louis, begins judicial career . 156

death of . 318

first Chief Justice of Supreme Court . 261

Taylor, Marble Nash., claims to be Union provisional governor . 672

Taylor, Zachary, death and obsequies . 484

elected President . 464

i43§

INDEX

Teachers a disgrace . 407

supplied by State Normal School . 1247

Teachers’ Institute formed at the University . 337

Telegraph company chartered . 456

Tennessee becomes a state . 120

movement of families to . 336

Tenth Volunteers organized . 631

Tenure of office cases in the Supreme Court . 1214

Tew, C. C., commissioned colonel . 606

establishes military academy . 532

in command of Fort Macon . 588

killed in battle . 747

and D. H. Hill, commissioners to purchase arms . 558

Thalian Association chartered . 473

Thanksgiving Day, State . 473

The Land We Love, publication by Gen. D. H. Hill . 1164

Thespian associations formed . 231

Third Volunteers organized . 606

Thirteen, committee of . . . 552, 815

Thirtieth Division, services of in the World War . 1264

Thomas, William H., enlists the Cherokee Legion . 857

Thompson, Colonel, reports on proposed waterway improvements . 466

Thompson, Cyrus, active in the Alliance movement . 1196

Secretary of State . 1205

Thompson, W. B., engineer in charge of coast defense . 648

Three-fifths rule as a basis of taxation and representation . 31

Tierman, Mrs. F. C., author of novels . . . 1338

Tilden, Samuel J., Democratic candidate for President . 1178

loses election through returning boards . 1180

Tilden and Vance clubs . 1179

Tipton, John, abandon^ government of Franklin . 62

provokes a conflict with Sevier . 65

Tipton, Samuel F., captain in war with Mexico . 458

Tithing man, appointment of a Virginian denounced by Holden . 836

Tobacco hauled from State to Petersburg . 165

factories in 1880 . 1189

Federal raids for . . 704

manufacturing, extension of in the seventies . 1163

State buys to pay her obligation to Confederacy . 109

Tolar, William J., tried and sentenced under military procedure . 1056

Tollgates on railroads . 412

Tompkins, D. A., leader in industrial progress . 1254

INDEX

1439

Toon, T. F., Superintendent of Public Instruction .

Tories, feeling against after independence . .

leave Wilmington under pressure of public opinion

vigorous action taken at Edenton .

Tornado, first locomotive in Raleigh .

Tourgee, A. W., arises as a political force .

incendiary statements by .

sidetracked for judge by Worth . .

Tract association supplies reading matter for soldiers.

Train, railroad, first from Weldon to Wilmington .

Traitors to be hung: Lincoln’s program in 1S61 . :..

Transportation, facilities for improved in 1880 .

in 1800 .

matters under Reid’s administration .

water, efforts to improve .

Travel in winter of 1820 .

Treasure digging by Sherman’s soldiers .

Treasury, controversy over condition of .

embarrassed by State aid to railroads .

Treason defined in the Constitution .

Treaties with foreign nations .

Treaty with Indians, items of expense in making .

Trenton, on tour of President Washington .

Trimble’s brigade in battles around Richmond .

Trinity students guard Salisbury prison .

Troops for State defense, disposition of in 1863 .

for defense, enlistment authorized .

furnished by North Carolina for the war .

State, artillery and cavalry companies formed .

State, assigned to fields of service .

State, dispatch of to Virginia authorized .

State, engaged in battles around Richmond .

State, in battle of Sharpsburg .

State, transferred to the Confederacy .

Tucker, R. S., assistant adjutant-general .

Tufts, Leonard, founder of Pinehurst .

Turner, James, elected Governor .

elected Senator .

makes futile recommendations for public education.

Turner, Josiah, arrested by Kirk’s Militia .

assassination of attempted .

bold in denunciation of Governor Holden .

.1213
... 24
. 26
. 26
. 412
.1046
.1046
.1063
. 782
. 411
. 626
.1189
..165
. 497
. 165
. 120
. 967
1296
. 442
. 593
114
. 109
. 129
. 735
. 778
. 810
603
1010
. 637
. 637
602
. 734
746
631
. 762
1322
187
201
189
1116
1095
1116

1440 INDEX

Turner, Josiah, elected to Congress . 1036

most obstreperous of candidates . 847

starts trouble for Republicans . 1087

Turner, Nat, insurrection of slaves . 341

Turner, W. D., Lieutenant-Governor . 1213

Turnpike, Raleigh to Buncombe, measure fails . 444

Salisbury to Georgia, bill passed . 477

State aid for . 425

Turnpikes lead to outside markets . 242

Tuscarora Indians return to New York . 187

lands, disposition of . ; . 187

Tyler, John, presides at Peace Conference . 561

succeeds Harrison as President . 427

Tyrrell, William, involved in land frauds . 152

U-boat operations met effectively by American Navy . 1262

warfare pressed by Germany . 1260

Uncle Tom’s Cabin inflames the Northern mind.-. . 506

“Underground Railroad” . 279

Underwriter, Federal ship, captured . . 867

Union County established . 432

Union club organized at Raleigh with strong membership . 550

mass meeting for at Salisbury . 542

no purpose or tendency to break . . . 976

of States, North Carolina out of . 106

of States, proposed agreement . 115

sentiment in the State in 1862 . 891

State treated as out of . 1036

under the Constitution in effect without ratification by North Caro¬
lina . 96

Union Institute, established by Brantley York . 409

Union League, Holden becomes president of . 1061

murders by members of in Jones County . 1098

popular in western counties . 1058

secret political society . 1054

Unionism in North Carolina heralded throughout the North . 717

University affording classical education . 407

controversy over functions of . 1197

Davie’s interest in founding . 113

first president and first student of . 140

late enlargement and improvement of . 1340

INDEX

1441

University obtains loan from State Treasury . 135

receives large income from land warrants . 285

reformation of demanded by Holden . 1053

reported a miserable failure . 1133

saved to higher education . 1197

site for located . 136

withdrawal of State aid to threatened . * . 1197

women admitted to as students . . . 1217

Upham, Charles M., connection of with road improvement . 1309

Vallandigham on the North’s gigantic folly . 857

Van Buren, Martin, elected President . 382

Vance, R. B., captured by Federals . . 861

Colonel of Twenty-ninth Volunteers . 660

elected to Congress . 1165

general in command of Western North Carolina . 860

Vance, Z. B., accepts nomination for Governor in 1862 . 715

address on war issues at Wilkesboro . . . 878

admitted to parole . 1029

arrested after the war . 1015

asks for ten regiments of reserves . 757

colonel commanding Twenty-sixth Volunteers . 651

correspondence with Davis in regard to disaffection in the State . 871

correspondence with Davis in regard to favoritism in military service 874

death of . 1200

delivers great speech to Lee’s army . 879

denounces meetings for unlawful purposes . 844

deprecates party strife . 715

difficult situation of . 817

dramatic conversion to secession by Lincoln’s call to arms . 588

elected Governor in 1862 . 738

elected Governor in 1864 . 922

elected Governor in 1876 . 1180

elected Senator to succeed Abbott . 1125

elected Senator to succeed himself . 1200

elected to Congress . 517

“greatest stump speaker that ever was” . 542

hopes of saving the Union . 557

in election campaign of 1864 . 921

inaugurated as war Governor . 751

inaugural address 1862 . 751

inaugurated Governor the third time . 1181

1442

INDEX

Vance, Z. B., keynote of liis third administration . •. . 1181

message of to special session of war Legislature . 822

message of to Legislature 1862 . 757

message of to the 1863 Legislature . 849

message of to the 1863 Legislature . 807

message of to the 1864 Legislature . 887

newspaper attacks on in 1862 . 738

nominated for Governor in 1876 . 1177

receives reply from Confederate Secretary of War . . . 856

remains at the war front during the election of 1862 . 738

requests an interview with Sherman . 997

services of in the Senate . 1200

severs political relations with Holden . 868

succeeds Merrimon in the Senate . 1183

suggests peace overtures in a letter to Davis . 870

summons volunteers for defense of Wilmington . 936

takes vigorous measures for relief of the people . 764

the popular favorite at Salisbury mass meeting . 542

visits Davis for an interview . 1003

war speech of at Fayetteville . 882

Vance-Settle campaign and debates . 1179

Vanderbilt, Mrs. Edith, President of State Fair . .. . 1294

Van Landingham, Mrs. John, activities of . 1287

Van Noppen, C. L., publisher of Biographical History . 1339

Varser, Lycurgus R., Associate Justice of Supreme Court . .....1328

Vass, W. W., Treasurer Raleigh and Gaston Railroad . 449

Venable, Abraham W., delegate in Confederate Congress . 632

elected to Congress . 461

Venable, Francis P., President of the University . 1247

Vermont emancipation resolution . 304

Victory, blockade runner . 708

Virginia calls a peace conference . 557

passes act of secession . 592

Virginia and Monitor, ironclads, battle of . 788

Virginia, ironclad, destroys the Cumberland and the Congress . 787

Volstead Act, the State conforms to . 1298

Volunteers, First North Carolina, first American soldiers at Havana . 1208

Second North Carolina in war with Spain . 1208

Third North Carolina (negro) in war with Spain . 1208

INDEX

1443

Waddell, A. M., elected to Congress . 1165

Mayor of Wilmington . . . 1207

Waddell, James Iredell, the last Confederate in service . 1012

Waddell versus Berry, contested election decided by Supreme Court . 472

Wait, Samuel, first President of Wake Forest College . 409

Wake Forest College, development and growth of . 1344

Institute chartered . 359

College incorporated . 387

College, State loan to . 425

Walker, Platt D., elected Judge of the Supreme Court . 1227

VTalker’s Brigade in battles around Richmond . . . 735

Walsh, Texas soldier, rash act of and quick retribution . 999

Walkup, S. H., elected to Congress . , . 1036

Wallace, Stephen D., President of Wilmington and Weldon Railroad . 635

Walthall Station, action at . 907

Walser, Zeb Vance, Attorney-General . 1205

Speaker of the House . 1203

Wands in processions before judges abolished . 160

War, expense of . 668

“War is hell”: famous saying of General Sherman . 959

Warren, Doctor, in charge of second hospital at Petersburg . 779

War between the states, reflections on . 1007

Legislature determines to make provision for . 557

power to declare resides in Congress . . . 595

started by President Lincoln . 976

waged without constitutional authority . 596

with England declared . 217

with Germany declared . 1260

with Mexico . 457

with Spain . . . 1207

Warm Springs a resort in early days . 405

Warsaw, Federal raid on . 823

Wartime industries in the State . 779

Washington, Canova employed to make statue of . 248

Canova’s statue of set up in State House . 283

Washington County named after President Washington . 161

Washington City, Confederate raid on . 914

Washington, George, death of . 161

places visited in the State and entertainment provided . 128

portrait of, in Capitol . * . 161

visits the State . 127

1444

INDEX

Washington, Thomas, naval services of . 1300

Washington (N. C.), citizens of required to take oath of allegiance . 812

siege of . 812

Federal troops welcomed by mayor . 703

Washington Mining Company chartered . 395

Washington Monument, blocks of stone for contributed by North Carolina 488

Wasp captures the Frolic . . . 231

lost at sea after successful career . 232

WTaste of the War for Independence . 3

Watauga County established . *. . 472

Watch-and-wait policy proclaimed by Raleigh Standard . 553, 558

Water and land, natural features . . . 263

transportation, efforts to improve . 165

transportation, widespread interest . 490

Waterway improvements, report by Colonel Thompson . 466

Waterworks at Raleigh completed . 258

Waterways, appropriations made for . 326

Watson, Cyrus B., Democratic candidate for Governor . 1204

gives story of beginning of battle of the Wilderness . 902

Watson, A. A., refuses to alter prayer for the President . 957

Watts Bill to restrict sale of intoxicating liquors . 1226

Waynesville, scene of last armed conflict of the war . 1007

Wayside hospitals established by Surgeon General Johnson . 779

“We are going home”: expression of E. G. Reade after the war . 1023

Weaving and spinning in homes . 244

Webb, E. T., appointed Federal Court judge . 1318

wins distinction in Congress . 1253

Webb’s Brigade in battles around Richmond . 735

Webster, Daniel, appeal for observance of the Constitution . 484

Webster, John R., Speaker of the House . 1190

Weeks, ‘Stephen B., literary work of . 1339

Weldon, D. W., barbarous treatment of . . . 1120

Wesleyan Female College chartered . 499

W'estern Convention held in Raleigh . 287

members disappointed at failure of proposals to amend the Con¬
stitution . 360

settlements, pioneers cross the mountains . 27

“Western College,” charter for granted by Legislature . 277

WTestern District Federal Court created . 1151

Western North Carolina Railroad bought by the State . 1175

divisions of consolidated . 1126

incorporated . 502

INDEX

1445

Western North Carolina Railroad opened to Statesville . 515

passes into control of the Richmond and Danville . 1185

sold to W. R. Grice and associates . 1185

Western territory, act of cession repealed . 39

territory, attempt to organize government . 36

territory, cession of to Congress offered . 34

territory, division of sentiment as to separate commonwealth . 62

territory, measures to conciliate inhabitants . . 104

territory, opposition to cession ceases . 112

Wheeler, John H., undertakes preparation of State history . 445

Whigs organize and make nominations . 3S0

Whitaker, R. H., editor of Democratic Press . 535

White, Hugh L., put forward for President . 380

White, John, sent to England to buy a ship for blockade running . 851

W,hite, Moses A., in command at defense of Fort Macon . 693

White, Philo, elected public printer . . . 365

White Supremacy campaign, results of . 1206

Wliiteville, Waccamaw and Cape Fear Canal and Railroad Company

chartered . 358

Whitfield, Needham, invested with exclusive right to navigate Neuse

River with steamboats . 365

Whitford, Colonel, attacks Federal expedition up the Neuse . 792

Whitford, J. D., aids citizens in leaving New Bern . 690

Whiting, W. H. C., commissioned to command at Wilmington . 599

dies in a Northern prison . 944

displaced from command at Fort Fisher . 942

fails to obey Beauregard’s orders . 909

in command at battle of Fort Fisher . 941

Pickett’s command given to . 908

promoted to major-general . 825

* relieved of his command . 911

wounded in defense of Fort Fisher . 944

Whiting’s Brigade in battles around Richmond . •. . 734

Whitney, Eli, inventor of the cotton gin . 138

Whitney Company formed to develop water-power . 1232

Whitsett, William T., poet . 1338

W'hitson, J. M., succeeds to command of regiment . 867

“Who will assassinate Lincoln?” — article published in Raleigh Standard 553

Wild Cat Division famous for exploits and achievements . . . 1271

general officers of . 1271

in the Meuse-Argonne offensive . 1270

Wilderness, battle of . 901

1446

INDEX

Wilderness, graphic account of fighting..., . 903

losses at in first encounter . 902

North Carolina regiments in battle of . 901

severe fight brought on by a simple incident . 903

Wilder, William T., Major in the war with Spain . 1208

Wiley, Calvin H., author of historic novels . 496

difficult situation of during war period . 785

Superintendent of Public Schools . 49'6

ventures into the realm of fiction . 401

Wilkes, Commodore, reports on Deep River section for government ma¬
chine shops . 515

Wilkes, John, sells iron works to the Confederacy . 778

Wilkes, John and Charles, undertake construction of Danville road . 786

Wilkesboro, scene of Vance’s speech on war issues . 878

Will, a slave, State versus, opinion of Judge Gaston . 361

Willard, W. H., operates the steamboat Oregon . 467

Williams, Benjamin, elected Governor . 160, 205

Williams, James, author of common schools resolution . 394

Williams, Lewis, “Father of the House” . 431

Williams, Robert, becomes Governor of Mississippi Territory . 191

Williams, Sol., Colonel of Second Volunteers . 606

Williams, Spencer and Ashe, judges, under impeachment charges . 51

exonerated by Assembly . 52

Williams, Thomas, active in support of Ashe railroad bill . 476

Williamson, George, captain in war with Mexico . 458

Williamson and Burton chosen delegates to Continental Congress . 81

Williamsburg, battle of . 702

North Carolina troops in battle of . 702

Williamston burned by Federals . 824

Willis, John, founder of Lumberton . 84

Wills and Hodges elected State printers . 104

Wilmington as a gateway, expense allowed to show . 1233

commerce of in 1838 . 390

commerce of, large and valuable . 403

desolate during yellow fever scourge . 754

improving port facilities of . 1234

notable conflagrations at . 434

population in 1820 . 275

taken by Federal army . 957

trade and commerce of at the close of this record . *. . 1325

trade of revives after the war . 1146

visited by President Washington . 129

INDEX

144 7

Wilmington Marine Hospital incorporated . 376

Wilmington and Charlotte Railroad chartered . 502

■Wilmington and Manchester Railroad dismantled and sold . 1144

progress of construction . 502

Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad chartered and name changed . 358

Wilmington and Weldon Railroad completed . 411

condition of in 1868 . 1090

extension of credit authorized . 445

notes on operation . 465

State’s interest in sold to Walters and others . 1144

Wilmington’s disastrous year.. . 269

Wilmot proviso . 462

Wilson County established . 503

Wilson, Louis D., colonel in regular army . 459

service and death in war with Mexico . 4t>6

Wilson, Woodrow, elected President . 1253

Winchester, battle of . 928

severe losses of North Carolina in battle of . 928

Winder, John C., commissioned as engineer at Wilmington . 599, 935

Winslow, steamboat purchased for defense of the State . 647

Winslow, Warren, becomes acting Governor . 503

elected to Congress . 509

member of military board . 603

Speaker of the Senate . 502

Winston, Francis D., elected Lieutenant-Governor . 1228

introduces the “Grandfather Clause” bill . 1212

Winston, George T., President of A. and M. College . 1247

Winston-Salem, outstanding as an industrial city . 1..1324

Winton destroyed by Federals . 682

Wise, Henry A., assigned to command in the Albemarle region . 665

on defense of Roanoke Island . 673

Wives and children, reform in the law protecting property of . 472

Wolves and panthers, killing of encouraged . 167

Woman soldier in the ranks . 693

suffrage amendment ratified . 1286

suffrage, Democratic convention approves . 1285

status of under the law improved . 183

Woman’s State League formed . 1285

Women active in preparing for war . 601

admitted to the bar . 1313

in public activities . 1312

voting, effect of in first election . 1288

work of in 1800 . , . 167

1448 INDEX

Wooden shoes made in Raleigh . 750

Woody, Mary C., activities of . . . 1287

Worth, Daniel, arrested for distributing obnoxious literature . 528

Worth, John W., chosen salt commissioner . 666

nominated for Treasurer . 1178

Worth, Jonathan, abhorrence of war . 921

announces himself a candidate for Governor . 1025

death of . 1105

elected Governor over Holden . 1031

elected Governor for second term . 1047

elected State Treasurer . 761

friction with Canby . 1062

labors to promote peace movement . 869

. lends encouragement to Holden’s propaganda . 838

removed from office of Governor by General Canby . 1074

subjects discussed in message of . 1034

submits draft of peace petition to Holden . . . 870

succeeds Holden as Governor . 1033

teacher in Greensboro . 410

views of Lincoln’s action in inaugurating war . 608

yields to Northern sentiment . 1045

Worth, William H., State Treasurer . 1202

“Work”: notorious political editorial in the Standard . 1084

World War, civic activities in support of . 1280

civic conditions at close of . 1280

first North Carolina troops in service . 1263

inflation of values at close of . 1280

North Carolina officers decorated . 1270

North Carolina regiments in . 1263

North Carolina troops on the fighting front . 1267

North Carolina’s contribution to . 1261

registration for . 1261

service of the North Carolina Congressional delegation . 1279

United States involved in . 1259

volunteers for foreign service in . 1258

Wright, A. R., commanding in fight at Sawyer’s Lane . 697

with Georgia troops occupies Roanoke Island . 662

Wright, William A., tells story of after-war bitterness . 1023

Wyatt, Henry L., private, first to fall in battle of Bethel . 627

INDEX

1449

Yadkin County established . 490

Yadkin River, power developments . 1232

Yadkin Manufacturing Company chartered . 341

Yancey County established . 357

Yancey, Bartlett, death of . 324

makes a report providing for a Supreme Court . 257

man of influence . 324

Speaker of Senate . 255

teacher in Caswell County . 410

Yates, Jesse J., elected solicitor . 761

elected to Congress . 1165

Year 1925, conditions in the State . 1337

of jubilee, Emancipation proclamation hailed as . 799

without a summer . 254

Yellow fever in Wilmington . 754

prominent victims of the scourge . 755

York, Brantley, establishes Union Institute . 409

You-na-gu-ska, Indian reformer of his people . 416

Young, James H., colonel of negro troops in war with Spain . 1208

Young, James R., Insurance Commissioner . 1212

Young, Laurence B., in command of brigade on Mexican border . 1252

Young’s Cross Roads, Confederate calvary attacks Federal force at . 704

VOLUME I, 1584-1783

Chas. L. Van Noppen, Publisher, Greensboro, N. C.

INDEX

Abercromby, James, pp. 294, 295.
Accounts, Public, p. 354.

Admiral’s Island, p. 30.

Admiralty, Courts of, p. 573.

African Company, p. 84.

Almance River, Battle at, p. 364ff,
370ff.

Albemarle, Duke of, p. 52.

Death, p. 94.

Albemarle, p. 69.

Settlement, p. 88; Proprietary gov¬
ernment, p. 88ff, pp. 94, 95 ; Begin¬
nings of government, p. 90 ; Agree¬
ment with Maryland and Virginia,
pp. 92, 93 ; Influence of Virginia, pp.
96, 97 ; Becomes Palatine, pp. 104,
105 ; County government and activi¬
ties, p. 112ff; Culpepper’s Rebellion
— Free government, p. 126ff ; Extent
in 1677, p. 130ff; Becomes North
Carolina, p. 141 ; Boundary dis¬
pute with Virginia, p. 148 ; Com¬
plaints against changes. — Life in
colony, pp. 149, 150ff.

Albemarle County, Quarrel for seat of
Assembly, p. 268ff.

Conditions, p. 154ff.

Albemarle Governors under pro¬
prietary Government, List, p. 52.
Albemarle River, p. 66.

Name given, p. 69.

Alexander, Abraham, p. 455.
Alexander, Hezekiah, p. 530.
Alexander, John McKnitt, Mecklen¬
burg resolves, p. 437.

Provincial Congress, p. 475.
Algonquin Indians, p. 85.

Allen, Eleazar, p. 54.

Receiver of rents, p. 251 ; Commis¬
sioner on boundary settlement, p.
255; Deserts Johnston, p. 258;
Treasurer — Death, p. 276.

Amadas, Philip, Account of voyage
to America, p. Iff.

Voyage to America, pp. 25, 26.
Anne, Queen, Attitude towards
slavery, p. 84.

Anson County, p. 267.

Actions of regulators, p. 342; At¬
titude toward King — Clashing of
interests, p. 465.

Archdale, John, pp. 53, 138ff.

Governor, p. 146ff.

Armada, p. 44.

Armstrong, p. 475.

Armstrong, Col. Martin, pp. 633, 635.
Armstrong, Maj., To unite with
Greene, p. 657 ; Battle of Eutaw
Springs, pp. 697, 698.

Army, p. 523 ; p. 590.

Conditions, 1781, pp. 654, 655; Con¬
dition, 1782, p. 718; North Carolinas
quota, x>. 719ff.

Army, Continental, p. 462; p. 481.
Articles of Confederation, p. 647.
Ashe, John Baptista, pp. 53, 54.
Conflict with Burrington, p. 234 ;
Imprisonment, p. 236 ; Speaker of
Assembly, p. 302 ; Speaker of As¬
sembly, p. 307 ; Rebellion against
Stamp Act, p. 321; Treasurer, p.
331 ; General — Treasurer, pp. 365,
366; To be exchanged, pp. 370, 371 ;
Description, p. 378; Colonel of mil¬
itia, p. 430; Provincial Congress, p.
475; Recruiting, p. 485; At Cross
Creek, p. 500 ; At Rockfish Creek, p.
502 ; General, p. 524 ; Work on Con¬
stitution, p. 564; Treasurer, p. 569;
Major-general, pp. 594-595; Battle
at Briar Creek, p. 596ff ; Treasurer,
p. 604; Death, p. 670.

Ashe, Samuel, p. 378.

Actions against governor at Fort
Johnston, pp. 468, 469; Provincial
Congress, p. 475 ; Committee to
frame constitution, p. 527 ; Chosen
judge, p. 570; Treasurer, p. 574;
Judge, p. 584; On spirit of people,
p. 592 ; Battle of Eutaw Springs,
pp. 697, 698.

Ashley, Lord Anthony, p. 51.

Fundamental constitutions, p. 98.
Asiento, p. 84 ; p. 260.

Assembly, p. 107.

INDEX

Assembly, Grand, p. 95.

Assembly, Speakers of ; List, pp. 53,
54.

Augusta, p. 632.

Taken from British, p. 671.
Avery, Waightstill, p. 475.

Attorney-General, p. 584.

Baptists, pp. 222, 305, 382, 387, 388.
Barbadoes, Explorations along Caro¬
lina, p. 63.

Interest in Cape Fear region, pp.
72, 73 ; Settlements in Carolina, p.
75.

Barker, Thomas, Treasurer, p. 276.

Supplies address to King, p. 434.
Barre, Isaac, Defense of colonies, p.
314.

Battle, John, p. 60.

Barlow, Arthur, Account of vogage
to America, p. Iff.

Voyage to America, p. 25ff ; Ad¬
miral in Virginia colony, p. 29.
Barnwell, p. 185ff.

Bath, John, Earl of, p. 52.

Bath Countv, Indian Massacre, pp.
182, 183.'

Batts, Nathaniel, pp. 70, 71.

Beattie’s Bridge, Battle of, p. 684.
Beattie’s Ford, p. 651.

Beaufort, Henry, Duke of, pp. 51, 52.
Beaufort, Taken by Spaniards, p. 270.
Bellemont, p. 390.

Benbury, Thomas, Speaker of House,
^ p. 589.

Speaker of House, p. 603 ; Speaker
of House, p. 644 ; Speaker of House,
p. 677.

Bennett, General, p. 57.

Berkeley, John, Lord, pp. 51, 52.

Grant in Carolina, pp. 67, 68.
Berkeley, Sir William, p. 51.
Governor of Virginia issues patents,
p. 64ff ; Plans for colonizing Caro¬
lina, p. 67 ; Interest in Carolina, pp.
69, 70 ; Power in Albemarle, p. 89 ;
Becomes Palatine, p. 105.

Berry, Charles, p. 54.

Death, pp. 320, 321.

Bertie, James, p. 51.

Bertie Precinct, p. 207.

Bethabara, Threatened by Indians, p.
300.

Biennial Act of 1715, p. 102; 197; Re¬
peal, p. 255.

Biggs, Timothy, p. 115.

Retires to Virginia, p. 133; Arrest,
p. 125; Escape, p. 128; Activities
in London, p. 130.

Black Boys, pp. 367, 368, 374, 397.
Bladen County, Adopts New Hanover
Association, p. 466.

Bladen Precinct, p. 234.

Blake, Joseph, pp. 51, 147.

Blank patents decision, p. 262.
Bloodworth, pp. 663, 665.

Blount, Tom, King of Indians, Truce
with Pollock, pp. 189, 190.

Blount, Major, Battle of Eutaw
Springs, pp. 697, 698.

Board of Trade, pp. 114, 224, 296, 302,
312.

Board of war, pp. 627ff, 630, 639, 641,
642.

Boone, Daniel, p. 333.

Boote, Benjamin Booth, Loyalist, p.
470.

Takes oath, p. 547; Commissary of
prisoners for British, p. 622.

Boston, Port closed, p. 415.

Effect of closing port throughout
colonies, p. 418; Aid from North
Carolina, p. 419.

Boston Tea Party, p. 415.

Boundary settlements : With Virginia,
pp. 71, 148, 162, 216, 217; With
South Carolina, pp. 141ff, 243,
254, _ 255.

Questions as to line with South
Carolina, p. 399; South Carolina
line questioned, p. 406; With Vir¬
ginia, p. 645.

Braddock, General, p. 289.

Brett, Daniel, pp. 155, 156.

Brevard, Ephraim, p. 453.
Mecklenburg resolves, p. 455 ; Dele¬
gate to Continental Congress, p.
678.

Briar Creek, p. 596.

Briar Creek, Battle of, pp. 597, 598.
Brimage, William, p. 577.

Brown, Col. Thomas, p. 524.

Brown Marsh, p. 700.

Brown Marsh, Skirmish at, p. 696.

INDEX

Brunswick, Taken by Spaniards, p.
271.

Brunswick County, Adopts new Han¬
over Association, p. 466.

Bryan, William, p. 475.

General, p. 524 ; Briar Creek Battle,
p. 596.

Bryan Mills, Skirmish at. p. 688.
Buford, Col., pp. 611, 612.

Buncombe, Edward, p. 523.

Burke, Dr., pp. 475, 477.

Committee to frame Constitution,
p. 527; Elected to Continental
Congress, p. 560; One of Framers
of Constitution, p. 564 ; Delegate
to Continental Congress, p. 575;
Loses re-election for Continental
Congress — Action at Philadelphia
— Elected again, p. 589; Dele¬
gate to Continental Congress,
p. 603; Efforts to relieve dis¬
tress, p. 646 ; Threats of retaliation
of atrocities, p. 673 ; Governor, p.
677ff ; Capture, pp. 694, 695 ; Escape
from James Island, p. 706; Re¬
sumes administration as governor,
p. 707ff ; Desires re-election, p. 713.
Burke County, p. 573.

Burrington, George, p. 53.

Governor — Administration, p. 208ff ;
Denunciation of Everard, p. 218;
Quarrels with Assembly, p. 226ff ;
Enemies in power, pp. 248, -249.
Bush Assembly, p. 259.

Bute County, Name obliterated, p. 588 ;
Butler, Gen. John, Against Tories,

pp. 601, 602.

Battle of Stono, pp. 604, 605 ; Union
of forces — Battle of Camden, p.
619; At McGowan’s Creek, p. 630;
Unite with Lillington, p. 656; To
unite with Greene, p. 657 ; Battle
of Guilford’s Court House, p.
658ff ; On Deep River, p. 662 ;
Patroling toward enemy lines, pp.
678, 679 ; Battle of Cane Creek,
pp. 695, 696; Joins Rutherford,
p. 700.

Butler, William, Regulator, pp. 336,
338ff.

Indicted, p. 344 ; Outlaw, p. 374 ;

Butler, William, Regulator.

Pardon, p. 397 ; Letter from James
Hunter, pp. 404, 405.

Byrd, Valentine, pp. 115, 118, 122.
Caldwell, David, Sermon for Revolu¬
tion, pp. 478, 479.

Camden, p. 605.

Abandoned by British, pp. 670, 671.
Camden, Battle of, p. 619ff.

Camden County, p. 573.

Campbell, John, p. 54; Speaker of
Assembly, p. 287.

Campbell, Col. William, Battle of
King’s Mountains, pp. 633, 634,
636.

To unite with Greene, p. 657.
Campbellton, p. 407.

Cane Creek, Battle of, p. 695ff.
Cape Fear, Conditions in 1664-1665,
pp. 76, 77.

Abandoned by British, p. 554; Civil
War, p. 681 ff.

Cape Fear Region, Rebellion, p. 319ff.
Cape Fear River Explorat’ons, pp.
63, 64.

Settlement, p. 72ff; Colony aban¬
doned, p. 80ff; Explored by Bur¬
rington, p. 209; Settlement of the
region, p. 213 ; Preparations for
defence, p. 533.

Carolina, The, pp. 124, 126.

Carolina Province, p. 50.

Carolina Sound, Settlement, p. 58ff.
Cartagena, p. 261.

Carteret, Sir George (see also Gran¬
ville), pp. 51, 52.

Carteret, John, Lord, p. 52.

Carteret, Peter, p. 52.

Governor of Albemarle, p. 105.
Administration, resignation, pp. 110,
111.

Carteret Precinct, p. 207.

Cary, Thomas, p. 53.

Governor, p. 160; Suspended, p.
163; President of Council, p. 165;
Dispute with Glover — Head of Gov¬
ernment, pp. 166, 167; Rebellion, p.
169ff; Impeachment — Freedom —
Contest with Hyde, pp. 173, 174ff.
Cary Rebellion, p. 169ff.

Cary’s Usurpation, p. 168.

INDEX

Caswell, Richard, p. 54.

Speaker of Assembly, p. 357 ; Dele¬
gate to Continental Congress, p. 422 ;
Delegate to 2nd Congress, p. 435 ;
Provincial Congress, pp. 475 476,
477 ; Opposes Loyalists, p. 499 ; At
Moore’s Creek Bridge, pp. 503,
504; Report to Harnett, p. 510; In¬
fluence in Continental Congress, p.
542 ; President of Congress, p. 559 ;
Influence in framing Constitution,
p. 564 ; Governor, pp. 568, 569 ; Ad¬
ministration as Governor, p. 570ff ;
Administration, p. 584ff ; Re-elected
Governor, p. 588 ; End of exelutive.
— Commander-in-chief of Militia,
p. 613 ; Battle of Camden. — Flight
from, p. 620; Member Council
extraordinary — Command of mili¬
tia, p. 642 ; Offices, pp. 644, 645 ;
Comptroller of Accounts, p. 715.
Caswell, William, General, pp. 603,
61 L

Unites with Lillington, p. 656 ;
Skirmish with Craig, p. 687.
Caswell County, p. 573.

Catawba Indians, p. 86.

Catawba Massacre, p. 548.

Catchmaid, George, pp. 53, 60, 65, 66.
Cathay, William, p. 604.

Cedar Springs, Battle of, p. 618.
Charles II, Charters in America, p. 51.
51.

Charleston, Founding of present city,
p. 83.

Lee stationed — Fort Moultrie at¬
tacked, p. 573; Falls to Brit¬
ish, p. 608ff ; Held by Gen. Leslie
p. 717; Evacuated, p. 719.
Charlestown, Name given, p. 75.
Conditions in 1664-1665, pp. 76, 77;
Desertion by colonists, p. 81.
Charlotte, Schools, pp. 391, 407.
Mecklenburg resolves, p. 437 ; Lib¬
erty Hall, p. 585 ; Cornwallis oc¬
cupies, p. 629 ff ; Held by Tarleton,
p. 630 ; Abandoned by Cornwallis,
p. 637.

Chatham County, p. 359.

Cherokee Indians, p. 86.

Influence towards joining Revolu-

Cherokee Indians.

tion, p. 487ff ; Begin warfare, p. 548;
Boundary settlement, p. 571.
Cherokee Line, p. 332.

Chief Justices, List of, p. 54.
Christian, Col., pp. 550, 552ff. -
Church, State, p. 381ff.

Church of England, Established in
colony, pp. 196ff, 303, 382.
Citizenship, p. 561.

Civil War of Whigs and Tories, pp.
682, 683, 686ff. >

Clapp’s Mill, Skirmish at, p. 658.
Clarendon, Earl of. Lord Proprietor,
p. 68 ; Banishment, p. 94.
Clarendon County, p. 75.

Assembly in 1665, p. 78ff ; Deser¬
tion by colonists, p. 81.

Clark, Colonel Thomas, pp. 590,
591, 716.

Clarke, Col., Attack at Garden Hill,
p. 632.

Cleveland, Col., pp. 633, 634, 636.
Clinton, General, Arrives in the
Chesapeake, p. 531.

Actions in Virginia, p. 532; Procla¬
mation — Actions in North Carolina,
pp. 533, 534, 535 ; Attack on Fort
Moultrie, p. 538ff ; Capture of
Charleston, p. 608ff ; Rule in South
Carolina, p. 637.

Cogdell, Richard, p. 604.

Colleton, Sir John, Death, pp. 9, 51.

Grant in Carolina, pp. 67, 68.
Colleton, Sir Peter, pp. 52, 74.
Colleton Island, p. 66.

Collett, Capt., p. 468.

Colony, Lost, pp. 9. 10, 14, 15.
Attempts to find, p. 18; Probable
fate (Lawson), pp. 19, 20, 21, 43, 45,
47, 48, 49.

Colvill, McLaurin (or Maturin),
Tory leader, p. 682.

Concessions, p. 91.

Confederation, Articles of. p. 647.
Confiscation Act. p. 607ff.

Congaree Indians, p. 86.

Congress, Continental, pp. 421, 422,
424, 425.

Declares Independence, p. 540ff.
Congress, Provincial, 1775, pp. 473ff,
479ff, 513.

Conscience, Freedom of, pp. 92, 103.

INDEX

Constitution, Attempt to frame, p.
527 f¥.

Constitution of 1776, p. 556ff.
Continental Congress, pp. 421, 422,
424, 425.

Declares Independence, p. 540ff.
Continentals, pp. 462, 481, 604.
Convention, Provincial, p. 432.
Conway, p. 319.

Cooper, Ashley, p. 68.

Cores Indians, p. 193ff.

Cornwallis, Charles, Marquis, Attempt
at surprise, p. 534.

Advance in South Carolina, p. 611;
Plans, p. 616 ; Battle of Camden, p.
619 ; Move to Charlotte, p. 629f¥ ; At
Charlotte. — Situation, p. 631 ; Re¬
tires, p. 636ff ; Difficulties, p. 639 ;
Renews campaign, p. 648ff ; After
battle of Cowpens. — Pursuit of
Morgan, pp. 650, 651 ; Invasion, pp.
652, 653 ; Reaches Hillsboro, p.
655 ; At Hawkins, p. 657 ; Battle of
Guilford Court House, p. 658ff ;
Pursued by Greene, pp. 661, 662;
Plans. — Marches to Virginia, p.
665ff; Action of troops on march,
p. 667ff; Plans, p. 684; Surrender
at Yorktown, p. 702.
Correspondence, Committee of, pp.
411, 418.

Cotechney, Fort, Attacked by Barn¬
well, pp. 186, 187.

Cotechney River, Indian massacre,
pp. 182, 183.

Council, Grand, p. 101.

Council Provincial, pp. 491ff, 496f¥,
487, 513ff.

Council Extraordinary, p. 642.

Discontinued, p. 677.

Council of Safety, p. 530f¥.

Counties, Disputes, p. 274.

County, p. 255.

Court, General, p. 102.

Court, Palatine’s, pp. 100, 101, 107.
Courts, pp. 305, 328, 408, 409.

Lack, p. 412, 413ff, 705.

Courts, Prerogative, pp. 409, 410, 411.
Courts of Law and Equity, p. 714.
Cowpens, Battle of, p. 648ff.

Coxe, p. 69.

Coxe’s Mill, p. 680.

Craig, Maj. James HM Takes Wil¬
mington, p. 655.

At Wilmington, p. 663; Attempt
against Lillington, p. 664 ; Threats
against prisoners, pp. 672, 673 ; At
Wilmington, p. 676ff ; Invasion of
eastern counties, p. 686ff ; Return
to Wilmington, p. 689; Evacuation
of Wilmington, p. 702.

Crawford; Col., p. 717.

Craven, William, Earl of, pp. 51, 52.

Lord Proprietor, p. 68.

Creek Indians, p. 487f¥.

Croatan Indians, pp. 20, 21, 42, 287.
Croatan Island, pp. 10, 13, 30.

Cross Creek, pp. 499, 500, 501.

Moore’s report, p. 511.

Crowfield Academy, p. 390.

Cullen, Thomas, p. 53.

Culpepper, John, p. 53.

Rebellion, p. 126ff ; Acquitted, p.
135.

Culpepper Rebellion, pp. 124, 125, 126.
Cunningham, Major, p. 648 ff.
Currency, p. 484, 297, 609, 643, 678,
715.

Currency Act, p. 219.

Declared void, p. 229.

Currency Petition, pp. 334, 335.
Customs Duties, p. 335.

Currituck Rising, p. 505.

Daniel, Robert, p. 53.

Governor, p. 158ff ; Suspended, p.
160.

Dare, Virginia, p. 42.

Dartmouth, Lord, p. 492.

Davidson, William Lee, Brigadier-
General, pp. 627, 629, 630.
Orders to stop Ferguson, p. 633 ;
Beattie’s Ford, p. 651; Death, pp.
651, 652.

Davie, Col., Activities near Hanging
Rock, p. 617.

Skirmish at Wahab’s, p. 629; De¬
fense of Charlotte, pn. 630, 631 ;
Commissary-General, p. 641.

Davie, Copy of Mecklenburg re¬
solves, p. 438.

Davis, Oroondates, p. 627.

Debtor Law, p. 96.

Peep River, PeKalb on, pp. 616, 617.
Greene’s Camp, p. 662j Fanning’s
activities, pp. 703, 704.

INDEX

Defiance, Fort, p. 300.

Definitive Treaty of Peace, p. 724.

De Graffenried, Baron, Organizes
Palatines to colonize, pp. 169, 171.
Captured by Indians, p. 180ff ;
Leaves colony, p. 191.

De Kalb, Gen., Reinforcement, p. 613.
On Deep River, pp. 616, 617 ; Union
of forces, Battle of Camden, p.
619ft*.

Dent, Killed, p. 499.

Dickson, Major, Attack on Polk’s
Mill, p. 631.

Diligence, Man-of-War, p. 321f¥.
Dinwiddie, p. 283ff.

Directory, P- 321.

Dixon, Hal, Major, p. 608.

Battle of Camden, p. 621.

Dobbs, Arthur, p. 53.

Governor — Administration, p. 280ff.
Dobbs, Edward Brice, pp. 289, 291.
Dobbs, Fort, pp. 290, 291.

Dobbs County, p. 293.

Dobbs, Vessel, p. 321ff.

Dobson, Joseph, p. 547.

Downing, William, p. 54.

Draft, pp. 361, 590, 591, 675.

Drake, Sir Francis, Narrative con¬
cerning Lane’s settlement in
Virginia, p. 7-8.

Returns colonists to England, p. 37.
Drew, Colonel, p. 57.

Drummond, William, p. 52.

Governor of Albemarle, p. 70 ;
Governor at Albemarle, p. 89;
Governor — Activities — Death, p. 93.
Dunmore, Lord, War in Virginia, p.
489 ft.

Dunn, John, p. 470.

Duplin County, p. 265.

Adopts New Hanover Association,
p. 466.

Durant, George, Explorations, p. 60.
Trouble over land patent, p. 65; Op¬
poses tobacco duty, p. 117; Plans
revolt, p. 122ff ; In Culpepper’s Re¬
bellion, p. 126ff ; Activities in Al¬
bemarle, p. 129 ; Influence, p. 133 ;
Imprisoned — Redress, p. 140; Death,
pp. 151 ; p. 60.

Eastchurch, Thomas, p. 53.

Governor of Albemarle, pp. 119,
120ff; Attempts to stop rebellion —
Death, p. 127.

Eaton, Pinketham, Joins Greene, p.
657.

Battle of Guilfords Court House,
p. 658ff ; Ordered South, p. 662 ;
Death, p. 671.

Eden, Charles, p. 53.

Succeeds Hyde as governor, p. 193 ;
Administration, p. 196ff ; Death, p.
206.

Edenton, Founding of, p. 207.

Social life, 1771, pp. 377, 37 8;,
Schools, p. 390; Tea rejected, p.
427 ; Defense from British, p. 669.
Edgecombe Precinct, p. 234.

Education, pp. 220, 304, 359, 388ff, 567,
585.

Elbert, Col. p. 598.

Elizabeth, Queen, Interest in Amer¬
ica, pp. 23, 24.

Elizabethtown, Battle of, pp. 690,691.
Elmsly, Alexander, p. 434.

Enfield Riots, p. 295.

Equity, Courts of, p. 714.

Eutaw Springs, Battle of, pp. 697
698.

Everard, Sir Richard, p. 53.
Governor — Administration, p. 210ff ;
Denunciation of Gale and Little,
p. 218; His enemies, p. 225ff.
Fanning, David, Activities to aid
British, p. 680ff.

At Cross Creek, p. 690 ; Defeats
Wade, p. 693 ; Capture of Governor
Burke, pp. 694, 695 ; Battle of Cane
Creek, pp. 695, 696 ; Renews opera¬
tions on Deep River, pp. 703, 704 ;
Brutality, p. 708ff ; Operations —
Leaves state, p. 712.

Fanning, Edmund, p. 325.

Outbreak against, p. 337ff ; Indicted,
pp. 344, 345 ; Beaten by Regulators,
p. 356; Redresser, p. 357; Active in
legislation, pp. 358, 359 ; Interest in
Queen’s College, p. 391 ; Loses suit
of claims, p. 407.

Ferguson, Major, p. 633ff.

Few, James, p. 372.

Flag, p. 521.

INDEX

Florida, Claimed by Spain, p. 28.
Expedition of Lee and Howe, p. 539.

Forbes, Gen., pp. 291, 292.

Fort Moultrie, Battle of, p. 538ff.
France, In Ohio region, p. 282ff.
War declared against England, p.
588; Troops aid in attack on
Savannah, pp. 605, 606.

Franklin County, p. 588.

Free Masons, p. 254.

Freemen, pp. 99, 100.

French and Indian War, p. 289.
Friends, Society of, p. 66ff.
Remonstrance, pp. 133, 134 ; Ex¬
cluded, p. I54ff; Laws against—
Resistance, pp. 159, 160; Question
of admission to office, pp. 172, 173;
p. 277 ; Not in militia, p. 394.
Fundamental Constitutions, pp, 98, 147.
Gale, Christopher, p. 54.

Seeks aid against Indians, . pp. 184,
185 ; Colonel of militia — Chief
justice, p. 192; Mission to England,
p. 199; Burrington’s enmity, p. 210;
Made councillor, p. 233. •

Garden Hill, Battle at, p. 632.

Gates, Gen., Command in South, p.
613.

Moves toward Camden — Battle, p.
619ff ; Flight after Camden—
Reaches Hillsboro, p. 622 ; Criticism
for flight from Camden, p.. 624;
Prepares to renew conflict, p. 635 ;
Moves to Charlotte, p. 638.

Gates County, p. 588.

George III, p. 318.

Attitude toward colonies, p. 493 ;
Attitude toward Continental Con¬
gress, p. 515; Desires to prolong
war, p. 711.

Georgia, Battle lost by Americans, p.
594.

German settlers, p. 380.

Germantown, Battle of, p. 581.
Germany, Palatines come to Carolina,
pp. 169, 170.

Gibbs, John, pp. 141, 142.

Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, Voyage to
America, pp. 23, 24.

Gilliam, p. 123ff.

Gist, Christopher, pp. 282, 283.

Glover, William, p. 53.

Deputy governor, p. 163ff ; Contest
with Cary — Departure, pp. 165, 166,
167 ; Alliance with Hyde, p. 172.
Governor, Election of, pp. 567, 568.

Governors, of Albemarle; under Pro¬
prietors ; under Crown ; List, p.
51ff.

Graham, Joseph, p. 446.

Command of cavalry, p. 699 ; Ex¬
pedition to Lockwood’s Folly, p.
701.

Grand Assembly, p. 95.

Grand Council, p. 101.

Grand Model of Government, pp. 98,
104, 106, 107, 110.

Granganimeo, pp. 3, 4, 27, 32.

Granville, John, Lord, p. 52.
Territory in Carolina, p. 267 ; Con¬
troversy with McCulloh, p. 292;
Death, p. 320.

Granville County, p. 265.

Granville Riots, p. 295.

Granville Resolutions, pp. 420, 421.
Great Alamance, Battle on, p. 370ff.
Great Bridge, Battle of, p. 489.

Great Deed, pp. 95, 96, 110, 111 ; Rec¬
ognized by Ludwell, pp. 145, 262.
Great Swamp, Battle of, p. 638.

Great Wolf (Tryon), p. 333.

Green, Roger, pp. 56, 57.

Greene, Nathaniel, Command of
Southern Department of Army,
p. 639.

Arrival at Charlotte — Command, p.
640; Joins Morgan, pp. 650, 651;
At Guilford Court House, pp. 652,
653 ; Crosses Dan River, pp. 653,
654; At Troublesome Creek, p. 657;
Orders to avoid Cornwallis, p. 658 ;
Battle of Guilford Court House,
p. 658ff ; Pursuit of Cornwallis, p.
661 ; Follows Cornwallis closely, p.
662 ; To South Carolina — Orders,
pp. 662, 663 ; In South Carolina, pp.
670, 671 ; Proposal to take Wilming¬
ton, p. 68511 ; Battle of Eutaw
Springs, p. 697 ; Occupies Charles¬
ton, p. 719.

Grenville (Greenville), Sir Richard,

INDEX

Grenville (Greenville).

Voyage to America for Raleigh,
p. 4ff.

Leaves colony in Virginia, p. 8 ;
Command of expedition to Virginia,
p. 29ff ; Leaves colony at Roanoke,
p. 38.

Granville, Lord (see also Carteret),
p. 52.

Gregory, Gen. Isaac, Joins forces —
Battle of Camden, pp. 618, 620.
Defeat of Leslie in Virginia at
Great Swamp, p. 638; Actions in
Albemarle region, pp. 673, 674.
Guilford County, p. 359.

Guilford Court House, p. 653.
Guilford Court House, Battle of, p.
658ff.

Guion, p. 475.

Halifax, p. 545.

Hall, Enoch, p. 54.

Hambright, Col., p. 636.

Hanging Rock, p. 617.

Hanmer, Daniel, p. 54.

Chief Justice, p. 240; Convicted for
perjury, p. 259.

Harden, Capt., p. 553.

Hariot, Thomas, Member of colony,
p. 29.

Activities at Roanoke, p. 31.
Harnett, Cornelius, Description, p.
^378.

Congress, p. 475 ; President Pro¬
vincial Council, p. 487 ; Committee
to prepare Constitution, p. 527 ;
President Council of Safety, p. 535;
Reads Declaration of Independence,
p. 545 ; Influence in framing Con¬
stitution, p. 564; Vice-President of
the Congress, p. 569; Delegate to
Continental Congress, p. 575 ;
Death, p. 663ff.

Harney, Lieut. -Col. Selby, p. 716.
Harris, pp. 340 341.

Hart’s Mills, Reached by Pickens,
p. 656.

Hartso, John Philip, p. 344.

Harvey, John, pp. 53, 54.

Buys land in Albemarle, p. 60 ;
Land in Albemarle, pp. 65, 66 ;
Governor of Albemarle, p. 132ff ;
Death, 1679, p. 135.

Harvey, John, Speaker of Assembly,
^ 1766, p. 329.

Elected Moderator, p. 352 ; Speaker
of Assembly, p. 406; Speaker of
Assembly, pp. 410, 411; Speaker-
Urges convention, p. 414; Modera¬
tor, p. 421 ; Speaker — Death, 1775,
pp. 432, 433, 434.

Harvey, Thomas, p. 53.

Deputy governor, p. 147; Death,
p. 151.

Hasell, James, pp. 53, 54.

Chief Justice, p. 321 ; Lieut, gover¬
nor, pp. 396, 397.

Hatteras Indians, Probable assimila¬
tion of Lost colony, pp. 19, 20, 21.
Intermixture with English, p. 49;
Southern Indians, p. 86.

Hawkins, Philemon, pp. 370, 524, 657.
Hawley, William, p. 69.

Heath, Sir Robert, Patent to lands
in America, p. 50.

Grant in dispute with Lords Pro¬
prietors of Carolina, pp. 68, 69.

Henderson, Richard, Judge, p. 355.
Does not hold court — Results, p.
357; Purchases land further West,
pp. 429, 430 ; Member of Council,
p. 588.

Henley, Peter, p. 54.

Henry, Patrick, p. 314.

Hewes, Joseph, Delegate to Con¬
tinental Congress, p. 422.
Delegate to second Congress, p.
435 ; Attitude toward Revolution, p.
472 ; Provincial Congress, pp. 475,
477 ; Delegate to Continental Con¬
gress, p. 483 ; For independence, pp.
515, 516; Desires independence, pp.
540, 541 ; Influence at Continental
Congress, pp. 542, 543, 544; Dele¬
gate to Continental Congress, p.
560; Defeated by Penn as delegate,
pp. 574, 575 ; Delegate to Con¬
tinental Congress, p. 603.

Highlanders, Influenced to join
Revolution with King, pp. 477,
478..

Attitude in Revolution, p. 486 ; De¬
part as loyalists, p. 579.

Hill, Green, p. 604.

INDEX

Hill, Whitmel, Speaker of Senate, p.
588.

Member of assembly, p. 593.

Hill, William, On questions of tea
at Wilmington, p. 426.

Hillsboro, Raided, p. 337.

Regulators threaten, p. 341 ; Pro¬
vincial Congress, p. 474 ; Reached
by Cornwallis, p. 655 ; Capture of
Governor Burke, pp. 694, 695.

Hillsboro Riots, p. 355.

Hillsborough, Lord, p. 352.

Hilton, William, Explorations along
Cape Fear in Carolina, p. 63.
Exploration of the Cape Fear, p.
72.

Hobkirk’s Hill, Battle of, p. 670.
Hodgson, John, p. 54.

Hogun, Col., pp. 590, 591.
Brigadier-general, p. 599; At
Charleston, p. 606 ; Fall of Charles¬
ton, p. 609; Death, pp. 610, 611.

Holden, Robert, p. 132.

Hooper, William, Desires articles of
confederation for colonies, pp.
479, 480.

Desires convention of people, p.
419; Delegate to Continental Con¬
gress, p. 421 ; Provincial Congress,
pp. 475, 477 ; Delegate to Con¬
tinental Congress, p. 483 ; Influence
in Continental Congress — Ideas, pp.
542, 544 ; Delegate to Continental
Congress, p. 560 ; Views on branches
of government, p. 563.

Houston, William, pp. 315, 316, 317.
p. 324.

Howard, Martin, pp. 54, 344.

Howard, Col. (of Maryland), Battle
of Cowpens, p. 649ff.

Howe, Robert, Colonel of militia, p.
430.

Takes Fort Johnston, p. 469; Leader
in Congress, pp. 475, 477 ; Aid to
Virginia, pp. 489, 490, 491 ; Thanked
for actions in Virginia, p. 505 ;
Made Brigadier-general, p. 531 ;
Expedition into Florida, p. 539 ;
Battles in Georgia, p. 594.

Howell, Rednap, pp. 336, 339.

Influence, p. 363 ; Outlaw, p. 374.
Huger, Joins Greene, pp. 652, 653.

Hunter, James, Regulator, pp. 336,
339.

Trial, pp. 348, 350; Commander of
Regulators, p. 371 ; Outlaw, p. 374 ;
Pardoned, p. 397 ; Letter to Wm.
Butler, pp. 404, 405; Takes oath,
p. 547.

Hunter, Humphrey, pp. 446, 447.
Husband, Herman, Regulator, pp.
336, 338ff.

Indicted, pp. 344, 345 ; Acquitted,
p. 348; Arrest — Discharge, pp. 361,
362; Outlaw, p. 374; Flight, p. 397.
Hyde, Edward (Earl of Clarendon),
Lord Proprietor, p. 51.

Governor, p. 53 ; Lord Proprietor,
p. 68; President of Council, pp. 171,
172 ; Power — Contest with Cary —
Governor, pp. 173, 174ff ; Death, p.
189; Power, p. 192.

Importations, p. 522.

Impressment, p. 677.

Independence, North Carolina de¬
clares for, p. 517ff.

Declared by Continental Congress,
p. 540ff ; Recognized, p. 723.
Independence, Declaration of, Meck-
lenberg County, p. 440ff.

Indian War, 1675, p. 116.

Indian War, 1760, p. 300ff.

Indians, pp. 3ff, 27, 31ff, 85ff, 179ff,
193ff, 223, 286, 287, 289, 304, 332,
333; 547ff.

Innes, Capt., pp. 261, 283.

Iredell, James, Judge, p. 584.

Judge — Attorney-general, p. 644.
Irish Settlers, p. 254.

Iroquois Indians, p. 85.

Jack, James, Captain, pp. 442, 443,
458, 459.

Jamestown, Settled, p. 47.

Jarvis, Leader in Congress, p. 475.
Jarvis, Thomas, p. 53.

Land in Albemarle, p. 60 ; Deputy
Governor, p. 142ff ; Death, p. 151.
Jefferson, Thomas, At Continental
Congress, pp. 462, 463.

Draft of Declaration, p. 542.

INDEX

Jenkins, John, p. 53.

Land in Albemarle, p. 60 ; Buys
land, pp. 65, 66; Deputy governor
of Albemarle, p. Ill; Governor of
Albemarle, p. 115; Conflict with
Miller, p. 118ff; Deposed, p. 119;
Governor of Albemarle, p. 135.
Johnson, Charles, Delegate to Con¬
tinental Congress, p. 678.

Johnson, Nathaniel, Governor, p. 157.
Johnston, Gabriel, p. 53.

Governor — Administration, p. 247ff.
Johnston, John, p. 527.

Johnston, Samuel, Riot Act, p. 360.
Calls convention, p. 468 ; President
of Provincial Congress, p. 474;
Leader in Congress, p. 475 ; Presi¬
dent Provincial Congress, p. 516;
Committee to frame Constitution,
p. 527 ; Idea on democracy, p. 528 ;
Work on Constitution, pp. 529, 530,
531 ; Defeated in election — Reason,
p. 558 ; Committee work, p. 560 ;
Treasurer, p. 574; Dissatisfied with
form of government, pp. 578, 579;
Delegate to Continental Congress,
p. 644 ; Declines presidency of Con¬
tinental Congress, p. 647 ; Delegate
to Continental Congress, p. 678.
Johnston, William, p. 604.

Johnston County, p. 265.
p. 342.

Jones, Allen, Leader in Congress, p.
475.

Elected general, p. 524; Committee
to frame Constitution, p. 527 ;
Speaker of Senate, p. 593 ; Com¬
mand against Tories, p. 601 ;
Speaker, p. 603 ; Member council
extraordinary, p. 642.

Jones, Frederick, p. 54.

Jones, Thomas, Committee to frame
Constitution, p. 527.

Committee to frame Constitution,
pp. 564, 565, 566.

Jones, Willie, Leader in Congress,
p. 475.

Work with Indians, p. 487 ; Commit¬
tee to frame Constitution, p. 531 ;
President of council, p. 555 ; One of
framers of Constitution, pp. 564,
565 ; Protest at Confiscation Act, p.
607 ; Delegate to Continental Con-

Jones, Willie.

gress, p. 644; Lieutenant-colonel, p.
661.

Jones County, p. 588.

Judiciary, pp. 305, 328, 565.

Justices, Chief; List, p. 54.

Kenan, Leader in Congress, p. 475.
At Rockfish Creek, p. 502 ; Battle
of Rock Creek, p. 686.

Kennon, Member of Congress, pp.
475, 476.

Kentucky, p. 430.

Kettle Creek, Battle of, p. 599.
King’s Mountain, Battle of, p. 634.
Knight, Tobias, p. 54.

Complicity, pp. 200, 201ff.

Lafayette, Arrival, p. 580.

Lamb, pp. 475, 595.

Land, Grants — Rents, p. 90.

Grants and deeds recorded, p. 91 ;
Grant — Rents, p. 92; Rent — Great
deed, p. 96; Divisions of, for Lords
Proprietors, p. 100; Laws, p. 103;
Patents, p. 206 ; Quit rents, pp. 229,
230; Quit rents, p. 232; Quit rents,
p. 237 ; Quit rents, p. 255 ; Quit
rents, pp. 261, 262; Quit rents, p.
285; Quit rents, p. 393; Quit rents,
p. 401.

Land Tax, p. 392.

Lane, Ralph, Starts colony in Amer¬
ica, p. 5ff.

Governor in Virginia, abandons
colony, pp. 7, 8; Governor of new
Virginia colony, p. 29; Expedition
up the Moratoc, pp. 32, 33ff.

Lane, John, At Roanoke Island, p. 31.
Law, Debtor, pp. 96, 97.

Law, In fundamental constitutions,

p. 102.

Law, Marriage, pp. 96, 97.

Law, Naturalization, p. 99.

Lawson, Captured by Indians — Death,

p. 181.

Lawson, Battle of Guilford Court
House, p. 659ff.

Lawyers, p. 394.

Lee, Gen. Charles, Command of
Southern department, p. 531.
Follows Clinton in Virginia, p. 532;
Arrives in Halifax, p. 532; Sta¬
tioned at Charleston, p. 537 ; Ex¬
pedition to Florida, p. 539; With

INDEX

Lee, Gen. Charles.

Williams detains Cornwallis, p.
654; Joins Pickens, p. 656.

Lee, Harry (Light Horse Harry),
p. 639.

To unite with Greene, p. 702.

Lee, Richard Henry, Proposes reso¬
lution independence to Continental
Congress — Results, p. 540ff.
Leetmen, pp. 99, 100.

Leslie, Gen., Sent to Virginia — De¬
feat at Great Swamp — To Wil¬
mington, p. 638.

Holds Charleston, p. 717 ; Evacuates
Charleston, p. 719.

Lexington, Battle of, pp. 434, 435.
Liberty Hall, pp. 391, 585.

Libraries, p. 221.

Lillington, Col. Alexander, Leader of
Minute Men, p. 482.

At Cross Creek, p. 500 ; At Rock-
fish Creek — Moore’s Creek Bridge,
pp. 502, 503 ; Command of regi¬
ment, p. 523 ; General of Cape Fear
District, p. 595 ; To South Carolina,
p. 608 ; In Cape Fear region, pp.
655, 656 ; At Heron Bridge, p. 664 ;
At Kingston, p. 667 ; At Richlands,
p. 676; Need of aid, pp. 679, 680;
Need of ammunition, pp. 687, 688.
Lincoln, Gen., p. 594.

Command in South Carolina, p.
596 ; Battle of Stono, pp. 604, 605 ;
Charleston taken by British, p.
608 ff.

Lincoln County, p. 588.

Little, William, p. 54.

Appointment, p. 236 ; Arraignment,
p. 238.

Locke, Lieut., Death, p. 630.

Locke, Colonel, Attack at Ramseur’s
Mill, p. 615.

Union with Cleveland, p. 633.
Locke’s Fundamental Constitutions, p.
98.

Long Assembly, pp. 269, 270, 287.
Lord’s Proprietor’s, Charters, p. 51.
Grant in Carolina, pp. 67, 68;
Second grant in Carolina, p. 71 ;
Negotiations with New England
and Barbadoes, p. 73f¥ ; Address
from colonists, pp. 78, 79 ; Interest

Lord’s Proprietor’s,
in colony in Carolina, p. 82 ;
Changes in personnel, p. 93ff ;
Creation of eight great offices, p.
99ff ; Government of Albemarle, p.
112ff; Acquiesce to colonists, po.
131, 132; Relations with Nort'u

Carolina, p. 144ff ; Sell to Crown
— Last proprietors, p. 217ff.

Lost colony, pp. 9ff, 10, 14, 15.
Probable fate (Lawson), pp. 19, 20,
21, 28, 43, 45, 47, 48, 49.

Lovick, John, p. 233.

Loyalists (see also Highlanders),
Organize, p. 497ff.

Departure, p. 579 ; Battle of Kettle
Creek, p. 599 ; Massacre by Lee’s
troops, pp. 656, 657 ; Few join Corn¬
wallis, pp. 657, 658 ; Commanded
by Fanning, p. 680ff.

Ludwell, Philip, p. 53.

Governor of Albemarle, p. 140 ;
Governor of North Carolina, p.
141ff.

Lutherans, p. 390.

Lytle, Archibald, p. 595.

Battle of Briar Creek, p. 597; Com¬
mand of battalion, p. 716.
McCulloh, Henry Eustace, pp. 347,
348.

McCulloh, Hugh, Grants of land for
immigrants, p. 253.

Efforts to displace Johnston, p. 272 ;
Grants of land — Controversy with
Granville, p. 292.

McCulloh Grants, p. 253.

McDonald, Gen., Prepares route —
Actions, p. 501ff.

McDonald, Allan, pp. 497, 498.
McDonald, Donald, p. 497.

McDonald, Flora, pp. 416, 498.
McDonald, James, Settles in Caro¬
lina, p. 416.

McDougal, Col., Capture of Governor
Burke, pp. 694, 695.

Battle of Cane Creek, pp. 695, 696.
McDowell, Col. Charles, Activity in
West, p. 618.

Joins armies against Ferguson, p.
633 ; Battle of Cowpens, p. 64Sff.
Mace, Samuel, p. 46.

McGuire, Thomas, p. 603.

INDEX

McIntosh, Gen., p. 587.

McIntyre’s Farm, Battle of, p. 631.
Maclaine, Archibald, p. 593.

McLean, Alexander, Lieut. -Col. of
Highlanders, p. 467.

Command of Highlanders, p. 486;
Recruiting, pp. 496, 497.

McLeod, pp. 503, 504.

McNair, Ralph, p. 339.

McNeil, Hector, Tory leader, pp. 682,
683.

At Cross Creek, p.- 690 ; At Raft
Swamp, p. 693 ; Capture of Gov¬
ernor Burke, pp. 694, 695 ; Battle
of Cane Creek — Death, pp. 695,
696.

Malmedy, Col., pp. 697, 698.
Mangoak Indians, p. 32.

Manteo, pp. 4 ; 10 ; 27 ; 30 ; 41 ; 42.
Marriage Act, p. 331 ; 382, 383.
Marriage Law, pp. 96, 97 ; 385, 386.
Martin, Alexander, Member of con¬
gress, p. 475 ; Snow campaign,
pp. 488, 489 ; Member council extra¬
ordinary, p. 641 ; Speaker of senate
— President of board of war, p.
644; On board of war, p. 627;
Speaker of senate, p. 677 ; Acting
governor, p. 696 ; Administration
as governor, p. 699ff ; Elected gov¬
ernor, p. 713; Administration, p.
714; Re-election, p. 723.

Martin, Col. James, p. 502.

Martin, Joseph, p. 632.

Martin, Josiah, p. 53.

Administration as governor, p. 396ff ;
Administration, p. 417ff; Adminis¬
tration — Proclamation for loyalty,
p. 472ff ; Attempt to subdue south¬
ern colonies, p. 486; Leaves with
Gen. Clinton, p. 535 ; Proclamation
to people, p. 632.

Maryland, Agreement with Virginia
and Albemarle, pp. 92, 93.
Masonry, p. 254.

Massachusetts, Explorations along
Cape Fear, p. 63.

Asks unity of action against Taxa¬
tion, pp. 308, 309; Early attitude on
Stamp Act, pp. 313, 314, 315; At¬
titude on customs duties, p. 335 ;
Opposition to customs duties, p.

Massachusetts, Explorations.

346; Visit of Quincy to North
Carolina, p. 410.

Massachusetts, General Court of, p.
80.

Maxwell, Gen., p. 581.

May 31st, Resolves of, p. 450ff.
Mecklenburg County, Mecklenburg
resolves, p. 437ff.

Declares Independence, p. 454ff ;
Activities, 1780, p. 631.

Mecklenburg County Instructions, pp.
562, 563.

Mecklenburg Resolves, p. 437ff.
Mecklenberg Riot, p. 311.

Meherrin Indians, p. 86.

Warfare with colonists, p. 116;
Forced from territory, p. 162 ;
Location, p. 286.

Menatonon, pp. 3 ; 32 ; 33.

Mercer, George, Lieutenant-governor,
p. 346.

Methodists, pp. 305 ; 388.

Micklejohn, George, p. 338.

Militia, pp. 524; 590.

Miller, Thomas, p. 53.

Conflict with Governor Jenkins, p.
118ff; Collector of Customs, pp.
121, 122; Actions as governor, p.
123 ; Arrest, p. 125 ; Deposed — Ar¬
rest, p. 127ff; Escape, p. 132.
Minute Men, pp. 481, 482; 523,
Modyford, Thomas, pp. 72, 74.
Mongoak Indians (see also Tuscar-
oras), pp. 33; 86.

Monk, George, p. 51.

Lord Proprietor, p. 68.

Monmouth, Battle of, p. 591.
Montague, Lord, Capture, p. 721 ff.
Montgomery, John, p. 54.

Attempt against Burrington, p. 240.
Montgomery County, p. 588 ; 606.
Moore, George, pp. 475, 477.

Moore, James, Expedition against
Indians, pp. 190, 191.

Colonel of regiment, p. 481 ; Re¬
cruiting, pp. 485, 486 ; Against Loy¬
alists, p. 500; Holds Rockfish Creek,
pp. 502, 503 ; Against Loyalists, p.
505; Report to Harnett, p. 510ff;
Made brigadier-general, p. 531 ;
Command in North Carolina, p. 532 ;
Death, p. 571.

INDEX

Moore, John, p. 614ff.'

Moore, Maurice, p. 53.

Aid against Indians, p. 191 ; Ex¬
pedition against Indians, pp. 194,
195 ; Search for records — Fine, pp.
202, 204; Interest in Cape Fear
region, p. 209; Land grant on the
Cape Fear, p. 213 ; Quarrel with
Burrington, pp. 227, 228 ; Suspended
by Try on, p. 325; Description, p.
379 ; Address to Governor Martin,
p. 398; Attacks courts, pp. 413, 414;
Provincial Congress, pp. 475, 47b,
477.

Moore, William, Provincial Congress,
p. 475.

Expedition against Indians, p. 553.

Moore’s Creek Bridge, Battle of, p.
503ff.

Caswell’s report, p. 510; Moore’s
report, p. 510ff.

Moore’s Plantation, Skirmish at, p.
701.

Moravians, pp..278, 279; 290; 319, 320;
380; 714, 715.

Morgan, Col., in South, p. 613.
Position, 1781, p. 641 ; Battle of
Cowpens, p. 648ff ; Pursuit by
Cornwallis, p. 651.

Moseley, Edward, pp. 53, 54.

Search of records — Fine, pp. 202,
204 ; Speaker of House — Burring-
ton’s attitude, p. 228ff ; Imprisoned,
p. 236 ; Speaker of Assembly, p.
237; Speaker of Assembly, p. 246;
Quarrel with Halton, p. 250; Chief
justice, p. 260; Revision of laws, p.
273; Treasurer — Death, p. 276.

Moultree, Fort, Battle of, p. 538ff.
Murray, James, p. 254.

Musgrove’s Mill, Battle at, p. 618.

Nag’s Head, p. 149.

Nansemond, Permanent settlement, p.
59.

Nash, Brig.-Gen., Command of army;
Aid given Washington, pp. 571,
572.

Joins Washington, p. 580; Death,
p. 582.

Nash, Abner, Address to Governor
Martin, p. 398.

Active against King, p. 431; Mem¬
ber of Congress, p. 475 ; Committee
to frame Constitution, p. 527 ;
Elected governor — His administra¬
tion, p. 612ff ; Administration, p.
629ff ; Administration, p. 648ff.

Nash, Francis, Indicted, p. 344.

Nash County, p. 585.

Naturalization law, p. 99.

Naval Warfare, pp. 536; 580, 586,
587.

Navigation Acts, pp. 112, 113; 122.
Negroes, pp. 83ff, 394, 395.

Insurrection planned, pp. 435, 436.
Neal, Col., pp. 488, 489.

Nelson, Major, p. 608.

New Bern, Foundation of, p. 171.
Expedition against Indians, p. 186 ;
Seat of government, p. 268ff ; Resi¬
dence of governor — Capital, p. 331 ;
Severe storm, p. 350; Fortification,
p. 361 ; Social condition, p. 379 ;
Schools, p. 390 ; Provincial conven¬
tion, p. 432 ; Occupied by Craig, p.
687.

New England, Voyage to Cape Fear
region for settlement, p. 64.
Settlements in Carolina, p. 75 ;
Slavery started, pp. 84, 85.

New England Association, pp. 73, 74.

New Hanover, Association for liberty,
p. 466.

Newport, Christopher, p. 47.
Newspaper, pp. 290, 291 ; 307.

New York, Opposition to Stamp Act,
p. 318.

Nine Month’s Men, p. 590; 595.
Ninety-six, p. 671.

Non-exportation, p. 424.
Non-importation, p. 350ff ; 423, 424,
425.

Norfolk, Virginia, Held by Con¬
tinentals — Burned by British, pp.
490, 491.

North Carolina Brigade, p. 591.
Northampton County, p. 264.
Ocracoke, pp. 580, 585, 586.

Ocracoke Inlet, p. 580.

INDEX

Onslow County, Adopts New Han¬
over Association, p. 466.

Craig penetrates, p. 676.

Onslow Precinct, p. 234.

Orange County, p. 278; 311.

Orange County Instructions, p. 562ff.
Owen, p. 475.

Oyer, Courts of, pp. 409, 411, 412,
413; 482; 560; 573.

Paine, “Common sense,” p. 514ff.
Palatine, p. 99.

Palatines, pp. 52; 169ff; 273, 274.
Palatine’s Court, pp. 100, 101, 107.
Palin, John, p. 54.

Chief justice, p. 233; Resignation,
p. 236.

Pamlico Indians, p. 86.

Paris, Peace of, p. 303.

Pasquotank, Remonstrance of Inhabi¬
tants of, p. 125.

Patents, Blank — Decision concerning,

p. 262.

Patents, Land, p. 206.

Patience, Vessel, p. 321ff.

Patten, Col., pp. 590; 716.

Peace, Treaty of, p. 724.

Peacock’s Bridge, Skirmish of, p. 667.
Peele, Robert, pp. 65, 66.

Pemisapan (see also Wingina),
Indian chief hostile to English,
p. 32.

Hostile to English, Plots, p. 34ff ;
Death, p. 37.

Penn, John, pp. 475, 476.

Delegate to Continental Congress,
pp. 483, 484 ; On war with England,
p. 515; Influence at Continental
Congress, pp. 542, 544; On com¬
mittee for revision of statutes, p.
560 ; Delegate to Continental Con¬
gress, pp. 574, 575 ; On Board of
War, p. 627.

Pennsylvania Dutch Settlers, p. 277.

Person, Thomas, Member of Con¬
gress, pp. 475, 476.

General, p. 524 ; Committee to
frame Constitution, p. 527 ; Lack of
influence, p. 584.

Philadelphia, Second Continental
Congress, p. 454.

Pickens, Gen. Andrew, Battle of
Cowpens, p. 649ff.

Commander of Davidson’s brigade
— Follows Cornwallis, p. 656.
Piracy, Thack, p. 200ff.

Pitt, William, p. 318.

Pitt County, Attitude toward King,
p. 465.

Pittsboro, Taken by Fanning, p. 681.
Plumpton, Henry, p. 57.

Polk, Thomas, pp. 454, 456ff.

Member of Congress, p. 475.

Snow campaign, pp. 488, 489 ; In
Salisbury, p. 492 ; Command of
regiment, p. 523.

Polk’s Mill, Battle of, p. 631.

Poll tax, pp. 392, 393.

Pollock, Thomas, p. 53.
p. 54; Redress of wrongs, p. 140;
President of council, pp. 189, 190;
Enmity to Moseley, p. 192 ; Death,
pp. 206, 207.

Port Royal, p. 82.

Porter, Edmond, Quarrel with Bur-
rington, p. 234.

Porter, John, p. 53.

Voyage to England, p. 162ff ; Break
with Glover, p. 165 ; Impeachment
— Freedom — Contest with Hyde,
pp. 173, 174ff.

Porterfield, Gen., Joins United forces
near Camden — Battle, p. 619ff.
Powhatan, p. 17.

Precincts, Become counties, p. 225.
Prerogative courts, pp. 409, 410, 411.
Presbyterians, pp. 343 ; 383, 384ff.
Preston, Col., p. 657.

Pride of the Cape Fear, p. 664.
Pringle, Lieut., p. 261.

Printing, p. 273.

Prisoners, Treatment by British, p.
610.

Exchange of, pp. 671, 672.
Privateering, p. 593.

Property tax, p. 573.

Proprietary government, p. 88ff.

End of, pp. 219, 220.

Proprietors, Lords, Grant of land, p.

68.

Second grant in Carolina, p. 71 ;
Negotiations with New England
and Barbadoes, p. 73ff ; Address

INDEX

Proprietors, Lords,
from colonists, pp. 78, 79; Interest
in colony for Carolina, p. 82 ;
Changes in personnel, p. 93 ff ; Crea¬
tion of eight offices, p. 99ff ; Gov¬
ernment of Albemarle, p. 112ff ; Ac¬
quiesce to colonists, pp. 131, 132;
Relations with North Carolina, p.
144ff ; Sell to Crown — Last Proprie¬
tors, p. 217.

Provincial Congress, 1775, p. 473ff.
Proceedings of, p. 479ff ; p. 513;
p. 472ff; p. 491ff ; p. 496ff; p. 513ff.
Pugh, James, p. 336.

Purviance, Col., Defence of New
Hanover, p. 500.

In Wilmington, p. 503.

Pyle, pp. 656, 657.

Quakers, p. 66ff.

Remonstrance, pp. 133, 134; Ex¬
clusion of, p. 154ff ; Laws against
— Resistance, pp. 159, 160 ; Ques¬
tion of admission to office, pp. 172,
173 ; Laws against, p. 196 ; p. 277 ;
p. 380; Not in militia, p. 394.
Quebec Act, p. 415.

Queen’s College, pp. 359; 391.

Queen’s Museum, p. 391.

Quincy, Josiah, p. 410.

Quit rents, pp. 229 ; 232 ; 237 ; 249ff ;
285; 393; 255; 261, 262; 401.

Raft Swamp, p. 693.

Raleigh, Sir Walter, Expedition sent
to America, p. 1.

Sends Sir Richard Grenville to
America, p. 4ff ; Sends Lost colony
to Virginia, p. 9ff ; Letter to Sir
Robert Cecil, pp. 16, 17 ; Sketch of
life, pp. 24, 25; Equips ships for
exploration of America, p. 25ff ;
Sends second expedition to Vir¬
ginia, p. 29; Activities, pp. 39, 40;
Activities in England, pp. 43, 44;
Efforts to relieve lost colony, pp.
46, 47.

Raleigh, Fort, p. 31.

Raleigh’s Lost Colony, pp. 9, 10, 14,
15, 18, 19, 20, 21; 43, 45; 46; 47,
48, 49.

Raleigh Tavern Meeting, p. 350.
Ramseur’s Mill, Battle of, p. 614ff.

Rand, Attempt to frame Constitution,
p. 531.

Randolph County, p. 588.

Ray, Duncan, Tory leader, pp. 682,
683.

At Cross Creek, p. 690.

Rawdon, Lord, Encounters with
Greene in South Carolina, pp.
670, 671.

Rebellion Culpepper, pp. 124, 125 ;
126ff.

Rebellion, Unarmed, p. 268ff.
Rechahecrians, p. 58.

Redressers, p. 357.

Reed, William, p. 53.

President of council, p. 207.
Regulators,- pp. 336ff ; 341 ff ; 349 ; 363 ;
364ff ; 402, 403; 404, 405; 431;
463ff ; 476ff ; 501; '546, 547.
Relfe, Thomas, pp. 60; 65, 66.
Religion, pp. 154ff ; 221; 245; 305.
Religion, Freedom of, p. 92; 103.
Remonstrance of the Inhabitants of
Pasquotank, p. 125.
Representatives, Question of number,
p. 268, 269; 285, 287.

Resolves of May 31st, p. 450ff.

Rhode Island, Action on non-importa¬
tion.

Ribault, Colony, p. 28.

Rice, Nathaniel, p. 53.

Attempt against Burrington, p. 240;
Death, pp. 281, 282.

Richardson, Gen., pp. 488, 489.
Richmond County, p. 606.

Riot Act, pp. 360‘ff ; 376.

Roach, p. 175.

Roanoke Colony, Strachey’s account,
p. 17.

Roanoke Island, Settlement of Lane,
p. 7.

Lost Colony, p. 10 ; Account of
relics of Lost Colony, pp. 14, 15 ;
Beginnings of • colonization of
Virginia, p. 19 ; Explored by
JBarlow, p. 27 ; Landing of colonists,
p. 30; End of first colony, p. 37;
Grenville’s colony, p. 38 ; Per¬
manent settlement attempted, p. 42;
White’s return, p. 45.

Roanoke Sound, p. 64.

Robeson, p. 475.

INDEX

Rock Creek, Battle of, p. 686.
Rockingham County, p. 711.

Rockfish, Engagement at, p. 700.
Rockfish Creek, p. 502.

Rocky Mount, Battle of, p. 623.
Rowan, Matthew, p. 53.

Administration, p. 282fT.

Rowan County, p. 282.

Committee of safety, p. 425 ; Meet¬
ing of committee of safety, p. 459ff ;
Attitude toward allegiance, p. 464.
Rowan resolutions, p. 420.

Royal African Company, p. 84.
Rutherford, Major James, Death, p.
698.

Rutherford, Griffith, Expedition

against Indians, pp. 548, 549.
March against Indians, p. 550ff ;
Snow campaign, pp. 488, 489; Com¬
mand of battalion, p. 492 ; Elected
general, p. 524 ; Sent to South Caro¬
lina, pp. 595, 596; Organizes near
Charlotte, p. 614 ; Battle of

Ramseur’s Mill, p. 615 ; Attack on
Bryan, p. 616; Union of forces —
Battle of Camden, p. 619ff; March
to Wilmington, p. 699ff.
Rutherford, Thomas, Joins King’s
army, p. 501.

Rutherford County, p.. 588.
Rutherford’s Trace, p. 552.

Safety, Committee of, pp. 423 ; 425 ;

427; 458ff; 482.

Safety, Council of, p. 530ff.

Salem, p. 703ff.

Sally, George, p. 341.

Salt Riots, pp. 576, 577.

Sanford, Robert, p. 75.

Explorations along coast, pp. 78,
79.

Savannah, Howe driven from, p.
594.

Attack on, pp. 605, 606.

Sayle, William, p. 82.

Schism Act. p. 389.

Schools, pp. 388ff ; 567.

Scotch-Irish Settlers, pp. 254; 277;
380.

Scotch Settlers, p. 265ff.

Scovellites, p. 488.

Seal, p. 225.

Selectmen, p. 456.

Senators, Election of, pp. 566, 568.
Servants, Indented, p. 83.

Sevier, pp. 633, 634, 636.

Shaftesbury, On board of trade —
Interests, p. 114.

Arrest, p. 121 ; Exile, p. 135ff.
Sharpe, Governor, Commander-in-
chief against French, p. 284.
Sharpe, William, Member of Con-
gress, p. 475.

Committee to frame Constitution,
p. 531 ; Delegate to Continental
Congress, p. 603; Delegate to Con¬
tinental Congress, p. 678.

Shelby, Col., Battle at Musgrove’s
Mill, p. 618.

Battle of King’s Mountain, pp. 633,
634, 636.

Sheppard, Col. Abraham, p. 575.
pp. 586, 588.

Shipbuilding, p. 91.

Simeson, John, p. 443.

Simpson, p. 531.

Sinking fund tax, p. 399ff.

Skinner, William, p. 604.

Sky co, p. 35.

Slavery, pp. 83ff ; 394, 395.

Slingsby, John, pp. 577 ; 690, 691.
Slocumb, Mary, p. 508ff.

Smallwood, Gen., Retreat from Cam¬
den, p. 623.

General — Supercedes Caswell, pp.
627, 628; Post at New Providence,
pp. 638, 639 ; Return to Maryland,
p. 641.

Smith, Thomas, p. 40.

Formation of Virginia company, p.
47; Governor of North Carolina,
p. 146.

Smith, Colonel Robert, At Briar
Creek, pp. 596, 597.

Command of cavalry, p. 699;
Moore’s plantation, pp. 700, 701 ;

Smith, William, Chief Justice, p. 54.
Attempt against Burrington, p. 240 ;
Attitude toward Burrington, p. 249 ;
On quit rents, p. 250; Impeachment
attempted — Death, pp. 258, 258, 260.
Snow Campaign, pp. 488, 489.

Social life before Revolution, p. 377.

INDEX

Society for Propagation of the Gospel
in foreign parts, pp. 155, 164.

Sons of Liberty, pp. 31.4; 318; 354.

Sothel, Seth, p. 53.

Named for governor of Albemarle,
pp. 131, 132; Governor of Albe¬
marle, p. 138ff ; Exiled from Al¬
bemarle, p. 140.

South Carolina, Separated from
North Carolina, p. 141 ff.
Governmental situation, pp. 143,
144; Church uniformity, p. 158 ; Aid
in Indian war, p. 184ff ; Indian up¬
rising, p. 194 ; Revolution, p. 204ff ;
Boundary question, p. 243 ; Bound¬
ary fixed with North Carolina, pp.
254, 255; Trouble with Indians, p.
291 ; Boundary question, pp. 398,
399; Conference with North Caro¬
lina for defence, p. 506 ; Constitu¬
tion adopted, p. 529; Troops aid
at Charleston, p. 538; War against
Indians, pp. 550, 551 ; Gains lands
from Indian cession, p. 553 ; Feel¬
ing against British, p. 637 ; Charles¬
ton held by British — Evacuated —
Entered by Greene, p. 717ff.

South Quay, Capture of, p. 684.

Spain, Claims to Florida, p. 28.

War with England, p. 44 ; Aban¬
dons claims to Carolina, p. 82;
Asiento with England, p. 84; War
with England, p. 260ff ; Harasses
Carolinas, p. 270ff.

Spanish Invasions, p. 270ff.

Spanish War, p. 260ff.

Spangenberg, p. 278.

Spencer, Samuel, Member of Con¬
gress, p. 475.

Committee to frame Constitution,
p. 527; Chosen judge, p. 570; Judge,
p. 584.

Spotswood, p. 200ff.

Stamp Act, pp. 312ff; 323; 324.
Starky, John, p. 276.

State Church, p. 381 ff.

Stephens, Samuel, p. 52.

Governor at Albemarle, p. 94ff ;
Death, p. 105.

Steuart, Andrew, p. 307.

Stevens, Gen., Battle of Camden, p.
620.

To unite with Greene, p. 657 ; Bat¬
tle of Guilford Court House, p.
659ff.

Stono, Battle of, pp. 604, 605.

Stony Point, Capture of, pp. 602, 603.
Strudwick, pp. 401, 402.

Stuart, John, Indian agent, p. 487.

Relation with Indians, p. 547ff.
Stuart, Col., Commander of Queen’s
Guards, p. 659.

Suffrage, n. 231; 527ff ; 566, 567.
Sullivan County, p. 645.

Sumner, Jethro, Member og Con¬
gress, p. 475.

Command of Troops, p. 523; Com¬
mand of battalion, p. 590 ; General
supervision of troops, p. 595 ;
Brigadier-general, p. 599 ; At
Moultrie’s camp, p. 602; Battle of
Stono, pp. 604, 605 ; Command of
brigade, p. 626; At McGowan’s
Creek, pp. 629, 630 ; Aid to Cas¬
well, pp. 624, 643 ; Organization of
troops, p. 675 ; Sends men to
Greene, p. 685 ; Battle of Eutaw
Springs, pp. 697, 698.

Sumter, p. 623.

Surry County, p. 359.

Surrey County, pp. 465, 466.

Swann, Samuel, p. 54.

Revision of laws, p. 273; Speaker
of House, p. 291 ; Retires, p. 302.
Swann, Thomas, p. 54.

Swann, William, p. 53.

Swiss settlers, p. 254.

Switzerland, Settlers to Carolina, p.
169ff.

Tarleton, Gen., Butchery at Waxhaw,

pp. 611, 612.

Routs Sumter, p. 623 ; At Char¬
lotte, p. 630; Battle of Cowpens,
p. 648ff ; Attacks Loyalists by mis¬
take, p. 658.

Tarleton’s Quarters, p. 612.

Taxation, Tobacco duty, pp. 113,
116ff.

Opposition to Navigation Laws, p.
122 ; England’s power to tax ques¬
tioned, pp. 307, 308ff ; Sampt Act,

1 7

INDEX

Taxation, Tobacco duty,
p. 3 12ff ; Stamp Act annulled, p.
323; Stamp Act repealed, p. 324;
Customs duties, p. 335 ; Poll and
land taxes, p. 392ff ; Shilling tax ;
p. 399; Tea tax, p. 415; Property
tax, p. 573; Tax levied, 1780, pp.
626, 627 ; Property tax, p. 715.

Tea Tax, p. 415.

Teach, p. 200ff.

Terminer, Courts of, pp. 409, 411,
412, 413; 482; 560; 573.

Test Oath, pp. 387 ; 524 ; 525 ; 483 ; 546.
Thack, p. 200ff.

Thackston, Col., p. 502.

Thatch, p. 200ff.

Thompson, Robert, p. 371.

Thompson, Colonel, South Carolina
leader, pp. 538, 539.

Snow campaign, pp. 488, 489.
Tithables, p. 130.

Tobacco, Duty on, pp. 113; 116ff;

122ff.

Toleration, Act of, pp. 382; 387.
Tories, pp. 493, 494, 495; 497, 498ff;
520; 522, 523; 553; 576, 577; 604;
614ff; 627; 680ff ; 688ff ; 704.
Tories’ Hole, p. 690.

Tower Hill, pp. 288; 296.

Trade, Board of, pp. 114; 224; 296;
302; 312.

Transylvania Colony, p. 429.
Troublesome Creek, p. 657.

Tryon, William, p. 53.

Appointed to aid Dobbs, p. 307 ;
Administration, p. 310f¥; p. 326ff ;
Sent to New York as governor, p.
358 ; address from North Carolina,
p. 412.

Tryon County, pp. 346; 464; 588.
Tuscarora Indians, pp. 86; 179ff ; 286;
329.

Tuscarora War, p. 179ff.

Tynte, Edward, Governor, p. 168.
Unarmed rebellion, p. 268ff.

Vail, Edward, p. 524.

Valley Forge, p. 586ff.

Vassall, Henry, p. 75.

London agent for colony of Cape
Fear, p. 80.

Vassall, John, Interest in Cape Fear,
pp. 72, 75.

Head of colony of Cape Fear, p. 80;
attempts to keep colony — Letter
concerning, p. 81.

Vaughan, George, p. 265.

Vestry Act, pp. 303; 312; 385.

Viper, Man-of-war, p. 321ff.

Virginia, Early settlement, p. Iff.
First landing of English, p. 25ff ;
Raleigh’s plans for colonization, p.
29ff ; Settlement of Jamestown by
Virginia company, p. 47 ; Interest in
Carolina — Explorations, p. 55ff ;

Conditions in 17th century, p. 56;
Boundary settled with Carolina, p.
71 ; Agreement with Maryland and
Albemarle, pp. 92, 93 ; Influence
upon Albemarle County, pp. 96, 97 ;
Boundary dispute with Albemarle,
p. 148 ; Boundary dispute, p. 162 ;
Boundary with Carolina established,
pp. 216, 217 ; Organizes against
French, p. 283; Early attitude on
Stamp Act, pp. 313, 314; Attitude
on customs duties, p 335 ; resolu¬
tions against acts of Parliament, p.
350 ; Committee of Correspondence,
pp. 410, 411 ; Colonies united against
Boston’s port closing, p. 418 ; Lord
Dunmore’s war, p. 489ff ; Confer¬
ence with North Carolina for de¬
fense, p. 506 ; Desires independence,
p. 507 ; Boundary with North Caro¬
lina, p. 645.

Virginia Company, p. 47.

Waddell, Hugh, Against Indians, pp.
289, 290, 292.

Rebellion against Stamp Act, p.
321; General of militia, p. 364;
Leader against regulators, p. 367.
Wade, Col., Battle of Beattie’s Bridge,
p. 684.

Defeat, p. 693.

Wahab’s plantation. Skirmish at, p.
629.

Wake County, p. 359.

Walker, Henderson, p. 53.

Governor, p. 150.

W^alker, John, pp. 370, 371.

Walnut Cove, p. 301.

INDEX

Walpole, Horace, pp. 493, 494.
Wanchese, pp. 4, 27 ; 30 ; 32.

War, Board of, pp. 627ff ; 630; 639;
641, 642.

Warren County, p. 588.

Washington, George, Visit to Ohio
country, p. 283.

Attitude on tax, p. 350 ; Commander-
in-chief of Continental Army, p.
462; Valley Forge, p. 586ff.
Washington, Col., Battle of Cowpens,
p. 649 ff.

Washington County, pp. 585; 717.
Washington District, p. 549.
Watauga, p. 333.

Waxhaw, Battle at the, pp. 611, 612.
Wayne County, p. 606.

Webber’s Bridge, Skirmish at, p. 687.
Webster, Col., Commander of Welsh
Fusiliers, p. 659.

Death, pp. 660, 662.

Welsh Tract, p. 254.

Whigs, pp. 493, 494, 495 ; 498 ; 499ff ;

Policy toward Tories, p. 520.
White, James, pp. 367, 368.

White, John, Narrative concerning
Lost Colony in Virginia, p. 9ff.
Voyage to America, p. 12ff ; Mem¬
ber of Virginia colony, p. 29 ; Col-
lony in Virginia, p. 39ff ; Governor
of new colony in Virginia, p. 40;
Colony in Virginia, p. 41ff; Black
Bay, pp. 367, 368.

White, William, pp. 367, 368.
Whitsell’s Mill, Battle at, p. 658.
Wilkes County, p. 585.

Wilkinson, Henry, p. 53.

Governor of Albemarle, p. 136ff.
Williams, Benjamin, Commander of
state troops, p. 677.

Williams, James, pp. 633, 634.
Williams, John, Member of Congress,
pp. 475 ; 583.

Speaker of House, p. 588; Delegate
to Continental Congress, p. 589 ;
Judge, pp. 603; 644.

Williams, Joseph, pp. 550, 552.
Williams, Col. Otho, pp. 653, 654.
Williams, Roger, In Carolina, p. 60.

Land patent, p. 66.

Williamson, Major, p. 550ff.
Willoughby, John, p. 119.

Wilmington, Incorporation, p. 252.
Seat of government, p. 307 ; protest
at Stamp Act, p. 316; Fire, p. 398;
Committee of safety, p. 427 ; Forti¬
fied, p. 500; Meeting of council of
safety, p. 535; Taken by British, p.
655 ; Craig holds, p. 663 ; Evacuated
by British — Entered by Rutherford,
p. 701.

Wilson, Sarah, pp. 400, 401.
Wingandacoa, pp. 3 ; 27.

Wingina (see also Pemisapan), pp. 3,
27, 32.

Winslow, Moses, p. 475.

Winston, Member of Congress, p. 475.
Thanked for actions, p. 636; To
unite with Greene, p. 657.
Woodward, Thomas, p. 60.

Yamassee Indians, p. 194.

Yardley, Francis, pp. 57, 58.
Yeamans, John, Exploration of Caro¬
lina coast desired — Results, p. 75ff.
Yeamans, William, Exploration of
coast desired, p. 76.

Governor of colony, p. 82.

Yellow Jacket, p. 2 73.

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ADDENDA

(Note to line 6, p. 577)

Doubtless the purpose to hold the cotton states in the Union arose from financial
considerations.

First, the tariff duty fixed by the Confederate Congress was only ten per cent, and
that would divert importations from northern to the southern ports, diminishing
the customs receipts. Then, while the merchandise exports for the year ending
June 30. 1859, had been $278,392,080, the cotton exports alone were more than
one-half, being $161,434,923. The other exports of the south were $31,993,920,
while those mixed north and south — were $39,657,698, and those entirely northern
products were only $45,305,541. The north was not willing to stand the loss to
its commerce of the southern exports. These financial considerations were superior
to any rights the cotton states might have. Then the north western states looked
on aghast at being deprived of the Mississippi River.

(Note to 5th line from bottom p. 578)

Nickolay and Hay, close to Mr. Lincoln as brothers, wrote as of April 1st, p. 442,
vol. 3: “Congress had neglected to provide measures and means for coercion. The
conservative sentiment of the country protested loudly against everything but con¬
cessions. His own cabinet was divided in council. Public opinion was ‘awry.’
Treason was applauded and patrotism rebuked.” Then the President determined
on war and with the purpose of making it appear that the south was the aggressor,
he took measures. He sought to bring about the Confederate attack on Fort
Sumter. “The President was looking through and beyond the now inevitable attack
and the response of the awakened and united north. . . . He was looking through
Sumter to the loyal states — beyond the insulted flag to the avenging nation.”
(Nickolay and Hay, IV, p. 28, p. 45.) So Fred Seward, the Assistant Secretary of
State, records that the firing on Sumter “was not unexpected.” (p.‘587).

(Note to line 16, p. 1330)

Since this volume was prepared it has been shown that at the end of the fiscal
year, June 30, 1925, the debit balance was only $3,125,920.22 — and that would be
much reduced when all the taxes applicable to these expenditures had been collected.

(Note to line 13, p. .1010)

The words “and being 22,942 more than any other state,” are erroneous.

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